Music Notes

Fortunate Son

My sixth track is from a defunct band, Creedence Clearwater Revival. Fortunate Son was released in 1969, quickly becoming an antiwar protest song among the hippies of the day, amidst drafting for the Vietnam war.

I've been aware of John Fogarty and CCR since my childhood; Mom greatly enjoys some of their songs and played them frequently when I was growing up. Sometimes she would tell me about John's bandmates stealing his work, but I was too young to understand.

Now that I'm older and making my own music choices, I find CCR to be one of my favorite "oldies." John Fogarty put a great deal of effort into composing the band's music, and I've learned to spot his distinctive voice in a crowd.

I remember one night we were in the car driving through the Cumberland Mountains in Tennessee, and Mom turned on the radio and this was playing. She let it run all the way through, but didn't say anything about it. The edginess of the melody piqued my interest, so I googled the chorus and found Fortunate Son.

The unmistakable rock riffing and John's angsty voice sound especially three-dimensional and engaging with high-quality binaural headphones. I assume I've downloaded a remastered track, but I wasn't aware of such distinctions last year and have no idea.

While researching Fortunate Son for this post, I found U2 covered it as the B-side of their single Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses,, which I quite enjoyed last year (though for some reason it seems to have lost its charm for me lately…) I couldn't resist downloading their Fortunate Son cover so I can give you my two cents about it. Result: Ugh. Bono's voice is electronically adjusted, and whatever made the CCR original special is melted down. It comes across more as a weak parody than anything else. I don't know why U2 ruined the vocals; Bono knows how to sound edgy naturally. (example: "Wire, by U2" )

Whatever. We'll end with the CCR original and best

Words: 340.