Songfacts®: You can leave comments about the song at the bottom of the page.
This is an antiestablishment song of defiance and blue-collar pride, both anti-Washington and against the Vietnam war. John Fogerty and Doug Clifford were both drafted in 1966 and discharged from the army in 1967. "The song speaks more to the unfairness of class than war itself," Fogerty said. "It's the old saying about rich men making war and poor men having to fight them.
This is one of three political songs on the Willy And The Poorboys album. The others were "It Came From the Sky" and "Don't Look Now (It Ain't You or Me)."
Richard Nixon was president of the US when group leader John Fogerty wrote this. Fogerty was not a fan of Nixon and felt that people close to the president were receiving preferential treatment.
This spoke out against the war in Vietnam, but was supportive of the soldiers fighting there. Like many CCR fans, most of the soldiers came from the working class, and were there because they didn't have connections who could get them out. It is sung from the perspective of one of these men, who ends up fighting because he is not a "Senator's son."
Creedence performed this on
The Ed Sullivan Show, probably because the show's producers didn't realize it was a protest song. The show tried hard not to offend anyone, and usually had bands perform their least controversial songs or alter the lyrics for the show (see "Let's Spend The Night Together" and "
Light My Fire").
Fogerty recorded a lot of takes for "Down On The Corner" before singing this. As a result, his voice was strained, which Fogerty thinks is apparent on the song.
This is one of those songs that came together very quickly. John Fogerty said he wrote it in about 20 minutes.
Like Bruce Springsteen's "
Born In The U.S.A.," this is often misinterpreted as a patriotic anthem, when it is the opposite.
Wrangler jeans used this in commercials in 2001. They used only the first 2 lines: "Some folks are born, made to wave the flag, Ooh, that red, white and blue," implying the patriotic misinterpretation. The next lines are: "And when the band plays "Hail to the Chief" Ooh, they're pointin' the cannon at you," but those lyrics would not sell jeans very well.
Fogerty does not own the publishing rights to this song. He lost them, along with all the other songs he wrote for CCR, in his contract with Fantasy Records, which the band signed when they were struggling. A guy named Saul Zaentz controls the rights and can use the songs any way he wants, as long as it isn't performed by any member of CCR. Fogerty hates that his song is constantly misused, but has no choice.
This has been covered by U2, Bruce Springsteen, Kid Rock, Dropkick Murphys, Sleater-Kinney, Corrosion Of Conformity, Minutemen, Uncle Tupelo, Bob Seger, Circle Jerks, Joe Lynn Turner, Bunny Foot Charm, Death Cab For Cutie, Undead, Raccoon, and 38 Special.
When interviewed by Rolling Stone magazine, John Fogerty was once asked: "What inspired 'Fortunate Son'?" His response: "Julie Nixon was hanging around with David Eisenhower, and you just had the feeling that none of these people were going to be involved with the war. In 1969, the majority of the country thought morale was great among the troops, and like eighty percent of them were in favor of the war. But to some of us who were watching closely, we just knew we were headed for trouble." (thanks, Brett - Edmonton, Canada, for above 2)
Wyclef Jean's slow, passionate cover of this was the theme song for the 2004 political thriller The Manchurian Candidate. Another popular political film from the summer of '04 was the controversial documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, of which John Fogerty remarked: "With the Michael Moore movie, certain conservative talk show hosts call him un-American. Him and anybody else who says anything about the war... To question your country's policy, especially in a war that kills people, is definitely not un-American. It's probably the most patriotic thing you can do." (thanks, Brett - Edmonton, Canada)
This is one of the first protest songs that makes the point that it's the poor who are most likely to fight the wars. During the Iraq war, System Of A Down covered this topic with their song "
B.Y.O.B.."
Former United States president George W. Bush is often considered a "Fortunate Son," as he reaped the benefits that came with growing up in a powerful political family, which may have helped him avoid combat. This is covered in a book called
Fortunate Son. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France, for above 2)
Comments (95):
Songs About Movies
Iron Maiden, Adele, Toto, Eminem and Earth, Wind & Fire are just some of the artists with songs directly inspired by movies - and not always good ones.
Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets
The (Meat)puppetmaster takes us through songs like "Lake Of Fire" and "Backwater," and talks about performing with Kurt Cobain on MTV
Unplugged.
Gary Louris of The Jayhawks
The Jayhawks' song "Big Star" has special meaning to Gary, who explains how longevity and inspiration have trumped adulation.
Get the Ringtone
Get Song @ Amazon
Get the Sheet Music
View Lyrics
I always thought a patriot fought for the country not the government.
btw...CCR > the Stones
-SGT, 1st Army, Baghdad-
VERSE ONE: concerns those who verbally support the war as long as it's you, and not them, fighting it.
VERSE TWO: concerns those who DO NOT support the war but still enjoy the fruits of this country, such as the rich who masquerade as working class people, trust-funded hippies, and the Haight-Ashbury counterculture. They enjoy the benefits of this country but when it comes time to pay the bills, it's you, not them, who has to pay the taxes. Take some of Obama's recent cabinet appointments for example.
VERSE THREE: is about high ranking military leaders who only ask for more and more troops, refusing to face the possibility we have little hope of success.
Put those three groups together and you probably have 95% of the people who live in this country. It's really funny to see the anti-Bush people bandwagon on this song, especially when there's a high probability they qualify as verse two freeloaders.
Among a lot of other more musical things this article discusses "Fortunate Son" and it's relevance to the current political climate and observes a couple of young Iraq war era military types response to the song. The article also compares The Stones and Robert Plant with Fogerty and there's a bit about being a young kid in 1970 listening to all their music. Then the article links up with this here page You are reading now. Not bad for an old guy eh?
~R.
Who cant help but think of the mess in Iraq and little rich boy GW Bush when they hear this song?
This songs not a protest against the Vietnam war its a a protest against the draft,
and how "Fortunate son's" got out of the draft.
quit using this song to write about your own Political opinons. This is not a blog go get your own website.
Yeah, when they send you down to war Well, when you ask them how much you should give Yeah, it's always more, more, more" Star spangled eyes are the idealistic politicians who supported the war and began the draft process, yet had no personal experience of knowledge of what was really happening in Vietnam. How much should you give? Could mean monetary contributions, but also those that volunteered to fight the war and still they instituted the draft to draw more men into fight.
I did read that Fogerty wrote this song after hearing about the elaborate wedding of Nixon's daughter to another politically connected groom. It was extrememly elaborate and cost an extreme amount of money. This happened at a time when many men were dying as young men on the battlefield. The contrast between the rich (Nixon) and the poor (Vietnam troops, the rest of America grieving over their losses) is very prominent in this song...
Also Forest Gump Soundtrack...Amazing!
I respect Fogerty's opinion on the Vietnam war and the apparent inconsistencies of draft board policies back in that era. But mostly I just like the music.
By the way, I think the Afghanistan/Iraq/Middle East situation is completely different from Vietnam. WE DIDN'T CHOOSE TO HAVE THE TWIN TOWERS DESTROYED, THE ISLAMIC TERRORISTS DID. I don't remember the Viet Cong doing anything like 9/11 in the USA!
-Bob, Wilmington, Delaware
"To question your country's policy, especially in a war that kills people, is definitely not un-American. It's probably the most patriotic thing you can do." - John Fogerty
Yes, Flying combat aircraft is a dangerous business but I would say that Vietnam is Much MORE dangerous... The Truth of the matter is many people tried to get into the national guard to avoid overseas duty... Here's the Truth... George W. Was able to get into Texas Air National Guard just 2 weeks before getting Drafted... Bush was accepted the same day that he applied... Jumping over around 500 applicants... Some of those on the list for over a year... During his time with the Air National Guard.. He was suspended for refusal to take a required physical... His original records were flagged with the notation PI... Which stood for Political Influence... And that PI status helped him out in 1972 after it was obvious that George W. just plain stopped showing up... He was not seen around the Texas Air National Guard for almost 9 months during that year... Bush was then designated a deserter... And the matter was swept under the carpet... It seems that George W. Was a FORTUNATE ONE or FORTUNATE SON...