Creedence Clearwater Revival – Don’t Look Now (It Ain’t You or Me)

All together…Creedence Clearwater Revival had 65 total songs. It seems like more but that was it. Their recording career spanned from 1967 to 1972. They had 7 studio albums in that span which is incredible.

I looked back at photos of them during that time. They looked like a garage band that could have lived next door to you. They don’t look like what they really were…the hottest American band. You see pictures of The Beatles, Stones, Led Zeppelin, and The Who back then and there is a certain gloss about them…not with CCR. CCR didn’t look larger than life…they looked like our blue-collar neighbors from down the street. That is one of the reasons that I still like them so much.

From 1968 to 1972 they were constants in the charts. They didn’t take months to make an album…they just reeled them off. They pulled off a Beatles trick by having hit singles and critically acclaimed albums. That is not easy to do.

There is an anomaly about them that is puzzling. Their songs have become standards but never had a number 1 song. Well did I say never? It took 50 years but that was finally broken in 2021…they peaked at #1 in the US Rock Digital Sales and also the Canadian Digital Sales for Have You Ever Seen The Rain.

I have no conspiracy theory about them not having a number 1 in their time but personally, I always thought that being on Fantasy Records had something to do with it. If they would have been with Capitol, Columbia, or any other major record label…I believe that would have helped. Those labels had the money for huge advertising and had a connection to DJs and other clients to help. Don’t get me wrong… Fantasy Owner Saul Zaentz was making a lot of money but when it came to the band…he did not like letting it go. That contributed to the short career of CCR.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Willy and the Poor Boys

Anyway back to this song. It was on the great album Willy and the Poor Boys released in 1969.  The album had the well-known hits Fortunate Son, Down On The Corner, The Midnight Special, and the fan favorite It Came Out of the Sky. The album peaked at #3 on the Billboard Album Charts, #2 in Canada, and #10 in the UK.

I would have loved to see these guys live. I want to thank one blogger named Jeff from Eclectic Music Lover for sharing his story of seeing Creedence live…that was his first concert. I will always be jealous of that. My first concert came years later and was REO…not a comparison there.

John Fogerty:  “There were things going on in the country that upset me, but having grown up in the ‘hippie’ generation, there were a lot of things about my own generation that upset me as well. The song ‘Don’t Look Now’ was trying to address that. It wasn’t that I was a fence rider, it was just that some stuff was getting out of hand.”

Don’t Look Now (It Ain’t You or Me)

Who will take the coal from the mine?Who will take the salt from the earth?Who’ll take a leaf and grow it to a tree?Don’t look now, it ain’t you or me.

Who will work the field with his hands?Who will put his back to the plough?Who’ll take the mountain and give it to the sea?Don’t look now, it ain’t you or me.

Don’t look now, someone’s done your starvin’;Don’t look now, someone’s done your prayin’ too.

Who will make the shoes for your feet?Who will make the clothes that you wear?Who’ll take the promise that you don’t have to keep?Don’t look now, it ain’t you or me.

Don’t look now, someone’s done your starvin’;Don’t look now, someone’s done your prayin’ too.

Who will take the coal from the mines?Who will take the salt from the earth?Who’ll take the promise that you don’t have to keep?Don’t look now, it ain’t you or me

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

39 thoughts on “Creedence Clearwater Revival – Don’t Look Now (It Ain’t You or Me)”

  1. I saw them live in 1969. You are spot on, those guys do not look like rock stars, more like construction workers. I have three of their albums I purchased back in the day, and still spin them once in a while. It’s a shame that Fogerty’s petulance got in the way of a great band. Back in the early 2000s, Momo and I saw CCR Revisited and the Beach Boys. The bass and drummer were the only original CCR members and Mike Love and Bruce Johnston were the only Beach Boys, so it was a big letdown.

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    1. I’ve read and heard they were loud…very loud live. I don’t know how he wrote so many songs in that short of span with that quality. Classics now…yea it ended up in a bad place. One of the worse endings and continuing bad feelings.

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  2. CCR remain one of my favorite bands. They also go all the way back to the start of my music journey as an 8-year-old.

    At the time, my 6-year-older sister had a cool boyfriend with long blonde hair who was a guitarist and had pretty good music taste. That rubbed off!

    She had the CCR single “Have You Ever Seen the Rain”. I believe the flip side was “Hey Tonight” – I still love both of these songs!

    It’s nice you decided to highlight what’s probably fair to characterize as a deeper cut. While I’ve listened to “Willy and the Poor Boys” before, I didn’t recall “Don’t Look Now” – solid song!

    The closest I ever came to seeing CCR was a great John Fogerty concert a few years ago. John had a ball on that stage and still sounded fantastic – and played a pretty mean guitar!

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    1. I heard this song in a movie recently, that is what made me think of it again. I also saw it in a documentary…I’ve always liked it. They are a band…unlike some of the other big ones that crosses genres.
      I’ve met people who hated the Beatles, Stones, Who and other bands…but never have I met a person that hated CCR or say Johnny Cash.
      I’ve never seen John but I wish I would have…I always seemed to miss him when I was younger.

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  3. I don’t think this song ever made the charts, but Down on the Corner, Midnight Special and Fortunate Son all got a lot of radio play from Willy and the Poor Boys. Creedence was a roots-music band of outsiders who didn’t quite fit in. They wore flannel shirts, and they looked more like garage mechanics than rock stars.

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    1. Yes they did and that made me like them better. No this didn’t hit the charts but I’ve always liked it. I’ve posted all of their hits…but they have good album tracks also.

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    1. Yes they did on this band! I’m surprised though really…Tom Petty and others didnt’ do as well there so I’m surprised that CCR did…they are about as American as you can get. I love their live concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

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      2. That makes sense…I bet they were touring over there when it went to number 1. Americana doesn’t do as well there. Bruce did pretty well but still not as good as here.

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  6. Didn’t know that song but not bad. I’d be surprised if it was theirs and WAS bad. They had a great run, that’s for sure.
    How come ‘Have You Ever Seen the Rain?’ was such a hit again in 2021? I didn’t know that.

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    1. It had to be a movie…it’s been in some movies but I could not track down the movie in 2021. Maybe a commercial now that I think of it.
      This one I knew from a movie…one of the most consistent bands ever until their last album.

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  7. Can’t remember the last time I heard ‘Don’t Look Now”. Great profile and I agree with all the accolades and comments. I was lucky enough to see JF when he was able to play the CCR catalog again. Mesmerizing is all I can say.

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  9. I like this Max: ‘CCR didn’t look larger than life…they looked like our blue-collar neighbours from down the street. That is one of the reasons that I still like them so much’.
    Since my son and I watched The Big Lebowsky, he has asked me to play some CCR tracks.
    That’s fascinating they had their first No1 in 2021! Cool that Jeff got to see them too.
    I don’t think I’d heard this song before, so thanks for bringing it to my attention. It’s pretty good.

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  11. Some great ‘album’ tracks too, ‘I Put A Spell On You’ ’Heard It Through The Grapevine’ which they make sound pretty damned ominous, ‘Pagan Baby’ ‘Travellin’ Band’ ‘Molina’ etc , and the sublime ‘Long As I Can See The Light,’ which for whatever reason gravitates towards being near my number one spot decade after decade when I look at their output.

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    1. I can’t agree more with you…every album but the last has quality songs track by track. I don’t see how he wrote those in that short of span.

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  14. All I know is that every bar band, wedding reception band, and local live band had Green River as a standard on their playlist. They are good old boys and it shocked me they were from CA and not from down in a swamp somewhere. CCR is right by me. “Run Through the Jungle” has always spooked me a little.

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