My Favorite Creedence Clearwater Revival Songs: #1 "Green River" (1969)
By John Roberts
@JohnRoberts (109857)
Los Angeles, California
May 16, 2016 12:49pm CST
The title track of the "Green River" album was another proverbial number two on Billboard hit for CCR. The song gives the impression of being southern but John Fogerty explained the river is really the Putah Creek in Northern California which he loved as a kid. The name "Green River" came from a soda syrup he fancied. "Green River" suggests a lazy day of fishing for catfish: "Well take me down where cool water flows, yeh." The song is a spirited up tempo rocker with an infectious guitar riff intro and the epitome of their southern swamp rock sound. "Green River" was the first CCR song I ever heard as a child.
4 people like this
3 responses
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
16 May 16
Nice job. You can't really argue with any of these.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (62096)
• United States
16 May 16
It's interesting because there is a Green River here in Kentucky. John Prine mentioned it in "Paradise" ("well sometimes we'd travel right down the Green River"). It was quite a bummer to discover that this song was not about our Green River.
