What does Run Through The Jungle mean?

Creedence Clearwater Revival: Run Through The Jungle Meaning

Tagged: War [suggest]
Album cover for Run Through The Jungle album cover

Song Released: 1970


Run Through The Jungle Lyrics

Whoa, thought it was a nightmare,
Lo, it's all so true,
They told me, "Don't go walkin' slow
The Devil's on the loose."

CHORUS:
Better run through the jungle,
Better run through the jungle,
Better run through the jungle,
Woa, Don't look back to...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Mar 14th 2013 !⃝

    I always thought the song was making a reference to the confusion and chaos the soldiers encountered when they arrived in Vietnam. The first inclination on the part of many soldiers was to run--not that they were cowards--but this was a kind of confrontation for which they were ill prepared to say the least, and, soldiers who cannot see the enemy, in an effort to preserve their lives, should run. Fogerty's reference to North Vietnamese or Viet Cong armies as Satan certainly creates an appropriate analogy...or, perhaps the analogy is meant to illustrate the idea that war often brings out the evil inherent in any person cast into a situation such as this one--American troops were also guilty of committing atrocities. In any regard, the song very effectively captures the confusion of the experience from the dischordant opening screeches to the consistency of the guitar riff and moaning harmonica. The over all sound of the song, in conjunction with the growling lyrics, simultaneously conjure fear, confusion, and chaos against a backdrop of what was argued at the time to be a straightforward military exercise that would certainly result in a quick victory. I would argue one of the more intriguing songs about the war in Vietnam.

  2. anonymous
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    Jan 5th 2021 !⃝

    I love the song and personally I don't think it had anything to do with gun control (which is ass nine) but I do think it has to do with the Vietnam War. Nonetheless, I still enjoy the song.

  3. anonymous
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    Apr 7th 2019 !⃝

    I know that Fogerty later said that the song was about gun control but that's silly. I think that he wanted to make a political statement during the later interview and in his book but at the time, he wrote the song about the war in Vietnam. America isn't a "jungle of armed citizens". That's baloney! The song was about the war and Fogerty was a vet from that war (though he served stateside)...plain and simple.

  4. anonymous
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    Jul 22nd 2017 !⃝

    Fogerty said in an interview the song was about the over population of guns. But if want to interpret it about Vietnam that was ok by him.

  5. anonymous
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    Apr 8th 2015 !⃝

    It makes sense to believe that this song is about the Vietnam War; however, Fogerty explicitly explains in several quotes that this song is NOT about the Vietnam war. It is about the overpopulation of unregistered guns and the lax gun laws in America during the 1960's and 1970's.

  6. anonymous
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    May 16th 2011 !⃝

    this song is not referring to the Vietnam war. It is referring to the guns and gun laws in America!

  7. anonymous
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    Aug 15th 2009 !⃝

    Obviously the song referring to the Vietnam war. As we all know Vietnam is a very rain forest (Jungle) type area. So from how i see it; it is about American Soldiers running through the jungles of Vietnam hence "Run Through the Jungle".


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