#RocktoberMusicFest : CCR - Born On The Bayou
Let’s take a step even further back in our musical time machine. Yesterday’s blast from the late 70’s was great, but we need to visit the late 60’s to early 70’s for today’s rockin’ tune.
Creedence Clearwater Revival, also known as CCR, always reminds me of the the musical sounds stemming from the Vietnam War. My two oldest brothers joined the Army at the very tail end of that war. Thankfully, they were able to remain in the states, but whenever I hear CCR, I tend to think of them.
CCR has had its share of tumultuous times as well. Brothers Tom and John Fogerty along with Stu Cook and Doug Clifford made up the band. Tom left the band in 1971, and the band officially split up in 1972 - but not peacefully. Plenty of sour notes and lawsuits between the band members and record labels throughout the years following. When it came time for the band to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, John refused to play with the band.
This particular song was written by John Fogerty. He was the principal songwriter for the band. Despite the song being set in the south, John never lived there or traveled there. He said this about the song:
"Born on the Bayou" was vaguely like "Porterville," about a mythical childhood and a heat-filled time, the Fourth of July. I put it in the swamp where, of course, I had never lived. It was late as I was writing. I was trying to be a pure writer, no guitar in hand, visualizing and looking at the bare walls of my apartment. Tiny apartments have wonderful bare walls, especially when you can't afford to put anything on them. "Chasing down a hoodoo." Hoodoo is a magical, mystical, spiritual, non-defined apparition, like a ghost or a shadow, not necessarily evil, but certainly other-worldly. I was getting some of that imagery from Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters”
Wait! Don’t run off just yet!
Have you voted in yesterday’s Battle of the Bands? Click this link, and I will hold your spot for you. (Seriously, a separate window will open up so you won’t lose your place here) Voting for the battle ends on Sunday, Oct 21 at 5pm EST, with results being posted on Monday Oct 22.
This post is part of the #RocktoberMusicFest Blog Hop. Feel free to join in. You only need to have a blog post about Rock Music. Visit the other participants and add your blog post to the list :) Click HERE or the image below for more information.
John Fogerty was incredibly talented, and he was also an incredible jerk. (I wanted to use a seven-letter word that starts with "a" and rhymes with "glass bowl," but didn't think you'd want me to.) Tom, Stu and Doug ended up being his backup band, and they didn't like it. A few years ago, Stu and Doug started a band called "Creedence Clearwater Revisited," and Fogerty sued them over that...
ReplyDeleteYup. You know it's bad when your own brother doesn't want any part of it. Great music, just a bad mix of personalities.
DeleteOne of my favourite bands, from way back! Too bad they couldn't all just get along.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Not enough weed among them to keep them calm cool and collected :)
DeleteThat is so true! LOL
DeleteMy dad had some CCR, but it wasn't something he listened to regularly. Though I do remember the first time I heard Proud Mary play from one of his albums and realized Tina Turner's version was just a cover. I was still young and foolishly believed that every song I heard on the radio or MTV was an "original" LOL, so that was a real eye-opener. That woman still rocks, though. :)
ReplyDeleteTina Turner has been through Hell and back. Between her marriage to Ike and her cancer, and now a biographical Broadway show coming out next year. So much talent, and she just keeps hanging in there.
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