It was pointed out to me
that CCR was absent from the playlist of Rock-tober 2013. Well, there's a lot
of good classic rock out there and a whole lot of month left, but let's take
care of this right now. CCR (Creedence Clearwater Revival for the uninitiated -
seriously if you didn't know that, you're reading the wrong blog) was the
rechristened name for the band formerly known as The Golliwogs. The new name came from 3 different sources: a friend of the band (Credence Newball), a touted ingredient in Olympic Beer (Clear Water), and a hope of finally enjoying
some commercial success (Revival).
CCR was only active from 1968 to 1972 - right smack dab in the middle of one of America's most tumultuous periods. The tension of politics and class struggle of the time comes through in the tone and lyrics of a number of their singles.
"Fortunate Son" was released in 1969 and came off their Willy and the Poor Boys album. This is a straight up, war time protest song forged in the political and economic unrest of the Viet Nam era. No one outside the working class bastion escaped its withering judgement. Politically privileged? GTFO! Old money blue blood? A pox upon your house! Militarily connected? Ain't nobody got time for that!
The sentiment was that a blue collar Joe couldn't catch a decent break, and his life was often at the mercy of the privileged class. Most tellingly, John Fogerty once said, "It's the old saying about rich men making war and poor men having to fight them."
Amusingly, Wrangler jeans used this song in one of their spots from 2001. They only lifted the first 2 lines from the song. They probably figured the following lines weren't really tailored to hawk denim.
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