Fortunate Son: My Life, My Music

By John Fogerty with Jimmy McDonough

I became a fan of John Fogerty while listening to him reading his autobiography on audio CD in my car. Fortunate Son: My Life, My Music was written in 2015 with the assistance of Jimmy McDonough. Although of course I’m familiar with many Credence Clearwater Revival songs, and I’d heard John lost his songwriting rights, that was most of what I knew about him.

The book focuses on the songs he wrote and the numerous lawsuits that resulted in large part from a bad contract between unsuspecting young musicians and an unscrupulous record company. At one point during the lawsuits, John’s former Credence bandmates asked to join his suit because theirs had been dropped; he agreed. This is at the same time they were suing him for a share of his BMI songwriting royalties.

I called up many songs on YouTube as I read about them. I came to like the person in the story. John seems to be a person of integrity, commitment, and decency. I’d like a biographer to confirm those traits. In fact, this is a biography I could write. It helps that he likes and respects country music.

He’s also a runner. We had the exact same beginning. He writes, “You can’t even run one block? I was only twenty-nine! It was at that exact moment when I became a runner.” As for me, I was 32 the day I realized I couldn’t run even one block; that’s when I became a runner.

This is a life that cries for an objective biography. Now that John has told his story, someone needs to research and add the perspectives of the other players. I would like to be that person. However, I’ve been unable to contact him, and it’s too big a project for me without having some support.