Speaking of CCR and the creative force of John Fogerty. He began writing a song about a maid who worked for rich folks in the city only to come back to her poor home.
'Left a good job in the city. Working for the man every night and day'. Then fellow Creedence member Stu Cook introduced the riverboat aspect of the song. The idea came to him as the group watched the television show Maverick and Stu made the statement, "Hey riverboat, blow your bell." John latched onto the riverboat theme as he continued to write the music, he made the first few chords evoke a riverboat paddlewheel going around. Thus, "Proud Mary" went from being a cleanup lady to a boat.
'Big wheels keep on tur'n'.
Ike and Tina took the song and made it their own.
Tina Turner recalled in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in 1971 how they came to record this on their Workin' Together album: "When we cut the album, we were lacking a few tunes, so we said 'Well, let's just put in a few things that we're doing on stage. And that's how 'Proud Mary' came about. I had loved it when it first came out. We auditioned a girl and she had sung 'Proud Mary.' This is like eight months later, and Ike said, 'You know, I forgot all about that tune.' And I said let's do it, but let's change it. So in the car Ike plays the guitar, we just sort of jam. And we just sort of broke into the black version of it. It was never planned to say, 'Well, let's go to the record shop, and I'd like to record this tune by Aretha Franklin'... it's just that we get it for stage, because we give the people a little bit of us and a little bit of what they hear on the radio every day."
Released30 January 1971
You know, every now and then
I think you might like to hear something from us
Nice and easy but there's just one thing
You see, we never ever do nothing nice and easy...