Creedence Clearwater Revival : Green River (40 Anniversary Edition)

I SEE THE BAD MOON RISING

I SEE TROUBLE ON THE WAY

I SEE EARTHQUAKES 

AND LIGHTING

I SEE BAD TIMES TODAY

 Green River

is the third 

studio album 

by the American

rock band 

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Followed by 

Willy and the Poor Boys

in October.

Background

In January 1969, 

Creedence Clearwater Revival

 released their 

second studio album

Bayou Country

featuring their breakout single

 "Proud Mary" 

(backed with "Born on the Bayou"),

 which reached No. 2

 on the 

Billboard Hot 100.

Producer and

 primary songwriter 

John Fogerty 

was the driving 

creative force

 behind CCR, 

which would record

 three albums 

in 1969 alone. 

The band saw themselves 

as more disciplined than

 other

San Francisco-based bands, 

with drummer 

Doug Clifford

recalling to 

Jeb Wright 

of Goldmine

in 2013,

 "We went to see the local bands 

and they were so stoned 

they weren’t even in tune

 and they were really terrible...

We made a pact 

on the floor of the Fillmore,

 right then, 

where we would do

 no drugs or alcohol. 

We decided to get high

 on the music, 

or get out of the business."

Going against the grain

 at the times, 

Creedence eschewed the 

acid-inspired free-form jams

 favored by many rock bands, 

for tightly structured 

roots music 

with an unmistakable

rockabilly edge.

 "I didn't like the idea

 of those acid-rock,

 45-minute guitar solos,"

 Fogerty explained to 

Uncut's David Cavanagh

 in 2012.

 "I thought music should get

 to the point a little more

 quickly than that."

Songwriting

CCR's third studio album 

includes two of their biggest hits,

 "Bad Moon Rising" 

and 

"Green River", 

both of which peaked 

on the U.S. chart

 at No. 2, 

as well as the 

highly regarded

 "Lodi" (No. 52) 

and

 "Commotion" (No. 30). 

"Bad Moon Rising" 

is notable for its jaunty,

 happy music juxtaposed 

with its dark,

 ominous lyrics.

 It was inspired by a scene

 in the 1941 film

The Devil and Daniel Webster

involving a hurricane, 

with John Fogerty

 stating that the words told of

 "the apocalypse that

 was going to be visited upon us. 

It wasn't until the band 

was learning the song that I 

realized the dichotomy. 

Here you got this song with

 all these hurricanes 

and blowing and raging ruin

 and all that, but...

It's a happy-sounding tune, right? 

Regarding the title track, 

Fogerty recalled in 1993:

Green River 

is really about this place where I used to go as a kid on Putah Creek, near Winters, California. I went there with my family every year until I was ten. Lot of happy memories there. I learned how to swim there. There was a rope hanging from the tree. Certainly dragonflies, bullfrogs. There was a little cabin we would stay in owned by a descendant of Buffalo Bill Cody. That's the reference in the song to Cody Jr. The actual specific reference, "Green River," I got from a soda pop-syrup label. You used to be able to go into a soda fountain, and they had these bottles of flavored syrup. My flavor was called Green River. It was green, lime flavored, and they would empty some out over some ice and pour some of that soda water on it, and you had yourself a Green River

TRACKLIST 

Green River

Commotion

Tombstone Shadow

Wrote A Song For Everyone

Bad Moon Rising

Lodi

Cross-Tie Walker

Sinister Purpose

The Night Time Is The Right Time

Proud Mary

Down On The Corner

Before You Accuse Me

Born On The Bayou

My Baby Left Me

Up Around The Bend

Bad Moon Rising 

(Live in Berlin)

Green River/Susie Q 

(Live in Stockholm)

Lodi

 (Live in Hamburg)

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