Run Through the Jungle

"Run Through the Jungle"
Single by Creedence Clearwater Revival
from the album Cosmo's Factory
A-side	"Up Around the Bend"
Released	April 1970
Recorded	March 1970, Wally Heider's Studio, San Francisco, California
Genre	Blues rock[1] swamp rock[2] psychedelic rock[2]
Length	3:05
Label	Fantasy Records
Songwriter(s)	John Fogerty
Producer(s)	John Fogerty
Creedence Clearwater Revival singles chronology
" Up Around The Bend " (1970) "Run Through the Jungle" (1970) " Lookin' Out My Back Door " (1970)
Audio sample
"Run Through the Jungle" file help

"Run Through the Jungle" is a 1970 song by American rock band

The song was written by Creedence's lead singer, guitarist and songwriter, John Fogerty. It was included on their 1970 album Cosmo's Factory, the group's fifth album. The song's title and lyrics, as well as the year it was released (1970), have led many to assume that the song is about the Vietnam War. The fact that previous Creedence Clearwater Revival songs such as "Fortunate Son" were protests of the Vietnam War added to this belief.^[3]

However, in a 2016 interview, Fogerty explained that the song is actually about the proliferation of guns in the United States.

The thing I wanted to talk about was gun control and the proliferation of guns... I remember reading around that time that there was one gun for every man, woman and child in America, which I found staggering. So somewhere in the song, I think I said, '200 million guns are loaded.' Not that anyone else has the answer, but I did not have the answer to the question; I just had the question. I just thought it was disturbing that it was such a jungle for our citizens just to walk around in our own country at least having to be aware that there are so many private guns owned by some responsible and maybe many irresponsible people.^[4]

The song's opening and closing both featured jungle

Ultimate Classic Rock critic Bryan Wawzenek rated the lyrics of "Run Through the Jungle" as Fogerty's 8th greatest, saying "Fogerty has written many songs cloaked in ominous foreboding...But the danger in the song feels just a little more imminent, especially when you’ve got Satan on your tail."[8]

Controversy

The song was later the subject of controversy when Saul Zaentz, the boss of CCR's record label, Fantasy Records, which owns the distribution and publishing rights to the music of Creedence Clearwater Revival, brought a series of lawsuits against John Fogerty, including a claim that the music from Fogerty's 1984 song "The Old Man Down the Road" was too similar to "Run Through the Jungle." Zaentz won some of his claims against Fogerty, but lost on the copyright issue (Fantasy, Inc. v. Fogerty). The judge found that a songwriter cannot plagiarize himself.^[9] After winning the case, Fogerty sued Zaentz for the cost of defending himself against the copyright infringement claim. In such (copyright) cases, prevailing defendants seeking recompense were bound to show that original suit was frivolous or made in bad faith.

Cover versions

The song has been covered by The Gun Club, Bruce Springsteen, The Georgia Satellites, 8 Eyed Spy, Killdozer, Link Wray, The Cramps, Sacred Cowboys, Jeff Healey, Los Lobos, and Kamyaniy Gist.

References

External links

• Columbia Law School case summary of Fantasy v. Fogerty