9/13/2020
John Fogerty Responds to Trump’s Unfortunate Use of “Fortunate Son”
Breaking Newstags: music, rock and roll, Donald Trump
Some folks are born, silver spoon in hand
Lord, don’t they help themselves, y’all
It ain’t me, it ain’t me
I ain’t no millionaire’s son
It ain’t me, it ain’t me
I ain’t no fortunate one…
I ain’t no fortunate son
From “Fortunate Son”
By John Fogerty
Once again, the Trump team has made a ridiculously large song blunder. They played John Fogerty’s song “Fortunate Son” as the president stepped out of Air Force One for a recent rally in Freeland, Michigan.
Either that or, as has been suggested, somebody’s trolling the president from inside. Because could there have been a more egregiously worse song choice? It’s a song about the regular American sons who got shipped off to fight and die in Vietnam, while the wealthy sons of millionaires and senators got deferments for trumped-up afflictions, such as bone spurs.
The timing was especially egregious, as only days ago the news came out that in Bob Woodward’s new book, Trump referred to American soldiers who fought and died in Vietnam as “losers” and “suckers.”
In a video posted on Facebook, the legendary songwriter of “Proud Mary” and countless classics responded with disbelief.
“Recently, the President has been using my song ‘Fortunate Son’ for his campaign rallies,” said Fogerty, “which I find confounding, to say the least.”
It’s a song that speaks, he said, “more to the unfairness of class than war itself. It’s the old saying about rich men making war and poor men having to fight them.”
Then, being a songwriter of considerable wisdom, he suggested a solution to this ongoing song choice problem: paying attention to the lyrics. Or at least the first verse.
“The very first lines of ‘Fortunate Son’ are, ‘Some folks are born made to wave the flag, ooh their red, white and blue/But when the band plays ‘Hail to the Chief,’ they point the cannon at you,’” he said.
“Well, that’s exactly what happened recently in Lafayette Park. When the president decided to take a walk across the park, he cleared out the area using Federal troops so that he could stand in front of St. John’s church with a Bible.”
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