My brother received his draft notice the day after he graduated from high school. He had just received a full football scholarship to play in one of the Big 10's football programs. Fogerty was right, it was the kids from the poor families who were drafted. The boys from wealthy families or whose parents were politically connected did not receive notices to report for duty. My brother's best friend who was ordered to report the same time as my brother, came back home in a flag draped coffin. My brother came back home only to die 11 years later from a rare form of Non-Hodgkins lymphoma oncologists said they only saw in Vietnam era vets. So the part about they will send you down to war, always hits me hard. People who scream we should go to war are not there when those coffins are unloaded from planes.
That opening riff...is THE Vientam war in the heads of a lot of people. It starts playing and you already have the images of helicopters in your mind. My suggestion to react to: Neil Young, either Hey Hey My My, or Rockin' in the free world. Both are very grunge.
I was not able to go to college because my brother & I graduated same year-1968-& he HAD to go to college to avoid the draft!!! My dad was career Army having fought in WW II, Korea & Vietnam!!! He didn't want his son going to 'Nam - I did go in '69 & ended up marrying a Vietnam vet who served 3 tours of 'Nam - he was NOT a fortunate son!!!
This is true. My cousins on the bayou had never been out of our parish. We all hated them getting their draft notice. One cousin never come home🥲He died in a faraway land. Never saw the swamps again… I will never forget the treatment they got when they come home.. 🔥🔥
This sounds *mostly* like the studio version, but it's being played noticeably up-tempo, and with a bit more distortion. Great, great song. It wasn't so much that the wealthy and politically connected were officially exempt from the draft, it's that they always found ways around it. Just to pick a couple of prominent examples: George W. Bush's father pulled strings to get him assigned to the Texas Air National Guard rather than a regular military unit that might get shipped overseas. Donald Trump claimed a medical exemption; his father paid off a doctor to certify he suffered from bone spurs in his foot. Things like that.
And Fred Trump was the doctor's landlord - and pressured the guy into writing up a diagnosis of "bone spurs" to keep his son Donald from being drafted to Vietnam.
One of the great songs and great reaction. IMO... that's why I always feel you should listen to the studio version first, so you can get the lyrics and feel of what they're doing with the song. Then check out a live version and see the great musicianship, the fun of doing the song. Anyway this was great.
There are so many other songs by CCR songs you should hear 19 Top hit songs. When you have time check them out. Down on the Bayou, I put a spell on you, Proud Mary, Heard it through the Grapevine., Bad Moon Rising. Back in the Day tge great bands were many and they could rock thieir instruments
CCR is one of the most underrated bands of the golden age of rock and roll. So many iconic riffs and lyrics and hardly anyone has heard of the band, even if they've heard the music.
i am from the Vietnam era. I had my draft card but didn't get called. But everyone from that time knew that every rich son had bone spurs as long as you could payoff a doctor to write that up. This song was written for Donald Trump - who had "bone spurs" and dodge the draft that way. Poorer sons whose number came up had to go to Canada to get out.
Great song and a great reaction as always, if you ever get the chance try “no bravery” by James blunt, it is quite simply the hardest antiwar video to watch given todays troubles and James’s perspective
The Vietnam War era was a horror show. I graduated high school in 1967 from a school in a working-class neighborhood. The president of the previous student class was the first person from my home town to die in Vietnam. No one who attended the rich kid school in my home town was drafted. No one from that school died in Vietnam. No one from that school even served in Vietnam. At first rich kids escaped the draft by going to college or getting married. There were college and marriage deferments. After the government began drafting college kids and married kids without children wealthy parents paid private doctors large sums of money to write letters to draft boards claiming that the rich kids were medically unfit to serve due to flat feet, bone spurs, etc. A lot of doctors in affluent neighborhoods became very wealthy during the Vietnam War by writing medical deferment letters for the “fortunate sons” of their friends and neighbors. The system was corrupt. Poor white and black kids were the ones drafted to fight the Vietnam War. I was a draft counselor who advised working class kids on their legal rights. Local draft boards had quotas. The members of my draft board were all World War I vets who didn’t understand what was happening in Vietnam. One kid that I counseled was ordered to report for induction into the US Army even though he had been severely injured as a child when a space heater blew up in his face. He had lost 40% of the muscle tissue in his arms and was unable to pull a trigger on a rifle. Despite being covered in scar tissue he passed his pre-induction physical exam. If the draft counselors of the American Friends Service Committee hadn’t intervened that kid would have been drafted into the army and sent to Vietnam. Another person we counseled was an officer in the US Navy. He applied for conscientious objector status after the destroyer he was serving on had an “accident” test firing its main guns. Standard procedure was to turn the gun turrets out to sea and fire the test rounds into the ocean. His ship failed to follow procedure and fired towards the coast line completely destroying a South Vietnamese village. The Navy officer was part of the team sent on shore to assess the damage to the village. After seeing the death and destruction he became a conscientious objector and requested that he be allowed to complete his military service in a non-combat role such as working in a hospital. The Navy immediately imprisoned him at Fort Mead. His case was particularly difficult as it was judged in a military court under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and not in the civilian court system.
