Although widely associated with Ike & Tina Turner, the classic track ‘Proud Mary’ actually originates from Creedence Clearwater Revival. Penned by frontman John Fogerty and debuted in 1969, Fogerty’s original concept for the song depicted a maid labouring to please wealthy individuals, a narrative that diverged from the reimagined version embraced by the Turners.
“She gets off the bus every morning and goes to work and holds their lives together,” Fogerty once explained. “Then she has to go home”. While the initial concept of the ‘Proud Mary’ character revolved around a woman who bound together a group of affluent people, the idea of a riverboat came much later, when Stu Cook watched the television show Maverick and remarked, “Hey riverboat, blow your bell”.
Fogerty then agreed that the boat imagery seemed fitting for the version of ‘Proud Mary’ that had been simmering in his mind. When he composed the music, he crafted the first few chords to emulate the sound of a riverboat paddlewheel in motion. Thus, ‘Proud Mary’ transformed from being about a clean-up lady to a song centred around a boat.
When the track started to come together, Fogerty had the idea for three initial titles: ‘Proud Mary’, ‘Riverboat’, and ‘Rolling On A River’. Carrying around a notebook filled with potential titles, these three made the cut, but it was ‘Proud Mary’ that eventually came out on top. The song’s creation also coincided with the day Fogerty received his discharge papers from the US Army. Having been drafted in 1966, Fogerty served in a Reserve unit at various locations.
In Bad Moon Rising: The Unofficial History of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Fogerty discussed his experience, explaining: “The Army and Creedence overlapped, so I was ‘that hippie with a record on the radio’. I’d been trying to get out of the Army, and on the steps of my apartment house sat a diploma-sized letter from the government. It sat there for a couple of days, right next to my door. One day, I saw the envelope and bent down to look at it, noticing it said ‘John Fogerty’. I went into the house, opened the thing up, and saw that it was my honourable discharge from the Army.”
He added: “I was finally out! This was 1968, and people were still dying. I was so happy I ran out into my little patch of lawn and turned cartwheels. Then I went into my house, picked up my guitar and started strumming. ‘Left a good job in the city’ and then several good lines came out of me immediately. I had the chord changes, the minor chord where it says, ‘Big wheel keep on turnin’/Proud Mary keep on burnin” (or ‘boinin”, using my funky pronunciation I got from Howling’ Wolf). By the time I hit ‘Rolling, rolling, rolling on the river,’ I knew I had written my best song. It vibrated inside me. When we rehearsed it, I felt like Cole Porter.”
Despite Fogerty’s temporary estrangement from the track and its acclaim, it stands as one of the quintessential elements of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s musical heritage. While not originally inspired by personal experiences, its narrative lyrics and melodic arrangements imbue it with a sense of intimacy, allowing listeners to feel as though they’re navigating the same waters as the boat depicted in the song.
