Bad Moon Rising Up Around The Bend Long As I Can See The Light Susie Q CCR

I Heard It Through The Grapevine Album: Cosmo's Factory (1970)
Bad Moon Rising Album: Green River (1969)
Up Around The Bend Album: Cosmo's Factory (1970)
Long As I Can See The Light Album: Cosmo's Factory (1970)
Susie Q Album: Creedence Clearwater Revival (1968)
by Creedence Clearwater Revival

"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is a song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for Motown Records in 1966. The first recording of the song to be released was produced by Whitfield for Gladys Knight & the Pips and released as a single in September 1967. It went to number one on the Billboard R&B Singles chart and number two on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and shortly became the biggest selling Motown single up to that time.

The Miracles were the first to record I Heard It Through the Grapevine in 1966, but their version was not released until August 1968, when it was included on their album Special Occasion.

The Marvin Gaye version of I Heard It Through the Grapevine was the second to be recorded, in the beginning of 1967, but the third to be released. It was placed on his 1968 album In the Groove, a year and a half later, where it gained the attention of radio disc jockeys. Motown founder Berry Gordy finally agreed to its release as a single on the Tamla subsidiary in October 1968, when it went to the top of the Billboard Pop Singles chart for seven weeks from December 1968 to January 1969, overtaking the Gladys Knight & the Pips version as the biggest hit single on the Motown family of labels up to that point.

In addition to being recorded several times by Motown artists, I Heard It Through The Grapevine has been recorded by musicians including Creedence Clearwater Revival, whose 11-minute version appeared on their 1970 album Cosmo's Factory The band had initially started to play the song live before rearranging it in the studio with a long jam-like instrumental part for their record. Unusually for such a long song, radio stations began to play the song, and eventually it was released as a single against the band's wishes. The release reached 43 on Billboard's chart, with more modest success in other countries.

In Rolling Stone issue 649, John Fogerty explained that the lyrics to Bad Moon Rising were inspired by a movie called The Devil And Daniel Webster, in which a hurricane wipes out most of a town. This is where he got the idea for the words "I feel the hurricane blowin', I hope you're quite prepared to die." Overall, he said the song is about the "apocalypse that was going to be visited upon us."

Released in April 1969, "Bad Moon Rising" was the lead single from Green River. The B-side was "Lodi."

Bad Moon Rising reached its US chart peak of #2 (one of five CCR songs to place that this position - they never got to #1) on July 28, 1969, eight days after the Apollo 11 moon landing. The song has nothing to do with space travel, but the title was somewhat apropos, especially after the mission succeeded.

Bad Moon Rising was used in two science-fiction movies of the 1980s: An American Werewolf In London (1981) and Twilight Zone: The Movie (1982). In the former, it plays as the main character is awaiting a full moon and wondering if he will turn into a werewolf.

This contains a classic misheard lyric. The line "There's a bad moon on the rise" is often heard as "There's a bathroom on the right." Not only do many people sing the wrong lyrics, but John Fogerty himself sang the "bathroom on the right" lyric once during the "Premonition" concert. It can be heard after the last verse of the song quite plainly.

Fogerty would often have fun with this trope, sometimes pointing to a nearby bathroom from the stage when he got to the famous misheard line.

The music makes this sound like a happy song, but the lyrics are very bleak, describing events that indicate a coming apocalypse.

As a result of Bad Moon Rising, American football player Andre Rison's nickname was "Bad Moon," as in "Bad Moon Risin'." Rison was an all-pro wide receiver, but is also famous for having his house burned down by Lisa (Left Eye) Lopes, a singer with TLC who was his girlfriend at the time.

Artists to cover Bad Moon Rising include Nirvana, Bruce Springsteen, Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Emmylou Harris, The Reels, The Meteors, Thea Gilmore, Ann Wilson with Gretchen Wilson, Type O Negative, 16 Horsepower, Reels, Spitballs, Blue Aeroplanes, Lagwagon, Battlefield Band, Ducky Boys, Acoustic Shack, Ventures, Meteors, and Rasputina.