You're too young to have experienced CCR when they were starting out. I'm old so I got the experience first hand. Trust me, John Fogerty is as good as ever.
Yeah, for sure man.. listen to this or the Eagles, or any "classic rock" band from back then. THEN, listen to Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. No contest!!! Record labels turned to imagery and synth beat boxes to sell music, the "artist" just has look good and shake their a$$. Thats all people care about nowadays. Sad.
I definitely was NOT a "Fortunate Son". Only boy in the family and my Dad died when I was 12 yrs old, but to be considered Sole Surviving Son in the eyes of the Draft my father had to have died while he was in the Military. Total B.S. because if I was killed in Nam that would have been the end of my Family Line. As an AeroMed in the Air Force, I can honestly say I NEVER had to treat an injured Politician's, CEO/Rich Businessman's son because they all had cushy jobs Stateside or exempt from Military Service.
Clinton too, his connections kept him out of Vietnam. It's not well-known but his biological father was former Arkansas governor and very rich man Winthrop Rockefeller.
My brother received his draft notice the day after he graduated from high school. He had just received a full football scholarship to play in one of the Big 10's football programs. Fogerty was right, it was the kids from the poor families who were drafted. The boys from wealthy families or whose parents were politically connected did not receive notices to report for duty. My brother's best friend who was ordered to report the same time as my brother, came back home in a flag draped coffin. My brother came back home only to die 11 years later from a rare form of Non-Hodgkins lymphoma oncologists said they only saw in Vietnam era vets. So the part about they will send you down to war, always hits me hard. People who scream we should go to war are not there when those coffins are unloaded from planes.
That opening riff...is THE Vientam war in the heads of a lot of people. It starts playing and you already have the images of helicopters in your mind.
My suggestion to react to: Neil Young, either Hey Hey My My, or Rockin' in the free world. Both are very grunge.
I've seen John Fogarty a few times in concert. He is awesome.
CCR best of the best. Country rock . You should listen to more.
I was not able to go to college because my brother & I graduated same year-1968-& he HAD to go to college to avoid the draft!!! My dad was career Army having fought in WW II, Korea & Vietnam!!! He didn't want his son going to 'Nam - I did go in '69 & ended up marrying a Vietnam vet who served 3 tours of 'Nam - he was NOT a fortunate son!!!
This is true. My cousins on the bayou had never been out of our parish. We all hated them getting their draft notice. One cousin never come home🥲He died in a faraway land. Never saw the swamps again… I will never forget the treatment they got when they come home.. 🔥🔥
My favorite band from the 70’s. 💯🔥🔥🔥
This sounds *mostly* like the studio version, but it's being played noticeably up-tempo, and with a bit more distortion. Great, great song.
It wasn't so much that the wealthy and politically connected were officially exempt from the draft, it's that they always found ways around it. Just to pick a couple of prominent examples: George W. Bush's father pulled strings to get him assigned to the Texas Air National Guard rather than a regular military unit that might get shipped overseas. Donald Trump claimed a medical exemption; his father paid off a doctor to certify he suffered from bone spurs in his foot. Things like that.
And Fred Trump was the doctor's landlord - and pressured the guy into writing up a diagnosis of "bone spurs" to keep his son Donald from being drafted to Vietnam.
This is faster than the original
CCR was amazing!!!
One of the great songs and great reaction. IMO... that's why I always feel you should listen to the studio version first, so you can get the lyrics and feel of what they're doing with the song. Then check out a live version and see the great musicianship, the fun of doing the song. Anyway this was great.
There are so many other songs by CCR songs you should hear 19 Top hit songs. When you have time check them out. Down on the Bayou, I put a spell on you, Proud Mary, Heard it through the Grapevine., Bad Moon Rising. Back in the Day tge great bands were many and they could rock thieir instruments
CCR is one of the most underrated bands of the golden age of rock and roll. So many iconic riffs and lyrics and hardly anyone has heard of the band, even if they've heard the music.
CCR has so many hits and like most bands of the time got screwd out of all the royalties due to bad contracts.
