Who'll Stop the Rain?

I'm with birdman and roq, but I'd add this:

Whether or not Fogerty was referring to these "5 Year Plans" are typically associated with Soviet Union economic development plans, and they were copied by a lot of Communist states as well as some capitalist countries including our own. FDR's "New Deal" was such a plan, expanding the size and role of government in this country by leaps and bounds. Since these are very specific terms which were names of real and well-known government programs, it's hard to imagine that Fogerty wasn't aware of this.

Today, when I listen to it, I hear "I watched the tower grow" and I imagine the watchtower of government control over an ever-expanding subset of our lives. The control is sold to us with the promise of prosperity -- the golden chains represent wealth and flashy diversion from the fact that they are still chains nonetheless which will limit our liberty.

I'm not sure what Fogerty's politics were, but if this song is an indication, he sounds pretty Libertarian.

I agree with roq on the analysis of the rain and the references to Woodstock -- the imagery he used in the song may very well have been inspired by that scene while he applied the imagery to something with more political overtones.