"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. It soon became an anti-war movementanthem, 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 has been featured extensively in pop culture depictions of the Vietnam War and the anti-war movement. 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. It won the RIAA Gold Disc award in December 1970. Pitchfork Media placed it at number 17 on its list of "The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1960s". 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." In 2015, while on the television show The Voice, he also said: 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".
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. 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.
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 of 2011. Wyclef Jean's cover of the song was played over the beginning and ending credits of The Manchurian Candidate. On the 2002 compilation, Don't Know When I'll Be Back Again-A Compilation Benefiting American Veterans of the Vietnam War, Death Cab for Cutie performed the song with Harvey Danger's Sean Nelson on vocals. Fogerty recorded a version of the song with Foo Fighters for his 2013 album Wrote a Song for Everyone. In 2008, Cat Power included a cover of the song on their Dark End of the Street album. 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 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 ' 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 ' 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. The master recording by CCR was made available as well in 2010. The song is also playable on basic controllers in . The song is briefly played as both its original recording and a solo a cappella rendition, sung by Jessy Carolina, in BioShock Infinite. In 2015, the song was included in the enhanced re-release of Grand Theft Auto V for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. It can be heard playing on Los Santos Rock Radio. 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. 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. 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. In the 2016 film ''War Dogs, the song is used in the scene where David, Ephraim and Marlboro are saved by the U.S. military when they are being pursued by Iraqi gunmen.
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." In this case, the advertiser eventually stopped using the song, as Fogerty related in a later interview:
