In the late 60s/early 70s, my cousin was in a band. Well, every teenage boy in the early 70’s was in a band. I used to linger around his garage on Saturday mornings to listen to his band play. I liked their sound, I liked the music they were playing. It wasn’t until later I realized that Born on the Bayou wasn’t this awesome song that my cousin wrote (as he told me), but belonged to the same guys who sang Proud Mary, a song my mother was pretty fond of. So I borrowed her album, listened to it and immediately realized just how crappy my cousin’s band was.

I have a thing about getting stuck on first tracks. I listened to Born on the Bayou about forty times. I got lost in it. Something about Fogerty’s voice made me picture him as this straggly haired guy with holes in his jeans and some kind of scary knowledge in his eyes. The fuzziness of the sound, the low guitar that was sludgy and bluesy; there was such a depth to this song that was missing from my cousin’s simple cover version.

For a while, I really believed all of CCR were from New Orleans. I was quite surprised later on to hear they were from California.

The rest of the album was great, especially the slow burn of Graveyard Train and the drawl of Penthouse Pauper. It made a CCR fan of out of me for years to come. I don’t know what happened in the ensuing years that made me forget the awesomeness of this band, but I’m glad to rediscover this album and, in a way, rediscover the band.

Favorite song: Born on the Bayou
CCR at Classic Bands