1. Background and recording

2. Chart performance
    Weekly charts  Year-end charts 

3. Solomon Burke version

4. Tina Turner versions
    Formats and track listings  Chart performance  Weekly charts  Year-end charts  Certifications and sales 

5. Accolades

6. Other versions

7. References

8. External links

• Roots rock
• swamp rock^[4]

"Proud Mary" is a rock n' roll song written by John Fogerty and first recorded by his band Creedence Clearwater Revival. The song was released by Fantasy Records as a single from the band's second studio album, Bayou Country, which was released by the same record company in January 1969. The single is generally considered to have been released in early January 1969,^[1][2] although at least one source^[3] states that it came out just before Christmas 1968. The song became a major hit in the United States, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1969, the first of five non-consecutive singles to peak at #2 for the group.^[5]

Background and recording

In a 1969 interview, Fogerty said that he wrote it in the two days after he was discharged from the National Guard.^[6] In the liner notes for the 2008 expanded reissue of Bayou Country, Joel Selvin explained that the songs for the album started when John Fogerty was in the National Guard, that the riffs for "Proud Mary", "Born on the Bayou", and "Keep on Chooglin'" were conceived by Fogerty at a concert in the Avalon Ballroom, and "Proud Mary" was arranged from parts of different songs, one of which was about a washerwoman named Mary.^[3] The line "Left a good job in the city" was written following Fogerty's discharge from the National Guard, and the line "rollin' on the river" was from a movie by Will Rogers.^[7]

In the Macintosh program "Garage Band", Fogerty explained that he liked Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and wanted to open a song with a similar intro (descending by a third), implying the way "Proud Mary" opens with the repeated C chord to A chord. Fogerty wanted to evoke male gospel harmonies, as exemplified by groups he was familiar with such as the Swan Silvertones, the Sensational Nightingales, and the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi; especially on the line, "Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river"; and in the guitar solo he did his, "best [imitation of] Steve Cropper."^[10] The basic track for "Proud Mary", as with the other songs on the album, was recorded by John Fogerty (lead guitar), Tom Fogerty (rhythm guitar), Stu Cook (bass), and Doug Clifford (drums) at RCA Studios in Hollywood, California, with John overdubbing instruments and all the vocals later.^[3]

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Solomon Burke version

In 1969 Solomon Burke had a small hit with his cover of the song, which was his second release for Bell and was co-produced by singer Tamiko Jones,^[19] who was being rehabilitated after a bout of polio,^[20] and was at the time Burke's fiancé and manager. Burke recalls: "We went to Muscle Shoals and recorded Proud Mary, which they didn't like at all. They thought it was stupid to record a song Proud Mary, which was already on the charts. I was explaining to them that it was a very big record, but it's a very white record, a pop record. We will redo the record, open up the doors for it to get on the r&b charts and make the black stations to play the record ... It was a Solomon Burke record made in Muscle Shoals. We proved that we can make a hit record without Jerry Wexler eating sandwiches with us. This record was a hit without anybody's help. Proud Mary was only promoted by Tamiko Jones and myself." According to Mark Denning, "While that may have seemed like a bald-faced bid for pop radio play, in Burke's hands the song became a bracing tale of life in the Deep South as African-Americans searched for liberation aboard the ship that carried them as slaves and put them to undignified labor serving wealthy whites."^[21]

Tina Turner versions

Ike & Tina Turner first covered "Proud Mary" in 1970. This version was released as a single from their Workin' Together album and the song differed greatly from the structure of the original, but is also well known and has become one of Tina Turner's most recognizable signature songs. The Turners' version was substantially rearranged by Soko Richardson^[27][28] and Ike Turner. The song started off with a slow, sultry soulful tone in which Tina introduced the song and warned the audience that she and the band were gonna start it off "nice and easy" as "we never do nothing nice and easy" but said they would finish it "nice and rough". After the lyrics are first sung softly by the Turners, the song is then turned into a funk rock vamp with Tina and the Ikettes delivering gospel-influenced vocals. It reached #4 on the pop charts on March 27, 1971, two years to the week after Creedence Clearwater Revival's version was at its peak, and won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Group in 1972.

In the Tina Turner biopic, What's Love Got to Do with It, the song is performed in a timeline of events in Ike and Tina's career in which the couple are transformed from an opening act to The Rolling Stones to a major headlining act by the mid-1970s. Ike and Tina first performed a version of the song on The Ed Sullivan Show on January 11, 1970 just days before they entered the studio to record the song. The Revue later performed the song on Soul Train on April 22, 1972.^[29]

In 1988, a live solo version was included on the album Tina Live in Europe. Tina Turner later re-recorded the song in the studio for the biopic's 1993 soundtrack album of the same name. This version was released as a promotional single issued to radio stations and DJs. Tina's solo version was later included on her 2004 greatest hits album All the Best. After a contestant's performance of the song on The X Factor in 2010, this version entered the UK Singles Chart at #62 and fell to #121 the next week, it also entered the Scottish Singles Chart at #40.

Another live version was released in 2009 on the Tina Live album. It was recorded on March 21, 2009 in Arnhem, Netherlands as part of Turner's 50th Anniversary Tour. The song has now become a staple in all of Tina's live shows, including live duet versions with Beyoncé and Cher.

Formats and track listings

1. "Proud Mary (Edit Live Version) – 4:32
2. "The Best" (Live) – 5:22

1. "Proud Mary (Edit Live Version) – 4:32
2. "Proud Mary (Edit) – 4:10
3. "We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)" (Live) – 4:55
4. "The Best" (Live) – 5:22

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Accolades

"Proud Mary" placed at #155 on Rolling Stone{{'}}s 2004 list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.^[36] Both CCR and Ike & Tina Turner's versions of the song received Grammy Hall of Fame Awards, in 1998 and 2003, respectively.^[37]

Other versions

"Proud Mary" has, over the years, been covered by a number of artists. Anthony Armstrong Jones' 1969 version reached number 22 on the U.S. country charts. Also in 1969, a version recorded by the Checkmates, Ltd. and produced by Phil Spector reached number 30 on the U.K. Singles Chart and number 69 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[38] In 1970, the song was recorded by Leonard Nimoy, in his album The New World of Leonard Nimoy.

Elvis Presley began incorporating "Proud Mary" into his live shows in 1970. Presley's version is a full out rocker and is featured in his 1972 concert film Elvis on Tour and on his albums On Stage (1970) and As Recorded at Madison Square Garden (1972).

References

External links

• {{MetroLyrics song|creedence-clearwater-revival|proud-mary}}

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