The studio version is slower of course, so the lyrics are easier to hear, and their great!
Need to hit some more CCR, as a Side note CCR was the first band signed for Woodstock (the real one).
i am from the Vietnam era. I had my draft card but didn't get called. But everyone from that time knew that every rich son had bone spurs as long as you could payoff a doctor to write that up. This song was written for Donald Trump - who had "bone spurs" and dodge the draft that way. Poorer sons whose number came up had to go to Canada to get out.
Great song and a great reaction as always, if you ever get the chance try “no bravery” by James blunt, it is quite simply the hardest antiwar video to watch given todays troubles and James’s perspective
" there will be war and rumours of war"
The Vietnam War era was a horror show. I graduated high school in 1967 from a school in a working-class neighborhood. The president of the previous student class was the first person from my home town to die in Vietnam. No one who attended the rich kid school in my home town was drafted. No one from that school died in Vietnam. No one from that school even served in Vietnam.
At first rich kids escaped the draft by going to college or getting married. There were college and marriage deferments. After the government began drafting college kids and married kids without children wealthy parents paid private doctors large sums of money to write letters to draft boards claiming that the rich kids were medically unfit to serve due to flat feet, bone spurs, etc.
A lot of doctors in affluent neighborhoods became very wealthy during the Vietnam War by writing medical deferment letters for the “fortunate sons” of their friends and neighbors. The system was corrupt. Poor white and black kids were the ones drafted to fight the Vietnam War.
I was a draft counselor who advised working class kids on their legal rights. Local draft boards had quotas. The members of my draft board were all World War I vets who didn’t understand what was happening in Vietnam.
One kid that I counseled was ordered to report for induction into the US Army even though he had been severely injured as a child when a space heater blew up in his face. He had lost 40% of the muscle tissue in his arms and was unable to pull a trigger on a rifle. Despite being covered in scar tissue he passed his pre-induction physical exam. If the draft counselors of the American Friends Service Committee hadn’t intervened that kid would have been drafted into the army and sent to Vietnam.
Another person we counseled was an officer in the US Navy. He applied for conscientious objector status after the destroyer he was serving on had an “accident” test firing its main guns. Standard procedure was to turn the gun turrets out to sea and fire the test rounds into the ocean.
His ship failed to follow procedure and fired towards the coast line completely destroying a South Vietnamese village. The Navy officer was part of the team sent on shore to assess the damage to the village. After seeing the death and destruction he became a conscientious objector and requested that he be allowed to complete his military service in a non-combat role such as working in a hospital.
The Navy immediately imprisoned him at Fort Mead. His case was particularly difficult as it was judged in a military court under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and not in the civilian court system.
This is such a great song. I’m so surprised it didn’t get more views
I wish all Creedence songs were longer.
If you want to hear great music from this ere, listen to yhe soundtrack of " Good Morning Viet Nam"
You're too young to have experienced CCR when they were starting out. I'm old so I got the experience first hand. Trust me, John Fogerty is as good as ever.
This song was about Vietnam War
You REALLY need to dive further into CCR!!!
The studio version isn't as fast and is easier to understand
You should check out Bruce Springsteens cover of Chuck Berry’s You Never Can Tell, live at Leipzig
Fortunate Son should be played to all those in government who wants to draft our kids!
To be poor during that war meant certain draft. Luckily i graduated in 73 at 17 by the time i turned 18 the draft was stopped.
Stu cook on bass
Fogerty was never in Vietnam.
Yeah, for sure man.. listen to this or the Eagles, or any "classic rock" band from back then. THEN, listen to Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. No contest!!! Record labels turned to imagery and synth beat boxes to sell music, the "artist" just has look good and shake their a$$. Thats all people care about nowadays. Sad.
I definitely was NOT a "Fortunate Son". Only boy in the family and my Dad died when I was 12 yrs old, but to be considered Sole Surviving Son in the eyes of the Draft my father had to have died while he was in the Military. Total B.S. because if I was killed in Nam that would have been the end of my Family Line.
As an AeroMed in the Air Force, I can honestly say I NEVER had to treat an injured Politician's, CEO/Rich Businessman's son because they all had cushy jobs Stateside or exempt from Military Service.
It's incredible live isn't it? A little bit too fast, but amazing just the same.
This version doesn't do it credit. Too bad. Find the original. Excellent tune.
Fortunate sons: Al Gore, George Bush Jr, Trump, Biden and nearly every future senator and congressman
Clinton too, his connections kept him out of Vietnam. It's not well-known but his biological father was former Arkansas governor and very rich man Winthrop Rockefeller.