By Justin Parker
Block 6
English
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Written by John Forgerty of Credence Clearwater Revival
Some folks are born made to wave the flag,
ooh, they're red, white and blue.
And when the band plays "Hail To The Chief",
oh, they point the cannon at you, Lord,
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no senator's son,
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate one, no,
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
Lord, don't they help themselves? oh.
But when the taxman come to the door,
Lord, the house look a like a rummage sale, yes,
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It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no millionaire's son, no, no.
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate one, no.
Yeh, some folks inherit star spangled eyes,
ooh, they send you down to war, Lord,
And when you ask them, how much should we
give,
oh, they only answer, more, more, more, yoh,
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It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no military son, son, no
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate one, no no
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate one, no, no no,
It ain't me, it ain't me,
I ain't no fortunate son, son son son
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Citations for the power-point
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Wave the flag refers to waving the American
Flag during times of war
John Fogerty thought it was a great honor to be
able to wave a flag during a battle
Waving the American Flag was a great way to
show pride for America
More about the American Flag
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Red, white, and blue refers to the colors of
America
These colors are commonly referred to the
United States and are the United States’
national colors
More about Red, White, and Blue, and the Flag
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“Hail to the Chief” is the song commonly
referred to the President of the United States of
America
It is usually played when a president makes an
appearance in public before speaking
In “Fortunate Son” it refers to the U.S. going to
war
More about Hail to the Chief
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An anaphora is a use of repeating words at the
beginning of lines or sentences
In the song “Fortunate Son” John Fogerty says
the words it ain’t me to begin sentences and
repeat the first words of the sentence, making it
an anaphora
It ain’t me is said many times throughout the
song many times
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This is an example of a hyperbole
A hyperbole is an exaggerated statement used
to make a point in a sentence
Born silver spoon in hand is a hyperbole
because the kid isn’t born with a silver spoon, it
just is showing that they have wealth and are
rich and will have more opportunities
throughout life
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Taxman coming to the door refers to the
taxman collecting taxes.
In the song, it refers to the government
wanting more money for the war and needing
more money
More about Vietnam War and the Taxes
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In the song, John Fogerty uses the simile: Lord,
the house look a like a rummage sale
A simile is using like or as to compare two or
more things
In this song, the simile is referring to a house
looking like a rummage sale
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Star Spangled Eyes are a metaphor used in this
song.
A metaphor is comparing two or more things
not using like or as to compare the two or more
objects.
Star Spangled Eyes refers to pride for America
during times of war
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Sending you down to war refers to the draft of
the Vietnam war
John Fogerty was drafted for the Vietnam war,
but thought that important people weren’t
getting drafted
He was in the army reserves for 2 years before
being discharged
More about the Vietnam War
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More, more, more is the use of repetition in
order to get a point across
Repetition is using the same word or phrase
many times
John Fogerty uses repetition many times
throughout the song “Fortunate Son” and
repeats many lines
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Fortunate one refers to people not going to war
because of their authority
John Fogerty believed that people with power
were not getting drafted to go to the Vietnam
War
More about the Vietnam Draft
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This is use of repetition throughout the song
John Fogerty says in the song no, no, no
multiple times to emphasize a point that he
isn’t as privileged as the people not getting
drafted, but he still shows respect and admires
the people that ended up going to war
More about people in the Vietnam War
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In the 1960’s, a small band was formed by four young kids in high school named
John Forgerty, a guitarist and singer, Tom Forgerty, a guitarist, Doug Clifford, a
drummer, and Stu Cook, a local bassist, and formed the band The Blue Velvets.
They went around playing local gigs, and in 1964, they were signed by Fantasy
Records and their career took off. In 1966, John Forgerty and Doug Clifford were
drafted to the army reserves and had a minor setback, but were discharged in 1968,
and the band came back together under a new name, Creedence Clearwater Revival.
The band started releasing albums and many hits and went on to sell 26 million
albums and had multiple top 40 hits on the Billboard charts. The band disbanded
in 1972, but was later inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame in 1993.
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