Well, it seems I forgot to do a music post last night.  I woke this morning with a vague sense of something not quite right, something I was supposed to do, but it was almost 11:00 before it hit me that what I had forgotten was a music post!  I truly think senility is setting in!  Anyway, I had CCR in my mind, so I went in search of one I hadn’t played for a while that I could get on the schedule in under an hour, and this one jumped up and said, “Me … Me … Pick ME!!!!”  And so, I give you “Fortunate Son”!

The song was released in 1969, at the height of the war in Vietnam and the stateside protests against our role in it.  It soon became an anti-war movement anthem; an expressive symbol of the counterculture’s opposition to U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War and solidarity with the soldiers fighting it.

The song itself is not explicit in its criticism of that war in particular, rather, it “speaks more to the unfairness of class than war itself,” according to its creator, John Fogerty.

“The thoughts behind this song – it was a lot of anger. So it was the Vietnam War going on… Now I was drafted and they’re making me fight, and no one has actually defined why. So this was all boiling inside of me and I sat down on the edge of my bed and out came “It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no senator’s son!” You know, it took about 20 minutes to write the song.

Fortunate Son wasn’t really inspired by any one event. Julie Nixon was dating David Eisenhower. You’d hear about the son of this senator or that congressman who was given a deferment from the military or a choice position in the military. They seemed privileged and whether they liked it or not, these people were symbolic in the sense that they weren’t being touched by what their parents were doing. They weren’t being affected like the rest of us.”

This song has been featured in so many movies it makes your head spin, such as Forrest Gump, Black Hawk Down, and The Manchurian Candidate, to name a few.

Fortunate Son
Creedence Clearwater Revival

Some folks are born made to wave the flag
Ooh, they’re red, white and blue
And when the band plays “Hail to the chief”
Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no senator’s son, son
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate one, no

Some folks are born silver spoon in hand
Lord, don’t they help themselves, oh
But when the taxman comes to the door
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes

It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no millionaire’s son, no
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate one, no

Some folks inherit star spangled eyes
Ooh, they send you down to war, Lord
And when you ask them, “How much should we give?”
Ooh, they only answer “More! More! More!” yoh

It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no military son, son
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate one, one

It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate one, no no no
It ain’t me, it ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate son, no no no

Songwriters: John C Fogerty
Fortunate Son lyrics © The Bicycle Music Company