Cotton Fields – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

The first time I heard this song I loved it. Many people have covered it but I know it primarily through CCR. Huddie Ledbetter, better known as Lead Belly, wrote this song and recorded it in 1940. Back when I was playing in a band…around one am, a couple of hours before closing we would do this song. People would be singing along with us.

Some bands and artists seem to cross genres and CCR is one of those bands. Yes, I’ve met people who didn’t love them but most like something they do. I’ve met metal heads, hard rock fans, country, bluegrass, pop, and rock fans who like them. Most can’t believe they came from California and not the swamps of Louisana. They looked like blue-collar workers going to work every day…and by their music…they were.

I visited secondhandsongs.com and found that this song has 187 versions of it. It’s been covered by Harry Belafonte, Odetta, Bill Monroe, Buck Owens, The Staple Singers, The Beach Boys, Van Morrison, and so many more.

Creedence covered it on the Willy and the Poor Boys album released in 1969. It was not released as a single in America but it peaked at #1 in Mexico in 1970. 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.

Creedence had 18 songs in the top 100 and 9 top 10 hits yet no number 1’s in the Billboard 100 until Have You Ever Seen The Rain in 2021!

Cotton Fields

When I was a little bitty babyMy mama would rock me in the cradleIn them old cotton fields back home