Fortunate Son

"Fortunate Son" is a song by the American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival released on their fourth studio album, Willy and the Poor Boys in November 1969. It was previously released as a single, together with "Down on the Corner", in September 1969.[2] 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.[3] The song has been featured extensively in pop culture depictions of the Vietnam War and the anti-war movement.

For other uses, see Fortunate Son (disambiguation).

"Fortunate Son"
Single by Creedence Clearwater Revival
from the album Willy and the Poor Boys
A-side"Down on the Corner"
ReleasedSeptember 1969
Recorded1969, Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California
Genre
Length2:21
LabelFantasy
Songwriter(s)John Fogerty
Producer(s)John Fogerty
Creedence Clearwater Revival singles chronology
"Down on the Corner"
(1969)		 "Fortunate Son"
(1969)		 "Travelin' Band"
(1970)

The song reached number 14 on the United States charts on November 22, 1969, the week before Billboard changed its methodology on double-sided hits. The tracks combined to climb to number 9 the next week, on the way to peaking at number 3 three more weeks later, on 20 December 1969.[4] It won the RIAA Gold Disc award in December 1970.[5] Pitchfork Media placed it at number 17 on its list of "The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s".[6] Rolling Stone placed it at number 99 on its "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list. In 2013, the song was added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Origin

The song, released during the peak period of the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, 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 author, John Fogerty. "It's the old saying about rich men making war and poor men having to fight them."[7] In 2015, while on the television show The Voice, he also said:

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.[8]

According to his 2015 memoir, Fogerty was thinking about David Eisenhower, the grandson of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who married Julie Nixon, the daughter of then-President-elect Richard Nixon in 1968, when he wrote "Fortunate Son."[9]

"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.[10]

Interpretive legacy

The song has been widely used to protest military actions as well as elitism in a broader sense in Western society, particularly in the United States; as an added consequence of its popularity, it has even been used in completely unrelated situations, such as to advertise blue jeans.[11]

Bruce Springsteen, Dave Grohl, and Zac Brown attracted criticism when they performed the song together at the November 2014 Concert for Valor in Washington D.C.. Fogerty, a military veteran, defended their song choice.[12]

Cover versions

The song has since been recorded or performed by many artists. U2 made a cover during Zoo TV Tour era in 1992, appearing on the "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" single and the anniversary album Achtung Baby (Deluxe Edition) of 2011. Wyclef Jean's cover of the song was played over the beginning and ending credits of The Manchurian Candidate (2004). Fogerty recorded a version of the song with Foo Fighters for his 2013 album Wrote a Song for Everyone.[13] In 2008, Cat Power included a cover of the song on their Dark End of the Street album.[14] On November 29, 2019, Clutch released their cover version of the song as part of their Weathermaker Vault Series. The band dedicated the song to their manager, Jack Flanagan, who died on October 12, 2019. A music video of the song accompanied the release.

Licensed uses

Video games

The song is used in the introduction sequence of the game Battlefield Vietnam where it is among a list of in-game playable tracks. The song was also used during the E3 announcement trailer for Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam[15] and is also the main menu song for the game and plays mid-game in vehicle radios.

"Fortunate Son" was also included in the game Call of Duty: Black Ops at the start of the level S.O.G. Its use is an anachronism, as the level S.O.G. takes place during the Battle of Khe Sanh, a year before the song is released.

In Homefront, the song is played during the chapter "Golden Gate".

A cover of the song was released as DLC for Rock Band in 2007. The first appearance of the song came out before real instruments were integrated. The original version was made available to download on March 1, 2011, for use in Rock Band 3 PRO mode which takes advantage of the use of a real guitar / bass guitar, along with standard MIDI-compatible electronic drum kits in addition to vocals.[16][17] The master recording by CCR was made available as well in 2010. The song is also playable on basic controllers in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock.

The song is briefly played as both its original recording and a solo a cappella rendition, sung by Jessy Carolina, in BioShock Infinite.[18]

The song was used during a mission to destroy rigged voting machines in Watch Dogs 2.

Film and television

In the 1994 film Forrest Gump, "Fortunate Son" is played in the scene where Forrest and Bubba arrive in a South Vietnam combat zone in a U.S. Army helicopter.[19]

In the 2004 version of the film The Manchurian Candidate, a cover version of this song performed by Wyclef Jean is featured and is the opening track of the closing credits.[20]

In 2007, this song was used in the film Die Hard 4.0 and for the end credits.

In 2012 this song was used for the end credits of Peter Berg's film "Battleship".

