Creedence Clearwater Revival – Proud Mary

Creedence Clearwater Revival

At a time when rock was evolving further and further away from the forces that had made the music possible in the first place, Creedence Clearwater Revival brought things back to their roots with their concise synthesis of rockabilly, swamp pop, R&B, and country. Though CCR was very much a group in their tight, punchy arrangements, their vision was very much singer, songwriter, guitarist, and leader John Fogerty’s. Fogerty’s classic compositions for Creedence both evoked enduring images of Americana and reflected burning social issues of the day. The band’s genius was their ability to accomplish this with the economic, primal power of a classic rockabilly ensemble.

The key elements of Creedence had been woodshedding in bar bands for about a decade before their breakthrough to national success in the late ’60s. John’s older brother Tom formed the Blue Velvets in the late ’50s in El Cerrito, CA, a tiny suburb across the bay from San Francisco. By the mid-’60s, with a few hopelessly obscure recordings under their belt, they’d signed to Fantasy, releasing several singles as the Golliwogs that went nowhere. In fact, there’s little promise to be found on those early efforts, primarily because Tom, not John, was doing most of the singing. The group only found themselves when John took firm reigns over the band’s direction, singing and writing virtually all of their material.

Proud Mary

Left a good job in the city,
Working for The Man every night and day,
And I never lost one minute of sleeping,
Worrying ’bout the way things might have been.

CHORUS:
Big wheel keep on turning,
Proud Mary keep on burning,
Rolling, rolling, rolling on the river.

Cleaned a lot of plates in Memphis,
Pumped a lot of ‘tane down in New Orleans,
But I never saw the good side of the city,
Until I hitched a ride on a river boat queen.

CHORUS

Rolling, rolling, rolling on the river.
If you come down to the river,
Bet you gonna find some people who live.
You don’t have to worry ’cause you have no money,
People on the river are happy to give.

CHORUS

Rolling, rolling, rolling on the river.
Rolling, rolling, rolling on the river.
Rolling, rolling, rolling on the river.

Creedence Clearwater Revival Proud Mary