"Fortunate Son" is a song by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, written by the group's frontman John Fogerty. It was released as a single in September 1969, and appeared on the band's fourth studio album, Willy and the Poor Boys, released the following month.
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," and the children of the wealthy being able to avoid the draft, according to its writer, John Fogerty. "It's the old saying about rich men making war and poor men having to fight them."[6] In 2015, he further 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.[7]
In his autobiography, Fogerty wrote the song thinking about David Eisenhower, President Dwight D. Eisenhower's grandson and President Richard Nixon's son-in-law. Eisenhower served three years in the military, most of it as an officer aboard the USS Albany in the Mediterranean Sea.[8]
"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.[9]
Reception
"Fortunate Son" reached No. 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 No. 9 the next week, on the way to peaking at No. 3 three more weeks later, on December 20, 1969.[10]Billboard said it had "the feel and flavor" of the band's previous hit single, "Green River."[11] Upon the single release, Record World felt that it could be CCR's biggest hit to date.[12] It won the RIAA Gold Disc award in December 1970.[13]
Legacy
Pitchfork Media placed it at number 17 on its list of "The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s".[14]Rolling Stone placed it at number 99 on its "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list in 2004 and 2010; it was moved down to number 227 in the 2020 edition. In 2013, the song was added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." In 2025, Rolling Stone ranked the song at number 13 on its list of "The 100 Best Protest Songs of All Time."[15]
Ultimate Classic Rock critic Bryan Wawzenek rated the lyrics of "Fortunate Son" as Fogerty's greatest, saying, "It's not just Fogerty's emotion, but the words that make this song great. 'Star-spangled eyes' is one of the best descriptive phrases in all of rock and roll, a uniquely American twist on rose-colored glasses."[16]
In September 1971, a French adaptation (titled "Fils de personne", meaning "Son of nobody") was released by French rock singer Johnny Hallyday. "Fils de personne" was released as the second and final single off of Hallyday's 1971 studio album Flagrant Délit, released three months prior. The song peaked at No. 4 in the French charts. The single was backed by "Il faut boire à la source".
Philippe Labro's lyrics state the narrator doesn't have a military, billionaire, or civil servant father, and that he owes his success to no one. Journalist Jean-William Thoury wrote that the adaptation does not betray the original song idea "which seems to suit Johnny so well, a real "son of no one".[17]
The song was performed by the U.S. Army band Downrange during the United States Army 250th Anniversary Parade on June 14, 2025, drawing criticism and leading to speculation that it was performed in protest at Donald Trump, who arranged for the parade to coincide with his birthday, despite never performing active military service.[23]
"Fortunate Son" was used in a Wrangler jeans commercial in 2002, to Fogery's chagrin:[24][25]
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.[26]
↑ Whitburn, Joel (1990). The Billboard Hot 100 Charts: The Sixties (October 25, 1969 through December 27, 1969). Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, Inc. ISBN0-89820-074-1.
↑ "Spotlight Singles"(PDF). Billboard. October 18, 1969. p.86. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
↑ Thoury, Jean-William (2002). Johnny en chanson, dictionnaire des chansons de Johnny Hallyday[Johnny in song, dictionary of Johnny Hallyday songs] (in French). France: Éditions Semic Music. pp.115 (translated).
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