![\"Wearing](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/https:\/\/d1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net\/production\/0c5d47f5-2f1b-4c36-b334-ff58fa9858d4.jpg\")
Tina Turner in 1971, the year she released her explosive version of \u2018Proud Mary\u2019 \u00a9 Michael Ochs Archives<\/p>\nUnlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free<\/p>\n
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/p>\n
When Creedence Clearwater Revival released \u201cProud Mary\u201d as a single in January 1969 they had existed for a decade. They got a taste of success in 1968 with \u201cSusie Q\u201d, but nothing about the Bay Area band suggested longevity, let alone greatness.<\/p>\n
Then \u201cProud Mary\u201d raced to number two in the US charts, and Creedence became America\u2019s favourite band. In \u201cProud Mary\u201d, 23-year old John Fogerty composed a contemporary standard, a song that could have leapt from a Mark Twain tale, while encapsulating the hippie dream of taking to the open road. Or the river \u2014 for Proud Mary is a steamer which the song\u2019s narrator hitches a ride on, fleeing his poorly paid job. Once aboard, he finds generous people who \u201care happy to give\u201d if \u201cyou have no money\u201d and his sense of joy is captured in the song\u2019s chorus: \u201cRollin\u2019, rollin\u2019, rollin\u2019 on the river.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Fogerty\u2019s autobiography Fortunate Son he describes how, having received notice of an honourable discharge from the US army, he turned a cartwheel, picked up his guitar and started composing, writing that \u201ca weight had been lifted.\u201d \u201cProud Mary\u201d arrived quickly and Fogerty admits surprise at having written \u201ca song about a boat\u201d.<\/p>\n
Creedence recorded \u201cProud Mary\u201d as a straight-ahead rock song and, in an era of downbeat, psychedelic rock, its simplicity lit up the radio and it became an international hit. \u201cProud Mary\u201d mentions Memphis and New Orleans \u2014 Mississippi riverboat cities \u2014 yet Fogerty had never travelled outside California; his imagination, seemingly sparked by the R&B, rockabilly and Stephen Foster songs he loved, led him to celebrate a mythic South.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a testament to his songwriting skills that Southern-born singers began recording \u201cProud Mary\u201d: Solomon Burke\u2019s April 1969 effort begins with him relating how his forefathers worked on the Proud Mary \u201cas stokers, cooks and waiters\u201d; Burke\u2019s version, slower and reflective of an African American consciousness, is wise and majestic. Fogerty paid tribute: \u201cIt\u2019s great when someone sings your song, but when he understands it, you listen like it was the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Phil Spector, the dominant producer of early-1960s US pop, got The Checkmates Ltd featuring Sonny Charles to record \u201cProud Mary\u201d in the autumn of 1969 \u2014 its bombastic sound and female gospel chorus overwhelm the song, which struggled to chart.<\/p>\n
Tina Turner wanted to sing \u201cProud Mary\u201d as soon as she heard Creedence\u2019s version, but it took almost two years to convince her then husband, Ike Turner, that they should do so; their 1971 version transformed the song into a celebration of Black pride and survival. Tina begins by informing listeners to \u201clisten to the story\u201d as voices, backed by guitar and bass, tell of a South they knew too well. After a couple of minutes the band kick in and \u201cProud Mary\u201d becomes an explosive rock-soul number; it was a hit in both pop and R&B charts. \u201cProud Mary\u201d became a centrepiece of Ike & Tina\u2019s live show and, after they split, was one of the few Ike-era songs she retained in her set \u2014 a live version was included on her 1988 Tina Live in Europe album, while she re-recorded \u201cProud Mary\u201d for the 1993 biopic, What\u2019s Love Got to Do With It. <\/p>\n
Tina Turner in 1971, the year she released her explosive version of \u2018Proud Mary\u2019 \u00a9 Michael Ochs Archives<\/p>\n
Many other artists recorded \u201cProud Mary\u201d \u2014 Tom Jones, Status Quo, Junior Walker, Glee Cast among them \u2014 but none matched Creedence, Burke or Turner\u2019s efforts. Fogerty recalled his mother, who rarely liked his music, proudly telling him she\u2019d heard the Boston Pops orchestra playing \u201cProud Mary\u201d with country guitarist Chet Atkins.<\/p>\n
As for Elvis Presley, who incorporated \u201cProud Mary\u201d into his live show, Fogerty noted: \u201cIt seemed like he hurried through it\u2009.\u2009.\u2009. you just wished he killed it.\u201d The version on Presley\u2019s 1972 Madison Square Garden album bears this out.<\/p>\n
For a long time, Fogerty refused to sing his old songs \u2014 a dispute with Fantasy Records over his publishing had turned toxic. Then came an impromptu stage appearance<\/a> in 1987 with Bob Dylan and\u00a0George Harrison\u00a0at a Taj Mahal concert in Los Angeles. Dylan told Fogerty: \u201cIf you don\u2019t do these tunes, the world\u2019s going to remember \u2018Proud Mary\u2019 as\u00a0Tina Turner\u2019s song.\u201d This spurred him to start singing CCR songs again, including \u201cProud Mary\u201d.<\/p>\n At this year\u2019s Glastonbury Festival, Fogerty concluded his performance with the song that had established him as a singular voice in American music. Creedence Clearwater Revival, never fashionable or mythologised, are in our streaming era one of the most popular 1960s-era bands \u2014 their simple yet dynamic songs attracting similar numbers of listeners as The Beatles and Stones.<\/p>\n Let us know your memories of \u2018Proud Mary\u2019 in the comments section below<\/p>\n