John Fogerty – I Saw It On TV

The coon-skin caps, Yankee bats, the Hound Dog man’s big start
The A-Bomb fears, Annette had ears, I lusted in my heart

When I bought the Centerfield album in 1985, this was one of the first songs that I listened to. Despite the hits like Centerfield and Old Man Down the Road, the pop culture gold in this song drew me in. That shouldn’t surprise any of my readers about me, even in 1985.

This is the song that broke Fogerty’s writer’s block he had for a decade. He wrote the rest of the album after this song. It chronicles history from the 50s to the 70s. While fishing, he started to think about the things he’s seen on TV as a young boy: the Eisenhower inauguration, the Yankees, the Mickey Mouse Club, Elvis Presley, The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show, etc. The story continued on through the sixties, Vietnam, and then Watergate.

Musically, it is classic John Fogerty with acoustic guitars underneath that golden voice. There is no clutter or overproduction, just the songwriter and the story. The track moves like a scrapbook, each verse turning another page. Fogerty always had a knack for pulling feelings out of memories. He does it here like he is sitting across from you around the kitchen table.

I Saw It On TV was not a hit but a very good album track. The song concludes with the riff of the intro of “Who’ll Stop the Rain.” The Centerfield album peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts, #2 in Canada, #13 in New Zealand, and #48 in the UK in 1985. The song was recorded at The Plant Studios in San Francisco.

Robert Hilburn from The Los Angeles Times:  “The album’s most affecting tune, however, may be “I Saw It on T.V,” a look at the way television has programmed so many shared emotions into the post-’50’s generation. In the song, Fogerty traces the liberating effect of Presley’s arrival, the idealism of the Kennedy years, the loss of innocence after his assassination, the celebration of the Beatles, the tragedy of Vietnam and the corruption of Watergate.”

I Saw It On TV

They sent us home to watch the show comin’ on the little screen
A man named Ike was in the white house, big black limousine
There were many shows to follow, from ‘Hooter’ to Doodyville
Though I saw them all, I can’t recall which cartoon was real

The coon-skin caps, Yankee bats, the Hound Dog man’s big start
The A-Bomb fears, Annette had ears, I lusted in my heart
A young man from Boston set sail the new frontier
And we watched the Dream dead-end in Dallas
They buried innocence that year

I know it’s true, oh so true
‘Cause I saw it on TV

We gathered round to hear the sound comin’ on the little screen
The grief had passed, the old men laughed, and all the girls screamed
‘Cause four guys from England took us all by the hand
It was time to laugh, time to sing, time to join the band

But all too soon, we hit the moon, and covered up the sky
They built their bombs, and aimed their guns, and still I don’t know why
The dominoes tumbled and big business roared
Every night at six, they showed the pictures and counted up the score

I know it’s true, oh so true
‘Cause I saw it on TV

The old man rocks among his dreams, a prisoner of the porch
“The light” he says
“At the end of the tunnel was nothin’, but a burglar’s torch”
And them that was caught in the cover are all rich and free
But they chained my mind to an endless tomb
When they took my only son from me

I know it’s true, oh so true
‘Cause I saw it on TV
I know it’s true, oh so true
‘Cause I saw it on TV

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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 “John Fogerty – I Saw It On TV”

  1. Pingback: John Fogerty – I Saw It On TV – MobsterTiger

  4. I saw it on PowerPop, even though I own that John Fogerty album on vinyl and got it some 40 years ago, prompted by “Centerfold.” The two other tracks that stuck the most are “The Old Man Down the Road” and “Rock and Roll Girls.”

    I couldn’t agree more “I Saw It on TV” is classic John Fogerty and could be a CCR song. In fact, at the very end, he appears to sample a snippet from “Who’ll Stop the Rain.”

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    1. Hmmm….there is a song in that. “I Saw It On Powerpop”…. lol
      Yea man I just went for this song the first time I heard it in 85… he doesn’t do it corny or anything like that…just like he is reading a newspaper…or singing a newspaper.

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    1. I was so excited to get this album as well. It was like having CCR real time…something I missed…at least thats the way I thought about it when I got it…John probably wouldn’t like that thought but I bought it.

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  8. Your reflection turns Fogerty’s song into a living timeline, not just music but memory stitched into melody.
    You made history feel personal, like each verse still echoes through the world we stand in.
    Would love to hear your thoughts on my other blogs too—your perspective adds a richness that’s rare.

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      1. Thank you — your appreciation adds its own history to the moment.
        The way you connect past and present makes every conversation richer.
        Would love your thoughts on my latest blogs too — your insight always uncovers layers I miss.

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  10. nostalgia gets me every time….there’s a bunch of Fogerty playing his tunes on YouTube that I like turning to a lot..I think with his kids?……..and I remember seeing him swapping riffs with Billy Gibbons which was interesting….this tune I think should be played back to back with Billy Joel’s We didn’t Start the Fire maybe

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