Creedence Clearwater Revival – Born on the Bayou

This song is so ominous with that noise and then tremolo guitar opening. I’m ready to follow whatever comes next after that.  What came after was the other instrument in the band that no other band had or could match, John’s voice. I think of Little Richard, but with a little more control. We will revisit Richard in this post.  The song was the B side to Proud Mary and never did chart, but it remains one of their best-remembered songs. It should be a law, you have to wear headphones with the volume at 11 when you listen to this song. Fogerty’s voice will amaze you. 

When you listen to the song, you are in a bayou, whether you want it or not. You have hound dogs barking, rolling with a Cajun Queen, running through the backwoods bare, and all the inhabitants of the bayou within your reach. Although none of the band members were from Louisiana (they were based in California), Fogerty created a vivid, swampy Southern sound that came to define CCR’s identity with this song. 

John Fred was a singer (Judy In Disguise), and he played a part in this song. Fred was from Louisiana, and when Creedence played a show in Baton Rouge in 1969, he met Fogerty at a rehearsal and offered to take him to a real bayou. They drove 15 minutes to Bayou Forche, where they ate some crabs and crayfish, which helped give Fogerty the idea for this song.

The song was on their album Bayou Country, released in 1969. The album contained Proud Mary and one of my favorite CCR songs Bootleg. On making the album, John said: Everybody wanted to sing, write, make up their own arrangements, whatever, right? This was after ten years of struggling. Now we had the spotlight. Andy Warhol’s fifteen minutes of fame. ‘Susie Q’ was as big as we’d ever seen. Of course, it really wasn’t that big…I didn’t want to go back to the carwash.” The album peaked at #7 on the Billboard album charts, #14 in Canada, and #62 in the UK.

I found one of the most interesting covers of this song. Little Richard (I have it below) covered it in 1971. After a 2:00 spoken intro, his voice blasts into it, and it feels just right.

John Fogerty: “We were the #7 act on the bill, bottom of the totem pole. And as the first guys to go on, we were the last to soundcheck before they opened the doors. It was like, ‘Here’s the drums, boom, boom; here’s the guitar, clank, clank.’ I looked over at the guys and said, ‘Hey, follow this!’ Basically, it was the riff and the attitude of ‘Born on the Bayou,’ without the words.” 

John Fogerty: “Born on the Bayou,” “Proud Mary,” and “Choolgin'” were all connected in John Fogerty’s mind. In Bad Moon Rising, he said, “I was writing these at night, and I remember that Bobby Kennedy got killed during this time. I saw that late at night. They kept showing it over and over. ‘Bayou’ and ‘Proud Mary’ and ‘Chooglin” were all kind of cooking at that time. I’d say that was when the whole swamp bayou myth was born—right there in a little apartment in El Cerrito. It was late at night and I was probably delirious from lack of sleep. I remember that I thought it would be cool if these songs cross-referenced each other. Once I was doing that, I realized that I was kind of working on a mythical place.”

If you want to hear a live version by CCR, I couldn’t find a good video except the audio right here.

Born on the Bayou

Now, when I was just a little boyStandin’ to my daddy’s kneeMy papa said, “Son, don’t let the man get youAnd do what he done to me”‘Cause he’ll get you‘Cause he’ll get you now, now

And I can remember the fourth of JulyRunnin’ through the backwood bareAnd I can still hear my ol’ hound dog barkin’Chasin’ down a hoodoo thereChasin’ down a hoodoo there

Born on the bayouBorn on the bayouBorn on the bayou, Lord, Lord

Wish I was back on the bayouRollin’ with some Cajun QueenWishin’ I were a fast freight trainI’m just a chooglin’ on down to New Orleans

Born on the bayouBorn on the bayou, mm, mm, mmBorn on the bayou, do it, do it, do it, do itAlright

Oh, get back, boy

And I can remember the fourth of JulyRunnin’ through the backwood bareAnd I can still hear my ol’ hound dog barkin’Chasin’ down a hoodoo thereChasin’ down a hoodoo there

Born on the bayouBorn on the bayou, oh, ohBorn on the bayouAlright, do it, do it, do it, do it

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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.

45 thoughts on “Creedence Clearwater Revival – Born on the Bayou”

  1. Really like the feel of this song. Funny i was thinking of posting a CCR song today! It would have been something to see them live. I’ve seen JF twice and it’s mesmerizing to watch him.

