Got No Sand In My Pocket

No, sirree.

Cross-Tie Walker from Creedence Clearwater Revival featuring John Fogerty's rockabilly guitar.

I Put A Spell On You

John Fogerty's 1997 performance of I Put A Spell On You, written and originally recorded by Screamin' Jay Hawkins in the 1950s, and covered in the 1960s by Fogerty during his Creedence Clearwater Revival days.

Outstanding guitar work by Fogerty along with a scorching vocal guaranteed to peel the paint off your walls (honest, just play it loud enough).  The guy bashing the drums so hard is Kenny Aronoff, long-time member of John Mellencamp's band. 

Effigy

From Creedence Clearwater Revival's 1969 album, Willie & The Poor Boys, one of their lesser known tunes, featuring apocalyptic lyrics and two scorching guitar solos from John Fogerty.

Last night
I saw the fire spreadin' to
The country side.
In the mornin'
Few were left to watch
The ashes die.

Who is burnin'?
Who is burnin'?

          Effigy

 

I Can Remember The 4th Of July

I can remember the 4th of July

Running through the backwoods bare

I can still hear my old hound dog barking

Chasing down a hoo-doo there

Born On A Bayou from Creedence Clearwater Revival, featuring John Fogerty's paint-peeling vocal and an incredible groove.

Perfect Lyric

A perfect lyric should create images in your mind and convey a meaningful sentiment.  This is the lyric for Green River, a hit for Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1969.  Composed by lead guitarist and vocalist John Fogarty.  The first two verses create the vivid images (the fact my childhood did not align completely makes no difference if the lyric is right) and the final verse is both touching, comforting and a forewarning of the travails of adulthood.

Well, take me back down where cool water flows
Let me remember things I love,
Stoppin' at the log where catfish bite,
Walkin' along the river road at night,
Barefoot girls dancin' in the moonlight.

I can hear the bullfrog callin' me.
Wonder if my rope's still hangin' to the tree.
Love to kick my feet 'way down the shallow water.
Shoefly, dragonfly, get back t'your mother.
Pick up a flat rock, skip it across Green River.

Up at Cody's camp I spent my days, oh,
With flat car riders and cross-tie walkers.
Old Cody, Junior took me over,
Said, "You're gonna find the world is smould'rin'.
And if you get lost come on home to Green River."

 

New Combined Degree Program

Creedence Clearwater University is pleased to announce a new combined degree program in Economics, Philosophy and Religion, developed with the guidance of our esteemed Department Chair, Professor John Fogerty.

For background information on the program please listen to the recorded announcement below.  Here is a short exceprt from Prof Fogerty's introduction:

Take you a glass of water
Make it against the law
See how good the water tastes
When you can't have any at all

Required prerequisite course:

I'm the penthouse pauper
I got nothing to my name
I can be most anything
'Cause when you got nothin' it's all the same

Wrote A Song For Everyone

Wrote a song for everyone,
Wrote a song for truth.
Wrote a song for everyone
And I couldn't even talk to you.

For 2 1/2 years beginning in January 1969, Creedence Clearwater Revival, ignited by the songwriting, guitar playing and singing of John Fogerty (who had a voice that could peel paint), ruled the AM radio airways.  CCR had a run of nine straight Top Ten singles:

CCR never had a #1 but four of its singles reached #2 - Proud Mary, Bad Moon Rising, Green River (THC's favorite) and the double-sided hit Traveling Band/Who'll Stop The Rain (Billboard changed its system in 1970 to count sales of both sides of a single together in putting together its charts)

A fifth single hit #3 - Down On The Corner; it's flip side Fortunate Son hit #14.  This was in 1969 before Billboard changed its rules and it might have made #1 under the new rules.

Up Around The Bend/Run Through The Jungle hit #4, Sweet Hitch-Hiker #6 and Have You Ever Seen The Rain?/Hey Tonight was #8.  

They also released five albums in 23 months all of which reached the Top Ten.
(Green River album cover)
But today we'll focus on the lesser known songs of CCR, so we'll also skip over heavy FM playlist songs like Born On A Bayou, Keep On Chooglin' and Susie Q.

When THC first heard CCR he thought they had crawled out of the swamps of Louisiana but it turns out they're from suburban California and had scuffled for years (mostly playing as The Golliwogs) before achieving "overnight" success.  Which brings us to our first song for today, Lodi.

If I only had a dollar, for ev'ry song I've sung.
And ev'ry time I've had to play
While people sat there drunk.
You know, I'd catch the next train back to where I live.
Oh ! Lord, I'm stuck in Lodi again.

CCR never played in Lodi, a town in California's Central Valley, but Fogerty liked the way the name sounded and it stood in for the endless procession of bars and clubs he'd played in over the years as a struggling musician.  The lyrics catch the pathos of the singer wondering if he's doomed to play this circuit forever.

Next up is Bootleg which THC has featured before and should be taught in college as part of any Political Science curriculum for its astute analysis of public policy:

Take you a glass of water
Make it against the law.
See how good the water tastes
When you can't have any at all.

Our next tune is Penthouse Pauper featuring paint peeling guitar lines in addition to the paint peeling vocal.  Listen to how Fogerty makes his guitar sound like a hacksaw when he signs "If I was a hacksaw, my blade'd be razor sharp".

We'll wrap this up with Wrote A Song For Everyone, the lyric featured at the top of this post.  Written after a tiff with his wife over needing to spend more time with his young son, Fogerty wrote this about the clash between family and his profession.  The reference in the lyric to "Richmond" is to Richmond, California a Bay Area town near his home.
If you'd like to hear how Fogerty sounds more recently on a non-Fogerty composed song this is Screamin' Jay Hawkins' I Put A Spell On You from a live show in the late 1990s.  The drummer is Kenny Aronoff who hits the skins harder than anyone who isn't named John Bonham.

Green River

My favorite Creedence Clearwater Revival song.  It "let[s] me remember things I love" even though I didn't live that life when I was younger but "barefoot girls dancin' in the moonlight" has that kind of effect.  And you can't beat the last three lines of the song - we all need a Green River to come home to.

Well, take me back down where cool water flows, yeah.
Let me remember things I love,
Stoppin' at the log where catfish bite,
Walkin' along the river road at night,
Barefoot girls dancin' in the moonlight.

I can hear the bullfrog callin' me.
Wonder if my rope's still hangin' to the tree.
Love to kick my feet 'way down the shallow water.
Shoefly, dragonfly, get back t'your mother.
Pick up a flat rock, skip it across Green River.

Up at Cody's camp I spent my days
With flat car riders and cross-tie walkers
Old Cody, Junior took me over,
Said, "You're gonna find the world is smould'rin'.
And if you get lost come on home to Green River."

I Put A Spell On You

My Fat Guitar post reminded me of this performance.  THC has written about John Fogerty and Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) before in the context of Mr Fogerty's public policy views (see Bootleg).  This is Fogerty's late 1990s live version of I Put A Spell On You, a song written and originally recorded by Screamin' Jay Hawkins in the 1950s and then covered in the 1960s by CCR.

Outstanding fat guitar work by Fogarty along with a scorching vocal which is guaranteed to peel the paint off your walls (honest, just play it loud enough).  The guy bashing the drums so hard is Kenny Aronoff, long-time member of John Mellencamp's band.  Wish the sound and video synch was better on this but you'll get the idea.

Bootleg

Trenchant commentary on human nature, the marketplace and the law from John Fogerty and Creedence Clearwater Revival circa 1969.

Take you a glass of water

Make it against the law

See how good the water tastes

When you can't have any at all 

For some related observations on this topic see Bruce Yandle on Baptists and Bootleggers