Proud Mary

Proud Mary is the title of a rock song, which was written by John Fogerty. The piece in the 1969 version of the Californian band Creedence Clearwater Revival, whose co-founder was Fogerty became famous. The song deals with the Mississippi River and the city of New Orleans; at Proud Mary is a paddle steamer.

Publication and success

John Fogerty had written the piece in 1968 at the age of 23, shortly after he had been discharged from the National Guard. It was released in January 1969 as a single; on the B - side is the song Born on the Bayou. The single stayed for over a year on the Billboard charts and reached there place 2 In Germany it ranked 4 on the charts in the UK and Austria ranked 8th Place 1

The piece was described by Bob Dylan as the best song of the year. Almost simultaneously with the single the song on the album Bayou Country was published; for the success of this LP Creedence Clearwater Revival was first certified platinum. The band played the piece on the Woodstock Festival. Proud Mary finished second in the list of 500 greatest songs of all time of the music magazine Rolling Stone Place 155

From Proud Mary are numerous cover versions. One of the most famous versions is by Ike & Tina Turner (1970 ), whose arrangement is significantly different from the original. This version reached # 4 on the Billboard charts.

Song structure

The song has three stanzas and is set in D Major. In the version of Creedence Clearwater Revival, a guitar solo is played between the second and third stanza. Moreover, the prelude of 16 bars is characteristic of the piece that is played in the original before the first, the instrumental and the third stanza.