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  4. It was in the early 2000s when I was living in Georgia, I was talking about classic rock with a few friends, and when I said that CCR was from California, nobody believed me.
    Anyway, I have been a big fan of the band since I was a little kid. Thanks for sharing some cool info about them.

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    1. I can’t blame them for not believing you. I was kinda shocked when I found out.
      I’m with you…I got the Chronicle album when I was a kid.

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  5. Add to list of b-sides better than the a-sides… Really a cool , early example of Swamp Rock. I didn’t know he visited a real bayou to get a feel for the place, makes sense

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    1. Well Dave…you just said something I didn’t have the courage to say lol. I DO like it better…damn Dave…listen to it in headphones…you will like it even more.

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    1. I didn’t know he covered it either…it fits this song so well. I just wish CCR would have lasted longer…but they squeezed in a lot in their short window. You are right…they practically invented it.

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  10. That’s what I call a serious jam going on. I like Little Richard’s version but I’m used to CCR’s and love the intro you mention. I got up and danced with both of them. It’s sunny out today and I think I see the first dandelion of the season getting ready to bloom. Life is good.

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  12. Who doesn’t like Creedence?…if they exist, I don’t want to know them. John Fogerty was a genius and the driving force behind the band, as we all know, but the whole band was terrific. Doug Clifford is one bad ass drummer. He has so much soul…he can get really greasy with the rhythm.

    All that said, they owe their sound to Dale Hawkins. They did an almost verbatim cover of his Suzy Q and just rolled with the template.

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    1. You know Pam…I’ve met people who hated The Beatles, Elvis, Stones, Who, Led Zeppelin…but you are right…I have never met anyone who didn’ like CCR.
      I started to appreciate Clifford’s playing when I got a bootleg of their Royal Albert Hall concert… they all were on…but John and Doug stood out.
      John’s voice was a secret weapon for them as well.

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      2. Cool…I always wondered about that. I know that Bruce Springsteen isn’t as big there as he is here.

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  14. They ruled the three minute rock song genre, but there is so much more. The moodiness, as you say, that ominous feel, the tension in ‘Grape Vine’ the groove then the kick halfway through ‘Pagan Baby,’ and the pure genius in ‘Long As I Can See The Light.’ Hand me most any Creedence album and I’ll sit down, listen and be quiet for the next half hour or so.

    (I watched John Fred and his Playboy Band on YT quite a few years back doing ‘Judy In Disguise’, a dated very grainy video. He looked long and lean and gawky, like a hyper-extended drunken giraffe! Never had a clue he from Louisiana.)

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    1. Yea they did rule the AM radio waves at that time. Even their admitted bad Mardi Gras has a few good songs on it. They don’t get credit for album cuts at all.
      Now I have to check Mr Fred out lol…it’s a must.

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  16. Thanks for reminding me about this song, Max, believe it or not, I’d forgotten! I do like them – and this. Got stuck afterwards listening to them on youtube (3 or 4 songs.)

    Hope you’re having a good day.

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    1. I really love this band and they were probably the best American band at the time. They had some steep competition with the Beatles, the stones, The Who, and other English bands.
      We had a great time today! Thank you

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  17. I was a bit let-down after finding out they weren’t from Shreveport, or any place in Louisiana. Our drummer, a true bayou born coon-ass would spit on the floor at the mention of their name, called them fakers, and worse, but he would play their tunes, of which we did quite a few of. This one is my favorite. Gotta love those giant Kustom Amps. I had one exactly like that and although it didn’t produce the best tone, it would blow your clothes off and ruin your hearing.

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    1. I can see that with people from there.

      Yea I have a garage full of those amps…I love them. I probably have around 5 that a buddy and I got cheap around 8-9 years ago. Still sound great.

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      1. I was in a pawn shop last year and they had one for a $1000. So they hold value. My Kustom ruined my hearing, and the Fender Showman finished it off. That’s cool that you all those old amps. I had a Peavy 2×12 I found at a pawn shop, sold it to a friend, it was so heay to lift.

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      2. A few years ago Phil…they were on a down cycle…around 2016 or so…we bought these amps from $150 to $350… so we cleaned up…then they started to go up in price.
        I like a lot of Peavy amps.

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