In 2016, this song was included in the soundtrack album for the film Suicide Squad.[21]

Commercials

A highly edited version was used in a Wrangler commercial because John Fogerty "long ago signed away legal control of his old recordings to Creedence's record label, Fantasy Records."[11][22] In this case, the advertiser eventually stopped using the song, as Fogerty related in a later interview:

Yes, the people that owned Fantasy Records also owned all my early songs, and they would do all kinds of stuff I really hated in a commercial way with my songs. ... Then one day somebody from the L.A. Times actually bothered to call me up and ask me how I felt, and I finally had a chance to talk about it. And I said I'm very much against my song being used to sell pants. ... So my position got stated very well in the newspaper, and lo and behold, Wrangler to their credit said, "Wow, even though we made our agreement with the publisher, the owner of the song, we can see now that John Fogerty really hates the idea", so they stopped doing it.[23]

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Denmark (IFPI Denmark)[24] Gold 45,000
Italy (FIMI)[25] Gold 25,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[26] Gold 400,000
United States (RIAA)[27] 2× Platinum 2,000,000

sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

See also

References
  1. Perone, James E. (January 1, 2001). Songs of the Vietnam Conflict. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 60–. ISBN 978-0-313-31528-2.
  2. "Creedence Clearwater Revival". .telus.net. January 2, 1971. Retrieved June 12, 2010.
  3. "Creedence Clearwater Revival". Cleveland, Ohio: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Retrieved July 4, 2017.
  4. Whitburn, Joel (1990). The Billboard Hot 100 Charts: The Sixties (October 25, 1969 through December 27, 1969). Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, Inc. ISBN 0-89820-074-1.
  5. Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs. London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 257. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
  6. "Staff Lists: The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s". Pitchfork Media. August 18, 2006. Retrieved December 15, 2013.
  7. "Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival". Songfacts.com. Retrieved June 12, 2010.
  8. The Voice (US), Season 9 Episode 7. Originally aired October 12, 2015.
  9. "Is Creedence Clearwater Revival's 'Fortunate Son' About Al Gore?". Urban Legends Reference Pages. Snopes.com. Retrieved August 25, 2006.
  10. Fogerty, John (2015). Fortunate Son: My Life, My Music. With Jimmy McDonough. Little, Brown. p. 190. ISBN 0316244562.
  11. Baker, Bob (November 1, 2002). "Fogerty to Wrangler: Song in ad 'ain't me' - SFGate". Articles.sfgate.com. Retrieved March 26, 2010.
  12. Lewis, Randy (November 12, 2014). "John Fogerty defends 'Fortunate Son' song choice at Concert for Valor". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  13. Greene, Andy (June 6, 2013). "Fogerty and Friends Go Back to the Bayou". Rolling Stone (1184): 23.
  14. Dark End Of The Street [EP] by Cat Power, retrieved January 26, 2019
  15. Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam debut trailer
  16. Gaddo, Kyle (February 25, 2011). "Eleven Legacy Rock Band Tracks Getting PRO Upgrades March 1st". DualShockers. Archived from the original on May 25, 2013. Retrieved November 9, 2012.
  17. Snider, Mike (June 10, 2010). "Rock Band 3: What's New, What's Notable". USA Today. Retrieved November 8, 2012.
  18. Pinchefsky, Carol. "Irrational Games Makes Serious Misstep with 'BioShock: Infinite' Soundtrack Offering". Forbes. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  19. Schonfeld, Zach (February 20, 2018). "How Creedence Clearwater Revival Became the Soundtrack to Every Vietnam Movie". Pitchfork. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  20. "The Manchurian Candidate (2004) - Soundtracks". IMDb. Retrieved October 8, 2014.
  21. Kaufman, Gil (June 17, 2016). "'Suicide Squad' Soundtrack: Skrillex & Rick Ross, Panic! at the Disco Cover 'Bohemian Rhapsody' & More". Billboard. Retrieved June 22, 2016.
  22. Baker, Bob (October 23, 2002). "Their 'Son' was Fogerty's baby; The last thing the singer wants is a Creedence corporate revival, but he doesn't own the rights, so 'Fortunate Son' now sells jeans". Pqasb.pqarchiver.com. Retrieved March 29, 2010.
  23. "John Fogerty Experiences a Musical and Personal 'Revival'". Spinner. October 5, 2007. Archived from the original on May 12, 2008. Retrieved March 26, 2010.
  24. "Danish single certifications – Creedence Clearwater Revival – Fortunate Son". IFPI Denmark. Retrieved November 23, 2019. Scroll through the page-list below until year 2019 to obtain certification.
  25. "Italian single certifications – Creedence Clearwater Revival – Fortunate Son" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved November 23, 2019. Select "2017" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Select "Fortunate Son" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Singoli online" under "Sezione".
  26. "British single certifications – Creedence Clearwater Revival – Fortunate Son". British Phonographic Industry. Select singles in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Fortunate Son in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  27. "American single certifications – Creedence Clearwater Revival – Fortunate Son". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved November 30, 2018. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH. 
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