On a Roll

Song 396: This week the playlist comes around to Proud Mary by Creedence Clearwater Revival, written by John Fogerty, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. When this 45 came along 49 years ago, in the winter of 1969, it was the first I heard of CCR, and it made me an instant fan. Their followup Bad Moon Rising (Song 284) confirmed that status, but they already had me with this one. Of course, I initially thought the title was Rollin' on the River so mentions of Proud Mary did confuse me for a bit, until I got it sorted out. When I began my LP collection in the fall of 1969, Bayou Country in due time became part of it, and subsequently I surmised how to perform this piece, so I would regularly share it during guitar circle gatherings. Upon moving to the Bay Area, I soon started hanging out with a bunch of other songwriter types at a Berkeley pizza place reportedly owned, in partnership, by former CCR member Tom Fogerty. In that era I would often joke with fellow musicians about the El Cerrito bayou, since that East Bay municipality was actually CCR's home, rather than the southern Louisiana area implied by their early record lyrics, but rollin' on the river still felt pretty good, even when it was actually a modern ferry heading to Angel Island in the SF Bay rather than an old steam riverboat moving along the lower Mississippi.