Creedence Clearwater Revival song "Fortunate Son" was inspired by?

[B Calm]

In 1970 as a young seaman aboard the USS Albany I served with a famous person. Rarely did his sea mates ever see him. Most of the time he was flying back to Washington to help his father-in-law reelection campaign.
John Fogerty's song "Fortunate Son" was inspired by this person. Can you name him?

[Rockstone]

1. George W Bush?

WHo was also the inspiration for "A Love Story"

[B Calm]

2. Close, but no...

[BootinUp]

3. Bush never served in the Navy though.

[pinkpops]

4. I thought that was Dick Cheney

like "never having to say you are sorry"

[LizW]

5. I know, but I cheated.

I looked it up on Snopes. :blush:

[Lost4words]

6. Was it Chuck Robb?

will you let us know?

[blogslut]

7. If you're going to claim

that it's Al Gore, Snopes says you're wrong:

http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/fortunate.asp

[Clark2008]

8. David Eisenhower

[B Calm]

9. BINGO!

http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/fortunate.asp

[Pirate Smile]

10. I just got that from Snopes.com.

"As it turns out, "Fortunate Son" was indeed inspired by the descendant of a prominent political figure, and since John Fogerty has named him while discussing the song's origins, we don't have to speculate about his identity: He is David Eisenhower, the grandson of former U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the son-in-law of former U.S. president Richard Nixon (through his marriage to Nixon's daughter, Julie). "

RW'ers like to say it was Gore but that isn't true:

Claim: The Creedence Clearwater Revival song "Fortunate Son" was inspired by Al Gore, Jr.

Status: False.

Although the lyrics give no indication that John Fogerty had any specific person in mind when he wrote the song, some listeners continue to speculate about the identity of the "senator's son" referred to therein — a young man who presumably avoided military service in Vietnam through his father's influence. At our remove of two generations from the song's original release, there is really only one son of a Vietnam-era U.S. senator who was of draft age in the late 1960s and has a name prominent enough to be widely recognized: former U.S. senator and U.S. vice-president Al Gore, Jr., whose father represented Tennessee in the U.S. Senate from 1953 to 1971.

The Gores don't really fit the thrust of the song's message, though, as Al Gore, Sr., was not a Vietnam War supporter (indeed, his opposition to the war is one of the factors commonly cited as contributing to his defeat in the 1970 elections), and Al Gore, Jr. didn't duck military service through his father's influence, but rather enlisted in the U.S. Army and served (as an Army newspaper reporter) in Vietnam. (Fogerty had already written the song by the time the younger Gore enlisted, though, so it's not completely implausible that Al might have been one of the inspirations behind the lyrics.)

http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/fortunate.asp

[Epiphany4z]

11. here ya go

As it turns out, "Fortunate Son" was indeed inspired by the descendant of a prominent political figure, and since John Fogerty has named him while discussing the song's origins, we don't have to speculate about his identity: He is David Eisenhower, the grandson of former U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the son-in-law of former U.S. president Richard Nixon (through his marriage to Nixon's daughter, Julie

http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/fortunate.asp

[JHB]

12. Eisenhower

David, that is.

[Ian David]

13. I cheated and used The Google:

According to snopes.com:

<snip>

As it turns out, "Fortunate Son" was indeed inspired by the descendant of a prominent political figure, and since John Fogerty has named him while discussing the song's origins, we don't have to speculate about his identity: He is David Eisenhower, the grandson of former U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the son-in-law of former U.S. president Richard Nixon (through his marriage to Nixon's daughter, Julie).

One of Fogerty's explanations of how he came to write "Fortunate Son" is quoted in Hank Bordowitz's unofficial history of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bad Moon Rising:

It's a confrontation between me and Richard Nixon ... The haves, the people who have it all. Not a positive image of the people who live up the hill, with their big cars. People I don't respect. During the Vietnam War, these were the people who didn't have to go to war. I was thinking about David Eisenhower, the grandson of Dwight, who married Julie Nixon. I always confused her with Tricia {Nixon}. I guess it's easy to pick on somebody named Tricia. It sounds so silver spoon.

Anyway, I was showing the band the song. I didn't have much. I knew the chord changes and could feel the energy. I had a title, "Fortunate Son," but no song. Yet I was showing the band the structure, my normal gig as the musical director of the band.

So, I went into the bedroom, sat on the edge of my bed with a yellow legal tablet and my felt-tipped pen. Out came the song. "It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no fortunate son." I was screaming inside, very intense, but not saying a word. Out it came, onto three sheets of legal paper.

It took about twenty minutes. It was like vrooom — it just came right out.

I played that song at an antiwar protest. As I was walking in the hallway after our set, someone came up to me and told me what an awesome version we had played. I remember telling them, "Richard Nixon is a great inspiration."

Nixon was always saying 'peace with honor' and 'my country, love it or leave it,' but we knew better 'cause the guy was obviously evil.

More:
http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/fortunate.asp


<snip>

[307 MMS]

14. 1970

In November of 1970, I joined the USAF to avoid the draft. I ended up being a weapons mechanic loading B-52s at Utapao Air Base, Thailand. Yeah, Nixon was the "resident" of that time and I'd guess you're talikng about Julie's David Eisenhower. That song fits the current resident to a T, but this guy has been allowed to be one of the most destructive forces to ever walk the planet. As far as I'm concerned, all due to the way he was raised. His parents should real fuckin' proud. A real "fortunate son", indeed.

[neilepi]

15. Edward Cox?

Too late, and wrong....

Some anti-Bush stuff

[Hubert Flottz]

16. I didn't know but...

I sing that song at Karaoke whenever I go pubcrawling.

[B Calm]

17. Now you know the rest of the story...

[Sweet Freedom]

18. You ought to add this to the Debunker

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=284

[Bjornsdotter]

19. Boy I'm old

I knew the answer right away.

Sigh....

[B Calm]

21. We're still young at heart!

[Bjornsdotter]

22. Yes we are! n/t

[windbreeze]

20. I never knew that....

CC....just bought a CD of their most famous songs...and "Fortunate Son" is definitely on it...my 6 yr old g.daughter's take on CC...."you like some crazy music, g.ma"...
windbreeze