18. Proud Mary (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
The phrase "Proud Mary" reminded John Fogerty of
a domestic washerwoman, which is what he started writing the song about. When
he wrote the music, the first few chords reminded him of a paddle-wheel going
around, and he thought of the Mississippi River. Instead of "Proud
Mary" being a clean-up lady, "she" became a boat.
Fogerty wrote the lyrics based on 3 song title ideas-
"Proud Mary," "Riverboat," and "Rolling On A
River."
This was a #4 hit in the US for Ike and Tina Turner in 1971,
and a highlight of their live shows. Tina Turner recalled in an interview with Rolling
Stone magazine in 1971 how they came to record this on their Workin'
Together album: "When we cut the album, we were lacking a few tunes,
so we said 'Well, let's just put in a few things that we're doing on stage. And
that's how 'Proud Mary' came about. I had loved it when it first came out. We
auditioned a girl and she had sung 'Proud Mary.' This is like 8 months later,
and Ike said, 'You know, I forgot all about that tune.' And I said let's do it,
but let's change it. So in the car Ike plays the guitar, we just sort of jam.
And we just sort of broke into the black version of it. It was never planned to
say, 'Well, let's go to the record shop, and I'd like to record this tune by
Aretha Franklin'... it's just that we get it for stage, because we give the
people a little bit of us and a little bit of what they hear on the radio every
day."
This was the first of 5 singles by Creedence that went to #2
on the US chart. They had the most #2 songs without ever having a #1.
Despite popular belief, John Fogerty was not writing from
experience when he wrote this. Thanks to his military commitment, he hadn't
ventured further east than Montana.
"Proud Mary" attracted 35 covers in the year 1969
alone. Over 100 have been made so far.
Fogerty carried around a notebook with titles that he
thought would make good songs. "Proud Mary" was at the top of the
list.
The line, "Pumped a lot of pain down in New
Orleans" is actually "Pumped a lot of 'Pane," as in propane. He
was pumping gas.
Leonard Nimoy, who played "Mr. Spock" on Star
Trek, recorded an infamous cover of this song. Near the end, he sings the
chorus Elmer Fudd style - "Big wheel keep on toynin', Pwoud Mawy keep on
boinin'..." It is included on a CD called Golden Throats.
John Fogerty (about how the guitar riff came about): "I
don't know where the germ started. I can kind of remember writing the chords at
the beginning of the song. Believe it or not, I was playing around with the
famous riff from Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. I used to tell people that the
song sounds like what it's about. I thought, by the way, that the opening riff
sounded just like the wheel at the back of a boat. 'Proud Mary' is not a
side-wheeler, it's a stern-wheeler."
Even though Creedence Clearwater Revival was from El
Cerrito, California, many people thoght they were from New Orleans because of
their sound. They helped feed the rumor by naming their second album Bayou
Country.