Music / Green River

"Pick up a flat rock, skip it across Green River."

"Just about a year ago,
I set out on the road
Seekin' my fame and fortune,
And lookin' for a pot of gold.
Things got bad and things got worse.
I guess you know the tune.
Oh Lord, stuck in Lodi again."

—"Lodi"

Green River is the third album by Creedence Clearwater Revival, released on August 3, 1969. "Bad Moon Rising" and "Green River" were singles that both peaked at #2 in the Billboard Charts^note "Bad Moon Rising" did make #1 in the UK charts, with "Lodi" and "Commotion" also receiving radio play.

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Tracklist

Side one

1. "Green River" (2:36)
2. "Commotion" (2:44)
3. "Tombstone Shadow" (3:39)
4. "Wrote a Song for Everyone" (4:57)

Side two

1. "Bad Moon Rising" (2:21)
2. "Lodi" (3:13)
3. "Cross-Tie Walker" (3:20)
4. "Sinister Purpose" (3:23)
5. "The Night Time Is the Right Time" (3:09)

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Principal Members:

• Doug Clifford: drums
• Stu Cook: bass
• John Fogerty: vocals, guitars, piano, keyboards, harmonica
• Tom Fogerty: rhythm guitar

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I see a bad trope rising:

• Album Title Drop: "Green River", which naturally starts the album off.
• Cover Version: "The Night Time Is the Right Time" for Nappy Brown as popularly performed by Ray Charles.
• The End of the World as We Know It: The basis of "Bad Moon Rising", where said moon leads to cataclysmic hurricanes.
• Lyrical Dissonance:
  • "Bad Moon Rising" is a catchy little tune... about the end of the world.
  • Similarly, "Lodi" is pretty catchy for a song about a dirt-poor musician who has to resort to playing bars in a small town just for the hope of getting enough money to catch a train back home.
• Rock-Star Song: "Lodi" subverts it in that the main character is an up and coming rock singer who was told he was "on his way" by a man from a magazine. He took a gig out in Lodi, intending to just stay there for one night and move on, but his career stalled out after that and he ended up stuck in town, playing in dive bars just for the hope of making enough money to get a train ticket home. In other words, a wannabe Rockstar Song.
• A Storm Is Coming: The "Bad Moon Rising" is a foreboding sign of cataclysmic hurricanes.

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