John Fogerty took time out before a recent concert to share the story behind how he wrote the Creedence Clearwater Revival classic “Proud Mary.” The 79-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer posted a video of him telling the tale on his YouTube channel.
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One interesting tidbit he imparted was that the song’s classic opening riff was influenced by a well-known classical piece.
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Fogerty noted that while he was putting the song that would become “Proud Mary” together, he had “sometimes been working on the … riff [featured in] Beethoven’s Fifth [symphony].”
He then noted, “My mom always liked Beethoven, so that stuck in my head.” Fogerty then demonstrated the riff on his Rickenbacker guitar, and explained that because he “had the timing wrong,” he ended up playing what became the “Proud Mary” riff.
“Well, that was such a cool groove,” he added.
Fogerty Thought of the Title Long Before He Wrote the Song
Fogerty began his story by explaining that although he wrote “Proud Mary” in the summer of 1968, he thought of the title a year earlier.
“In the summer of ’67, I got off of active duty with my Army Reserve requirements, [and] went back home to El Cerrito [California] in the Bay area,” John recalled. “Of course, ’67 was the Summer of Love in [San Francisco], and I was feeling really full of energy, and I thought I’d need to get organized with my music. So I decided I need to get a notebook, [and] start writing things down.”
He continued, “I went down to a local … drugstore [and] bought this cheap little vinyl binder, and didn’t quite know what was gonna go in it. I just figured songs were gonna go in it. A few days went by, and I had an idea for a phrase, and the phrase was ‘Proud Mary.’ Believe it or not, that was the very first thing I wrote in my book all those years ago.”
Fogerty then showed what apparently was the actual notebook with “Proud Mary” written at the top of the first page.
More About His Inspiration to Write “Proud Mary”
Fast forward to June of 1968, around the time Creedence Clearwater Revival’s self-titled debut album was released. Fogerty said he’d begun working on songs for the group’s second album when he got the news that he’d received his honorable discharge from the Army.
“Remember, this is the height of the Vietnam War,” he noted. “I was pretty happy about that, and it meant I could go on and do my music. So, I was so overjoyed, I went out on the little lawn and did a cartwheel, then I ran in the house and I grabbed my Rickenbacker and started playing some chords and started working on a song, almost immediately.”
At was at this time that Fogerty came up with the Beethoven-inspired riff. He then started thinking about lyrics for the tune.
“The most obvious line was ‘left a good job in the city, working for the man every night and day,’ John shared. “Of course, that was ’cause I had just gotten out of the army. Oh, my goodness, I was overjoyed. Started putting thoughts together, and, finally, I was singing this cool little bit that just made me happy. It was ‘rolling, rolling, rolling on the river.’ And I got really, really excited with the words I was doing.”
Finishing the Song
At this point, Fogerty explained that he was wondering what to call the song, as well as trying to decide what exactly he was writing about.
“I opened my [notebook] and I see ‘Proud Mary,’ and it occurs to me, ‘My God, I’m writing about a riverboat, and the name of the boat is Proud Mary,’” John recalled. “[I]t took me about an hour. It wasn’t 100-percent done, but maybe after an hour, it was 95-percet done.”
Fogerty said he clearly remembered having extremely positive feelings about his new composition.
“I’m standing there, or sitting there, really, with a piece of paper in my hand … and I’d written this song, ‘Proud Mary,’” he recalled. “And I knew it was the best song I’d ever written. In fact, it was so good, I knew that it was a classic, and the overwhelming thought I had at the time was ‘my goodness, this is really good, and I’m the only one that knows!’”
Fogerty obviously knew what he was talking about, as “Proud Mary” not only became a No. 2 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, but has gone on to be one of the all-time great songs of the classic-rock era.
About Fogerty’s Upcoming Tour Plans
Fogerty currently is winding down a late-summer leg of his Celebration Tour with George Thorogood and the Destroyers. Five more dates on the trek remain, spanning from an August 30 concert in Lincoln, California, through a September 4 show in San Diego.
Fogerty also has two gigs lined up without Thorogood and the Destroyers, on September 11 in Salt Lake City and October 19 in Porterville, California.
Tickets for Fogerty’s concerts are available now via various outlets, including StubHub.
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