Argentine soccer fans came up with a new version of "Bad Moon Rising" after their team advanced to the World Cup finals in 2014 while the host country, Brazil, was eliminated in the semifinal. Set to the tune of this song, Argentines chanted, "Brasil, decime qué se siente tener en casa tu papa," which means "Brazil, tell me how it feels to be bossed around in your own home."

Even the team members were heard singing this taunt, but in the end Argentina did not take home the trophy, as they lost in the final to Germany, the team that beat Brazil.
This became the theme song of the demonstrators during the People's Park riots in Berkeley, California, in 1969.

During his VH1's Storytellers performance, Fogerty said that he was quite aware of the contradiction between Bad Moon Rising's lyrical content and its bouncy sound (though he offers no explanation for this). He then recounted how, during many performances, the audience would sing back at him "There's a bathroom on the right" during the final lyric, which actually says "There's a bad moon on the rise." Fogerty has also used the "bathroom" line during some live performances.

Bad Moon Rising's title was partly inspired by the 1960s pop-culture astrology fad - "what's your sign, baby?"

During a benefit for the Berkeley Hall School, a Vietnam veteran approached Fogerty and told him that he and his squad, who called themselves the Buffalo Soldiers, would blast "Bad Moon Rising" in their camp before going into the jungle on a mission. It was their way of getting pumped up for combat, but also their way of instilling fear in the enemy. In Fortunate Son: My Life, My Music, Fogerty expresses admiration for the man's courage, and regret that he cannot remember his name.

"Bad Moon Rising" is the signature walkout song for UFC fighter Jim Miller.

Fogerty performed Bad Moon Rising for Howard Stern at Stern's 2014 Birthday Bash.

In his memoir, Fogerty said he borrowed the guitar lick for Bad Moon Rising from Scotty Moore's work on Elvis Presley's "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone." Fogerty stresses that he wasn't trying to hide that he'd borrowed the lick and was instead openly "honoring it." In 1986, at an unspecified awards get-together, Moore grabbed Fogerty from behind and said, "Give me back my licks!"

In 2010, Jerry Lewis recorded a version of Bad Moon Rising with John Fogerty for Lewis' Mean Old Man album, which also featured performances with Keith Richards, Kid Rock, Willie Nelson, and many others.

As John Fogerty explained in a video he posted, he grew up admiring the folk musician Pete Seeger. In honor of his own top influence, Leadbelly, Seeger would tune his guitar down to D Standard. Fogerty wanted to incorporate the sound into his own music. "Bad Moon Rising" was the first song in which he used the technique.

Written by lead singer John Fogerty, Up Around The Bend is a very upbeat Creedence Clearwater Revival, giving a hint that, as bad as things were in the early '70s, there might be some hope for the future: Things would improve "Around The Bend." Bass player Stu Cook described the song as "Kind of the opposite of 'Run Through The Jungle.'"

Up Around The Bend required a bit of translation for British audiences. In England, if you go "around the bend" it means you go crazy. Then the band toured the UK, they had to explain to the British press that the song was not about dementia or mental problems.

In his memoir Fortunate Son: My Life, My Music, John Fogerty said that Up Around The Bend came to him when he was riding his motorcycle though the California hills.

Movies Up Around The Bend has appeared in include Michael (1996), Remember the Titans (2000) and Invincible (2006). It was also used in a 2008 episode of the TV show My Name Is Earl, and in the 2022 Stranger Things episode, "Papa."

Elton John covered Up Around The Bend shortly after it was released, and his version appears on several compilation albums. Hanoi Rocks recorded it for their 1984 Two Steps From The Move album.

In 2016, Wrangler used Up Around The Bend in a commercial for their jeans, surprising after John Fogerty lashed out at the company when they used "Fortunate Son" in ads without his permission beginning in 2000. Fogerty doesn't control the rights to the songs he wrote for CCR, so they can be used without his consent.

