{"id":523842,"date":"2026-03-09T04:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T04:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/523842\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T04:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T04:27:09","slug":"on-this-day-in-1969-creedence-clearwater-revival-fell-just-short-of-no-1-with-a-classic-song-made-more-famous-by-a-grammy-winning-husband-wife-duo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/523842\/","title":{"rendered":"On This Day in 1969, Creedence Clearwater Revival Fell Just Short of No. 1 With a Classic Song Made More Famous by a Grammy-Winning Husband-Wife Duo"},"content":{"rendered":"

It may shock some to learn that Creedence Clearwater Revival has never had a No. 1 song in the United States. While their 1969 hit \u201cBad Moon Rising\u201d<\/a> topped the charts in the United Kingdom, it fell just short in their home country, peaking at No. 2 on the Hot 100. And it wasn\u2019t their first song to narrowly miss the top. On this day (March 8) in 1969, the California blues-rockers hit No. 2 on the Hot 100 with \u201cProud Mary,\u201d where it would stay for three weeks.<\/p>\n

Blocked by Sly & the Family Stone\u2019s \u201cEveryday People\u201d the first week, \u201cProud Mary\u201d lost out to \u201cDizzy\u201d by bubblegum pop singer-songwriter the next. The John Fogerty-penned track marked the first of five CCR singles to peak at the runner-up spot.<\/p>\n

John Fogerty Knew He Had a Hit<\/p>\n

Taking its title from a real-life ship based in Memphis, Tennessee, Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty wrote \u201cProud Mary\u201d in the two-day period following his discharge from the U.S. Army Reserves. Our low-wage narrator abandons what he considers \u201ca good job in the city\u201d and follows his impulses down the river on the Proud Mary.<\/p>\n

Two years later, husband-and-wife R&B duo Ike & Tina Turner would record their own version, which peaked at No. 4 on the Hot 100 and won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance By a Group.<\/p>\n

The country was in the throes of the Vietnam War when John Forgerty received his honorable discharge from the military. In celebration, he \u201cturned a real cartwheel\u201d <\/a>before heading inside to strum on his Rickenbacker. Within the hour, Fogerty had written \u201cProud Mary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI said to myself while I\u2019m holding the piece of paper, \u2018This is the classic, John, you\u2019ve written the classic, and I\u2019m the only one in the whole world that knows,\u2019\u201d he told Guitar World last September.<\/p>\n

Creedence Clearwater Revival\u2019s Other Narrow Misses<\/p>\n

\u201cProud Mary\u201d was the first time that Creedence Clearwater Revival just missed out on the No. 1 spot, but it wasn\u2019t the last<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In June of that same year, \u201cBad Moon Rising\u201d would meet the same fate, losing out to Henry Mancini\u2019s \u201cLove Theme From Romeo & Juliet.\u201d<\/p>\n

[RELATED: Looking Back at CCR\u2019s 5 Legendary No. 2 Hits: The Songs That Made Swamp Rock Great]<\/a><\/p>\n

Three months later, The Archies\u2019 \u201cSugar, Sugar\u201d felled CCR\u2019s \u201cGreen River.\u201d In March 1970, \u201cTravelin\u2019 Band\u201d \/ \u201cWho\u2019ll Stop the Rain\u201d couldn\u2019t quite overcome Simon & Garfunkel\u2019s \u201cBridge Over Troubled Water.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fast forward to October, when \u201cLookin\u2019 Out My Back Door\u201d \/ \u201cLong as I Can See the Light\u201d failed to summit Diana Ross\u2019 \u201cAin\u2019t No Mountain High Enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Featured image by Archive Photos\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It may shock some to learn that Creedence Clearwater Revival has never had a No. 1 song in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[24985,49,48,31057,75,341,5475],"class_list":["post-523842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-1960s","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-creedence-clearwater-revival","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-rock-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}