Today is the 76th birthday of John Fogerty. Here is the history of his most famous hit.
One day, John Fogerty was sitting in his bedroom and he was angry about the unfairness of the draft. He was specifically thinking of David Eisenhower (grandson of Pres. Eisenhower and husband of Julie Nixon). (Ironically, Eisenhower served three years in the military, although it could be argued he got favorable treatment when he was in the Army.) He wrote the song in twenty minutes. It was put on Creedence Clearwater Revival’s fourth album and was released with “Down on the Corner” on the other side. It was a big hit and reached #3. In 2013, Rolling Stone magazine placed it at #99 on its “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”. The song became an anti-war anthem, but it was move anti-classism. Fogerty said “it speaks more to the unfairness of class than war itself…. It’s the old saying about rich men making war and poor men having to fight them.” Fogerty was partly influenced by his personal experience. He received his draft notice in 1966. He immediately went to enlist. The recruiting officer post-dated his enlistment to before the draft notice and Fogerty was put in the Army Reserve. He became a supply clerk and did not go to Vietnam. But if he had been a Senator’s son, he never would have gotten a draft notice. Here are the lyrics:
Some folks are born made to wave the flag
They’re red, white and blue
And when the band plays “Hail to the Chief”
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
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand
Lord, don’t they help themselves, yeah
But when the taxman comes to the door
The house look like a rummage sale
It ain’t me, it ain’t me
I ain’t no millionaire’s son, no, no
It ain’t me, it ain’t me
I ain’t no fortunate one
Yeah, some folks inherit star-spangled eyes
They send you down to war
And when you ask ’em, “How much should we give?”
They only answer, “More, more, more”
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
It ain’t me, it ain’t me
I ain’t no fortunate one
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortunate_Son
https://genius.com/Creedence-clearwater-revival-fortunate-son-lyrics
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