"Fortunate Son" (Creedence Clearwater Revival)

"Fortunate Son" from the 1969 album Willy and the Poor Boys may be the protest song to end all protest songs.

The story behind it is fairly simple: John Fogerty was angry.  He was angry about students getting beaten by riot police after anti-war protests at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.  He was angry about Richard Nixon's dismissive attitude toward young people and the establishment's attempts to paint war protestors as un-American.  And he was angry about watching young men--guys who were his age and largely from working-class backgrounds, like himself--getting drafted, en masse, to fight in a conflict where the goals and motivations were nebulous at best.  (Fogerty himself had been drafted in 1965 and served in the Army Reserve until he was honorably discharged in mid-1967, when he returned to his home of El Cerrito, CA, and re-launched his band, Creedence Clearwater Revival.)

But it was after seeing media coverage of the lavish wedding plans for Nixon's daughter, Julie, to ex-President Dwight Eisenhower's grandson, David, that Fogerty's fiery pen started flying, churning out the lyrics to the song in 20 minutes.

Stated Fogerty in a Rolling Stone interview, "You just had the feeling that none of these people were going to be too involved in the war."

As Fogerty recites from his upcoming autobiography, the song's title came from the political phrase "favorite son," which often refers to a candidate for national office who gets unwavering support from their home state regardless of political affiliation.  He took that phrase and changed it to "Fortunate Son"--an apt title for his searing indictment of politicians and figures in power, whose children were receiving special treatment by not being sent into battle.

Likewise, Fogerty points out that, having served in the armed forces himself, his goal was to let servicemen know that he was not against them, unlike some anti-war protestors who were inexplicably spitting on troops returning home from Vietnam.  Rather, Fogerty's sights were set squarely on Nixon and the establishment.

I believe "Fortunate Son" remains evergreen because of its scorching truth and brevity.  In just over two minutes, Fogerty and his bandmates unleash a stomping, swamp rock attack on hypocrisy.  That's why, even though Fogerty's lyrics were inspired by events surrounding the Vietnam War and politics in the late 1960s, it feels like the most pointed, ego-shattering editorial when it's lobbed at figures of power still today.