Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCIV--John Fogerty: Rock and Roll Girls

After last week's nice character study, we're going back to fun--lookin' out my back door (so to speak) and just enjoying the view....

I wrote  about John Fogerty and Credence Clearwater Revival a while back so I won't rehash their history, other than to note that only the Beach Boys (and I'm not even sure about them) were their peers in the annals of American rock and roll bands.  After CCR's demise in 1972, Fogerty released solo albums in 1973 and 1975 before taking a hiatus from the music business.  He came back with a vengeance in 1985 with his album Centerfield  which would go on to hit #1 on the Billboard 200 and propelled Fogerty back into the mainstream of rock and roll.  He's released six more albums (for a total of nine solo LPs) since and solidified his stature as one of rock's greats.  Fogerty has won a Grammy, been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, toured the world over, and has often been a benefactor of veterans groups.  Not bad for a kid who grew up, like me, in the San Francisco Bay Area....

"Rock and Roll Girls" was released in 1985 on the aforementioned Centerfield LP and reached #20 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.  Surprisingly, the song went to #10 in Austria--who knew there were so many cool kids in Austria?

Fans of CCR may notice the thematic similarity between their 1970 #2 hit "Lookin' Out My Back Door" and "Rock and Roll Girls" (each penned by Fogerty)--both songs are basically paeans to taking a moment to sit back and enjoy watching the world go by.  But while the former is full of dream-like imagery, the latter is based more in the here and now.  The song opens with a signature Fogerty guitar line, quickly introduces a pulsating drum (which more or less carries the song until its end), before Fogerty's vocals send us on our way.  Two facets stick out:  the first is the joyous saxophone (listen to Springsteen much?), and the second, which is one of those special moments that truly make a song great, is the way Fogerty gives the words in the stanza that end in a long "o" a yodelesque (pretty sure there is no such word) quality--it just takes it up a notch and is fun as all hell to sing along (loudly) to as you're flying down the highway...or mowing the lawn...or washing the dishes...you get the picture.  One thing is for sure--there are few songwriters who can pack as much into three minutes of music as John Fogerty can (most of his singles--even the ones with CCR--don't even hit three minutes in length), and "Rock and Roll Girls" is another that can be added to his pantheon of pop songs.

Lyric Sheet:  "If I had my way, I'd shuffle off to Buffalo/Sit by the lake and watch the world go by/Ladies in the sun, listening to the radio..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CXXXVIII--Creedence Clearwater Revival: Fortunate Son

Two minutes and twenty-one seconds--that's how long it took for this week's tune to lash out at class warfare in America with a resonance that extends to this day, maybe even more so.  And after seven months of an orange Nazi in the White House, it's brutally obvious that the hubris of the wealthy elite, as angrily expressed by a band that was one part Bruce Springsteen and one part The Who, hasn't alleviated one iota in the past fifty years.

Creedence Clearwater Revival formed in 1959 and bounced around the San Francisco Bay Area for several years before getting their first big break in 1967 when they were offered a studio recording opportunity--if only they'd change their name from The Golliwogs (probably a good career move).  They settled on Creedence Clearwater Revival (check the Wikipedia link--the name's origin is not as interesting as you might think), and the rest is history.  Led by lead vocalist and lead guitarist John Fogerty, over the next five years CCR would have five top ten singles and six top ten albums before it all came crashing down.  The band had an acrimonious break up (Fogerty's brother Tom left the band first, and the brothers never really reconciled, even before Tom's death in 1990), followed by years of lawsuits and Fogerty's refusal to play with the two still living bandmates at their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and are one of the few bands to have never had a reunion.  Fogerty went on to some success as a solo artist, the other two band members (Stu Cook and Doug Clifford, not that most people really care) continue on as Creedence Clearwater Revisited.  Still, their legacy is as one of America's great rock and roll bands (Rolling Stone listed them as the 82nd best rock act of all time), and they are still a staple of FM album oriented rock radio (if there's still anyone who listens to FM radio).

Released on their LP Willy and the Poor Boys (great album title, by the way) in 1969, "Fortunate Son" was actually the B side of "Down on the Corner" (back in the day it wasn't unusual for record labels to release two sided singles) and would eventually reach #3 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.  Its debut came at the height of Vietnam War protests and it was quickly adopted as an anti-war anthem (which it most certainly is) but I think that just calling it an anti-war anthem downplays its inherent theme of the rich getting richer while the poor shovel all of their shit.  Opening with thumping drums and an ominous guitar line, Fogerty literally tears the roof off the house with his fuck you vocals as he works his way through a series of scenes, each depicting the let them eat cake views of America's rich.  Fogerty saves the coup de grace for the chorus in which he lets it be known that he ain't like them, and unlike these fortunate sons, he's had to fight for what is his.  Much like Springsteen, CCR never lost sight of its working class roots, and the result was a masterpiece (#99 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time) of political vengeance--we ain't like rich folk and because we ain't, America is the better for it.

Fun Fact (Well, maybe not for you):  Outside of San Francisco radio (another hotbed of cool kids), the first radio station to play CCR in heavy rotation was WLS in Chicago...which just happens to be the station that was my introduction to rock and roll's top 40 in the mid 70's.  Fascinating, my God....

Lyric Sheet:  "It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no millionaire's son, no..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Silver spoon in hand

Seems the right wing is aghast--aghast I say--because Bruce Springsteen and a number of other pop stars performed John Fogerty's "Fortunate Son" at the Concert for Valor yesterday in a tribute to America's veterans.  Seems the song is an anti-war manifesto and not fit for a tribute to those who served.

Unsurprisingly, the right wing is either a) illiterate, b) deaf, c) stupid, or, more likely d) all three.  If you actually read the lyrics, the song is...all about hatin' on the rich folk.  And let's face it, the right wing lives for kissing the asses of American's wealthy.  The people who are upset don't give two shits about those who served in the Armed Forces--they're pissed because Springsteen was hatin' on the rich folk.

The main purpose of this post is a robust "Fuck you!" to the idiots on the right, and an excellent opportunity to link to one of the all-time great pop songs.  Enjoy!

Peace,
emaycee