G major · Camelot 9B · 136 BPM
Fortunate Son
by Creedence Clearwater Revival
- 136
- BPM
- G major
- Key
- 9B
- Camelot
- 64
- Danceability
- 21
- Acousticness
John Fogerty wrote "Fortunate Son" in about twenty minutes, sitting on the edge of his bed as anger over the Vietnam War boiled inside him. The Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman had been thinking about privileged sons of senators and congressmen who received military deferments or choice positions, and about David Eisenhower, President Dwight D. Eisenhower's grandson, who was dating Julie Nixon at the time. "It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no senator's son" came straight out of that frustration.
Released in September 1969 with "Down on the Corner" as its b-side, the single appeared on the band's fourth album, Willy and the Poor Boys, on October 29, 1969. It reached number 14 on the United States charts on November 22, 1969, the week before Billboard changed its methodology on double-sided hits. That week the two sides sat at numbers 14 and 21 respectively, then combined to climb to number nine before peaking at number three on December 20. The Recording Industry Association of America certified the song Gold in December 1970.
The track became an anthem of the Vietnam anti-war movement, voicing opposition to the draft and solidarity with soldiers fighting overseas. Fogerty later explained that no single event inspired the song; instead, hearing repeatedly about the sons of powerful men who seemed untouched by what their parents were doing had shaped it.
Fortunate Son runs at 136 BPM, the tempo of techno, trance and big-room dance. In classical terms it sits in allegro territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 1.76 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 441 ms. It is in G major, Camelot 9B, which shares its notes with E minor and mixes cleanly with C major and D major.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.