Few bands have ever enjoyed a year quite as fruitful, both in terms of commercial success and quality of the work, as Creedence Clearwater Revival managed in 1969. At the epicenter of it all was their album Green River.
Released 55 years ago this month in August 1969, the LP represented both a solidification of what CCR had achieved to that point and an advancement, from the songwriting to the execution, into classic album status. Let’s go back in time and take another trip down CCR’s Green River.
Videos by American Songwriter
A Magical Year from a No-Nonsense Band
Although 1969 was still a time when artists and bands were expected to churn out product at a quicker pace than what we’re used to seeing these days, the pace had slowed a little bit since the start of the decade. But apparently, CCR didn’t get that memo.
The quartet released three full-length albums in that 12-month period. Those albums included four Top-5 singles among them. Smack-dab in the middle of all that activity was Green River, which arrived in August. It would become the band’s first No. 1 album. (They’d score another in 1970 with Cosmo’s Factory.)
How did CCR manage to churn out so much top product so quickly? Well, it helped that songwriter John Fogerty was able to dip into a rich vein of history and mystery that came from the mythical American South that he formulated in his head. The fact that the band hailed originally from Northern California says a lot about the richness of Fogerty’s imagination.
Beyond that, they simply came prepared. Fogerty and his bandmates (guitarist Tom Fogerty, bassist Stu Cook, and drummer Doug Clifford) rehearsed new material ceaselessly before they ever went into the studio to record. In the case of Green River, most of the tracks were laid down in just a couple of days in the studio because they had already been worked out to precision.
It’s also important to keep in mind that CCR was not a band that did “filler.” While they shined as a singles act, they also filled out their albums with intriguing, accomplished cuts. You can certainly make an argument that Green River is the deepest of their albums in quality tracks from first song to last.
A Fresh Listen to Green River
With Green River, CCR was able to expand upon their particular brand of storytelling. “Bad Moon Rising” showcased an ability to couch dark themes in a chirpy arrangement, which somehow makes the apocalyptic predictions even more haunting. The title track represents an antidote to it all, a safe space at home for which one can be nostalgic: Let me remember things I love, John Fogerty sings.
There was also some autobiography starting to slip into his songs, which deepens the overall listening experience for this album. “Lodi” finds John in countryish mode reflecting on the life of a struggling musician, perhaps realizing how lucky he was to avoid that fate. The soulful “I Wrote a Song for Everyone” reflects on how the artist’s life can take a toll on personal relationships: Wrote a song for everyone / When I couldn’t even talk to you.
Elsewhere on the album, CCR proves once again to be one of the finest interpretive bands of their generation, delivering a knockout cover of “The Night Time is the Right Time.” While John Fogerty gets a lot of the credit for their success, this whole band was unerringly fine. You can hear their interplay throughout Green River, which is both tight and grooving all at once.
CCR seems like they were around a lot longer than they were because they crammed so much into their finest years. None of those years were any better than ’69, with Green River representing the peak on top of the peak.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Most Popular
Comments / 0