"Long As I Can See the Light" is from the album Cosmo's Factory. Released as the flip side of the single "Lookin' Out My Back Door" in 1970, it reached number 57 on the Cash Box singles chart in the US, number 20 in the UK (in the UK, "Long As I Can See the Light" was on the A-side, and "Lookin' Out My Back Door" on the flip), and number one in Norway.

Cash Box compared it to "Lookin' Out My Back Door", calling "Long as I Can See the Light" "a slower paced ballad from the blues school. More subtle, but a good bet to overtake the “Lookin’” side." Billboard called it a "funky blues number."

The two songs were also released as a double-sided single and peaked at number two in the US.

"Long As I Can See the Light" appears on most Creedence Clearwater Revival compilation albums, notably The Best of Creedence Clearwater Revival and Chronicle: The 20 Greatest Hits. It became a concert staple for singer John Fogerty as a solo artist.

Fogerty biographer Thomas M. Kitts describes the song as depicting a "world-weary figure", perhaps Jeremiah, who "undertakes an uncertain journey." The singer is confident as long as he "can see the light." Kitts points out that the word 'light' has two meanings in the song: a spiritual meaning, such as in "The Lord is my light" from Psalm 27, and "the secular light of love". He describes the music as having a "hymnal, church-like feel."

Fogerty expressed surprise at having come up with a candle as a metaphor for a beacon guiding the singer home. He stated that the song is "about the loner in me. Wanting to feel understood, needing those at home to shine a light so that I can make my way back."

"If you tour a lot, it's one of those songs that just makes you miss home so badly," remarked Slipknot front-man Corey Taylor. "A really sombre piece."

Long As I Can See the Light's drum beat was sampled by Moby for "The Sky Is Broken" on his 1999 album Play.

Susie Q was co-written and originally recorded by rockabilly singer Dale Hawkins in 1956. His version hit US #27 a year later. Eleanor Broadwater and Stan Lewis wrote it with Hawkins.

Susie Q was Creedence Clearwater Revival's first single (not counting "Porterville," which was released when the band was known as The Golliwogs). They went on to become one of the biggest bands of the late '60s and early '70s thanks to a string of hits written by their leader, John Fogerty. Early on though, they recorded more cover songs, including "I Heard It Through The Grapevine." "Susie Q" was their only single not written or co-written by Fogerty to reach the Top 40.

John Fogerty had big plans for "Susie Q" from the start. He intended for it to define CCR's distinct character. In Bad Moon Rising: The Unofficial History of Creedence Clearwater Revivial, he said, "I knew I needed to work on arranging the song so that the band would sound like Creedence Clearwater Revivial, would sound professional, mysterious and also have their own definition. The song I chose was 'Susie Q.' I decided not to wring the song myself. I decided to pick something that existed because it'd just be easier. I'd be less self-conscious about doing things."

The album version of Susie Q runs 8:39. It evolved into a lengthy jam because the band had to fill long sets at their gigs.

The Rolling Stones covered Susie Q in 1964. Creedence had been playing the song at live shows, but stopped when The Stones released their version.

Susie Q was produced with liberal use of late '60s studio tricks, including wide stereo separation, feedback, and vocal distortion.

When asked what the rhymes are in the latter part of the song, bass player Stu Cook said, "They were just simple rhymes. John hated it when songwriters used simple rhymes just to make things rhyme, so this was a statement against that. It was sort of anti-Dylan."

Susie Q became popular on the West Coast before it was available on vinyl. The band brought a cassette tape of the song to a San Francisco DJ, who played it in appreciation for the group's earlier support of a DJ strike.

Thanks to Susie Q, girls named Susie are often nicknamed "Susie Q."

The guitar riff on the original version of Susie Q was created by James Burton, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001 as a sideman. John Fogerty said that when he heard Burton's riff for the first time, he was in his mother's car and got very excited. "I went crazy and immediately began banging on the dashboard."

This is one of the few Creedence songs where vocals of band members besides John Fogerty are heard. You can hear his bandmates in the second part of the song.