John Fogerty finds it “hilarious” that Donald Trump has misunderstood ‘Fortunate Son’
Creedence Clearwater Revival singer John Fogerty has revealed he finds it “hilarious” how Donald Trump has misunderstood the meaning behind ‘Fortunate Son’.
Despite Fogerty previously issuing a cease-and-desist letter against Trump using the song at political rallies in 2020, it has continued to be played at these events as recently as June.
The Creedence Clearwater Revival track was written in 1969 about how the sons of politicians and powerbrokers managed to avoid being drafted in the Vietnam War. Meanwhile, less fortunate sons like Fogerty were made to fight a war that these men’s fathers had engineered.
Reflecting on his “most misunderstood song” during a recent interview with Vulture, Fogerty said: “That’s misunderstood by a small percentage of people — people who seem to be conservative, right-wing, and probably Republican or some other ‘ism’ in that category. And most notably by Mr Trump.”
The former Creedence Clearwater Revival singer-songwriter continued, “It’s happened before where people thought it was a patriotic ditty to wave the flag and all that, not really understanding the cynicism and absolute defiance I had in the song.”
Fogerty is bemused how people continue to miscontrue the creation, highlighting the lyric, “It ain’t me, I ain’t no fortunate son”, before adding, “I can’t imagine using that song as a political rallying theme, particularly when you seem to be the person who I’m screaming about in the song on all three counts. It’s hilarious to me.”
The iconic musician, who appeared on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury this year, then jokingly questioned whether it was actually him who was in the wrong, concluding, “Maybe I’m the one that misunderstands it, who knows?”
One track that is impossible for Trump to misunderstand is Neil Young’s latest effort, ‘Big Change’, which he premiered at a show in Chicago earlier this week. On it, Young sings, “Don’t need no fascist rules, Don’t want no fascist school, Don’t want soldiers on our streets, There’s big crime in DC at the White House.”
The Canadian singer-songwriter then adds even less room for doubt regarding the song’s meaning, “No more money to the fascists, The billionaire fascists, Time to blackout the system.”
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