Posted on 11/02/2024 10:05:44 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Late in 1969, CCR closed out the decade on brilliant form as they released their fourth album.
Could you imagine a modern-day band releasing three studio albums in ten months and seeing each of them later be certified at least platinum? That was the incredible pace that Creedence Clearwater Revival were setting at the end of the 1960s. Late in 1969, they completed the sequence, and saw out the decade, as they released their fourth album Willy and the Poor Boys, issued on November 2, 1969.
Produced by lead singer and writer John Fogerty, this was the record that featured such CCR classics as “Down On The Corner,” “Fortunate Son,” and the band’s versions of Leadbelly’s “Cotton Fields” and the traditional, much-covered “Midnight Special.” Indeed, “Down On The Corner” contained the lyric that gave the album its title (“down on the corner, out in the street, Willy and the Poor Boys are playin’/Bring a nickel, tap your feet”).
This was also, effectively, two great bands for the price of one. The album featured additional instrumentation by Booker T. Jones and the rest of the MGs, Steve Cropper, Donald “Duck” Dunn and Al Jackson. It was a measure of CCR’s pre-eminence by 1969 that it was something of a disappointment that the album “only” reached No.3 in the US, staying there for no fewer than six weeks, and “only” went double platinum. Its predecessor a few months earlier, Green River, had four weeks at No.1 and went triple platinum in the US.
As Willy and the Poor Boys started its journey, charting on December 13, “Down On The Corner” was released as a US single with “Fortunate Son” listed as its double A-side. As often for Creedence, both sides were hits, “Corner” reaching No.3 and “Son” No.14. The album itself was a big international success, too, going to the top of the French chart and, the following spring, becoming the band’s first UK Top 10 album, at No.10.
John Fogerty had the view that CCR needed to have a single being played on the radio every day of the year, or else the public would forget about CCR. Fogerty viewed the album as just a collection of singles with the singles being released one after the other. This was an old fashioned view and created a lot of pressure within CCR and led to a lot of dissension in the band.
By the late 60s, much of the focus in rock music had shifted to the album and not just the single. The idea that the public would forget about a great band like CCR if they didn’t release multiple albums a year seems strange looking back. Bands could still be successful and only release an album every year or two. However, Fogerty’s beliefs also resulted in a deluge of some of the greatest rock music ever written and few writers have ever matched his creative talent.
Fogerty and CCW, among the best.
Amen.
I remember my first car and CCR. I made by own 8-Tracks. Each album had around 30 minutes of music. I could get two to a tape.
Chicago, Credence, Three Dog Night.
Best bands of my teen years.
They had creativity and energy.
Also loved th Ten Wheel Drive but no one else did.
CCR was formed in El Cerrito, California. Consisted of guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty, his brother, rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty, bassist Stu Cook, and drummer Doug Clifford. They had played together since 1959, first as the Blue Velvets and later as the Golliwogs, then Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1967
The name, CCR, came from three sources: Tom Fogerty’s friend Credence Newball, whose name they changed to form the word Creedence (as in creed); a television commercial for Olympia Brewing Company (”clear water”).
Their web site: https://creedence-revisited.com/
I was not a fan of CCR, but I did like that song. It had a lot going for it. It had a great tune, and great rhythm, syncopated, with a hard enough upbeat, which made it danceable for those of us who were into soul and funk.
Now, darn you, I can’t get the tune out of my brain.
My first album was CCR’s “Cosmos Factory.” Still one of my favorites.
CCR - Run Through The Jungle (Vietnam footage)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3tvaSSJoyI
Pity my bikini was white
This was always my favorite CCR album, was played constantly at our home after it came out.
As Bruce Springsteen said about John Fogerty at the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony: “This man has more talent in his little finger than any 10 people here!”
Meant CCW, not CCR, that was later.
Their music is listened to two generations down in our family, great-nephew is a massive fan, aged 22.
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