“The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.”
- Charles Bukowski
Okay, this is my last comment on this topic -
Somehow…somehow, the “experts” selecting the NYT's 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters forgot, left off, passed over or were unfamiliar with the name John Fogerty. John Freakin' Fogerty! SHAME! Would you leave Mark Twain off of a list of great American authors? No, you wouldn't. Not if you knew which way was up, and you wouldn't leave John Fogerty off any list regarding great modern day songwriters.
Fogerty was, for all intents, Creedence Clearwater Revival. He and CCR are responsible for an overflowing bushel basketful of great American songs. Between 1969 and 1971 they produced 14…count 'em, 14 top 10 singles.
Let's mention a few: Proud Mary, Bad Moon Rising, Who Will Stop the Rain, Fortunate Son, Green River, Commotion, Lodi, I Heard it Through the Grapevine, Have You Ever Seen the Rain, Down on the Corner, Traveling Band, Up Around the Bend, Lookin' Out My Backdoor, Sweet Hitchhiker, Someday Never Comes, Born on the Bayou, Long as I Can See the light and Hey Tonight.
Fogerty wrote and sang all of those songs. He also played a large portion of the instruments on all the recordings. He then went on to his own solo career which included the hit songs Centerfield and Old Man Down the Road.
My guess is, you could walk up to ninety percent of people in the world and sing “I left a good job in the city” and they could sing back to you the line that follows it. I am certain that if you go to any bar or club in America where a cover band is playing, and they will sing one or more CCR songs. I would bet the farm on it. They will also play zero Bad Bunny songs. I'd wager the farm on that too.
I realize some of this is generational. Much of it is also cultural and that's part of the rub. We no longer have a common, shared culture. We're segmented into a multitude of cultures and not much binds us as a people.
But still, you just don't leave John Fogerty's name off a list of great songwriter's. You just don't.
What are some of your favorite deep cut CCR songs? Here are a couple of mine.