Run Through the Jungle


"Run Through the Jungle" is a 1970 song by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival. It was released as a double A-side single with "Up Around the Bend" and on the album Cosmo's Factory.

History

The song was written by CCR'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, 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. In a 2016 interview, though, Fogerty explained that the song is actually about the proliferation of guns in the United States.
The song's opening and closing both featured jungle sound effects created by, according to the band's bassist Stu Cook, "lots of backwards recorded guitar and piano." The harmonica part on the song was played by John Fogerty. The song was also Tom Fogerty's favorite CCR song: "My all-time favorite Creedence tune was 'Run Through the Jungle'.... It's like a little movie in itself with all the sound effects. It never changes key, but it holds your interest the whole time. It's like a musician's dream. It never changes key, yet you get the illusion it does."
Record World called the single with "Up Around the Bend" a "two-sided monster". Cash Box said that the double-sided single "takes the act out of its sustained bag of either Little Richard or 'bayou-tagged' music", but that compared to "Up Around the Bend", this song "presents a less-removed glimpse of the familiar Creedence."
Ultimate Classic Rock critic Bryan Wawzenek rated the lyrics of "Run Through the Jungle" as Fogerty's eighth-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."

Controversy

The song was later the subject of controversy when Saul Zaentz, the boss of CCR's record label, Fantasy Records, which once owned 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. The judge found that a songwriter cannot plagiarize himself. After winning the case, Fogerty sued Zaentz for the cost of defending himself against the copyright infringement claim. In such cases, prevailing defendants seeking recompense are bound to show that the original suit was frivolous or made in bad faith.
Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc. became precedent when the United States Supreme Court overturned lower court rulings and awarded attorneys' fees to Fogerty, without Fogerty having to show that Zaentz's original suit was frivolous.

In popular culture

"Run Through the Jungle" has appeared in films such as Air America, My Girl, Rudy, The Big Lebowski, Radio Arrow, Tropic Thunder, The Sapphires, Kong: Skull Island, Triple Frontier, the trailer for Jungle Cruise, and Primitive War
In television, the song is used in season three, episode one of Hardcastle and McCormick, season two of Fargo, season one, episode eight of Lethal Weapon, and season four, episode 19 of the 2018 TV series Magnum P.I.
The song has appeared in many video games that depict the Vietnam War, notably licensed for Rising Storm 2: Vietnam and in the reveal trailers for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Mafia 3.

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