Creedence Clearwater Revival – Pagan Baby

John turned his Kustom K200/A Amp up to 11 with this song. It’s a little harder than their radio hits and they dip into blues rock with this cut. It was never released as a single but has become a fan favorite, especially among those who appreciate CCR’s rock album tracks.

It featured on their 6th studio album  Pendulum released in 1970. This album was the last to feature Tom Fogerty, the band’s rhythm guitarist and older brother of lead singer John Fogerty. He would leave the band band after this one. The album departed from the band’s previous work in several ways. Fogerty’s songs are strong throughout and are made more interesting by the addition of horns and keyboards

It was recorded at Wally Heider’s studio in San Francisco, it took a month to record which was a long time for a Creedence album. , was down to the fact that the initial take on each song was performed by all four members, this was then followed by overdubbing by John. The overdubs included a horn section, keyboards, and additional backing vocals, all of which were played and sung by John.

The album was met with mixed reviews from critics. Some praised the deeper sound they had in their songs. Some wanted the rawer energy they had on their previous 5 albums. It included the two hits Have You Ever Seen The Rain and Hey Tonight. Pagan Baby does have that earlier CCR energy.

Pendulum peaked at #5 on the Billboard Album Charts, #2 in Canada, and #8 in the UK in 1970. Their next album Mardi Gras was the only CCR album to be panned by critics and fans alike…including John Fogerty.

Pagan Baby

Pagan baby, won’t you walk with me?Pagan baby, come on home with me.Pagan baby, take me for a ride.Roll me, baby, roll your big, brown eyes.

Yeah! ooh! ooh!

Pagan baby, let me make your name.Drive it, baby, drive your big love game.Pagan baby, what you got, I need.

Don’t be savin’, spread your love on me.

Aah! mm-mm-mm!

Pagan baby, now won’t you rock with me?Pagan baby, lay your love on me.

Yeah, yeah!Aah! hey, hey!

Aah! hey! yeah!Hey! hey! haaaaaaay!

…

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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.

26 thoughts on “Creedence Clearwater Revival – Pagan Baby”

  8. So many great album tracks- this one has that sweet roll all through it- just look at the crowd, as Jim said, above. Also love the change-up at 2.27. And what a great title for a rock and Roll song. (Mmmmm, Pastor, I think this Rock and Roll is the Devils music, I think we should think about banning it.)

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    1. lol… yea it is a great song…and I do like a lot of these album tracks…so far my favorite being Bootleg…but they have plenty of them.

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      2. I always thought Long As I Can See The Light was one of their best songs…
        Molina was the choice I made with this one…

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  10. One of their songs I don’t remember, but I too had a Kustom amp. 4 12″ speaker cabinet with 2 horns, and although lacking the clarity of my Fender Dual Showman or my Vox AC30, it could blow any of the other away with loudness. It made my clothes vibrate when I stood too close. And that’s likely why I wear hearing aids today.

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      1. Max, everyone in my band and most of the musicians I knew back then and now, all need hearing aids. Our lead guitar for 20 years, both ears, our drummer, both ears, me, both ears, our bass player 1 ear. Those loud amps were brutal, we didn’t know it at the time. From about 2000 until we broke up in 2019 we used smaller amps and ran it all into our mains and monitors, so the stage volume was minimal, but just enough, still that was too much at times. We finally hired a sound tech to run everything into a board and he sat a good distance away and worked it from there. Mucho better on all parties. I found an old picture of us in 1966 in our practice room. I’m playing my Ric 325 through a Fender dual showman amps, 1 brain, 2 speaker cabs with 4-12″s and horns, no wonder I’m deaf. I’ll post it on my blog soon.

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      2. I’ll look forward for the picture Phil. Yea we at the very last started to run everything through the board instead of cranking up and going…too little too late.

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  11. Damn, that’s a great CCR song I somehow completely overlooked. “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” and “Hey Tonight” are among my long-term favorites by CCR. And while “Pagan Baby” may not be as memorable, it sure as heck is a great song. I love the raw feel of it!

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    1. They have some really good album cuts Christian…better than I knew…I started to listen to a lot of them now because I’ve posted all of their hits.

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