Proud Mary
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Proud Mary" is a song written by American singer and guitarist John Fogerty. It was first recorded by rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival (in which Fogerty played lead guitar and sang lead vocals) on the 1969 album Bayou Country. Released as a single in January of 1969, it became the band's first top ten hit on the U.S. Pop chart, peaking at number two. It was the first of five singles that the band released that would reach that peak on the chart, though the group never had a single reach number one, giving them the record for most No.2 singles for a group without a No.1.
The song was written on a steamboat called the "Mary Elizabeth" owned by the Grafton family.
Stylistically, the song merges elements of several genres, including rock and roll, blues, gospel, and soul. Nevertheless, it contains many of Creedence Clearwater Revival's most characteristic elements, including a repeated guitar riff, "down-home" lyrics, and a guitar solo Fogerty said was influenced by Steve Cropper of Booker T. & the M.G.s.
The second line of the second verse has generated considerable confusion, and can be considered a type of mondegreen. Listeners have variously interpreted it as "pumped a lot of pain" and "pumped a lot of 'pane", referring to propane, which is commonly used as a fuel. The controversy was further fueled by Ike & Tina Turner's cover, in which Tina sings "pumped a lot of 'tane", referring to octane, the grading scale and chemical in gasoline. The author, Fogerty, finally laid the confusion to rest, saying, "Sometimes I write words to songs because they sound cool to sing. Sometimes the listener doesn't understand what I'm singing because I'm dedicated to singing the vowel, having fun with the word sounds coming out of my mouth. 'Cleaned a lot of plates in Memphis, pumped a lot of pain down in New Orleans,' is a good example. I think Tina Turner sang '`tane' instead of 'pain,' as in a contracted form of 'octane'. But I knew what she meant."
Proud Mary has over the years been covered by a number of artists. A well known version came from Status Quo in the early seventies. In 1971, a cover version was released by Ike & Tina Turner that differed greatly from the structure of the original, but is also well known and has become one of Tina's most recognizable signature songs. The Turners' version was substantially rearranged by Soko Richardson and Ike Turner. It included a sultry, slow opening and spoken-word intro by Tina Turner, and it reached #4 on the pop charts in 1971.
Elvis Presley also often performed the song in his Las Vegas shows and on tour in the early 70s. Versions can be found on the albums On Stage (1970) and An Afternoon in the Garden (1972). Actor Leonard Nimoy also infamously covered Proud Mary for Dot Records in 1970. Country duo The Kendalls covered the song in the mid-1970s, though they changed the line "workin' for the man" to the somewhat less politically charged "workin' real hard". The Osmonds also recorded a version of the song. The song was performed by American Idol season 3's winner Fantasia Barrino in her audition. The song was also performed as a duet by Jewel and Beyoncé in Divas 2003. Prince covered this song in a medley during Super Bowl XLI (Feb. 4 2007) and has publicly stated that this was the first song he learned on the guitar. A cover version of the song appears on a Prince bootleg album called The Work Volume 5. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra have covered the song live on their 2007 tour. Cambodian singer Ros Sereysothea also covered this song under the title Yom Srolanh Khnyom (cry loving me). Beyoncé and Tina Turner also covered the song during the 2008 Grammy Awards. On May 8th, 2008 Cher and Tina Turner appeared on Oprah to discuss Cher's new show at Caesars Palace and Tina's new tour. Later in the show, after nearly 30 years since their first performance together, Cher and Tina Turner performed Proud Mary. It is the same song and arrangement they performed together at the VH1 Diva's Live 2 concert in 1999. Punk rock band the Mess Around covered it live several times, most notably with Irish singer Breda Lanigan as a guest vocalist. Top-16 American Idol semifinalist Danny Noriega performed this song during his audition, to scoffs from judge Randy Jackson. American Idol finalist Syesha Mercado sang this song during her Top 4 performance.
The song is placed #155 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
Cover Versions
- Beyonce and Tina Turner (Grammy's '08)
- Fantasia Barrino of American Idol
- Syesha Mercado of American Idol
- Trenyce of American Idol
- Acid Drinkers, a thrash metal band on the 1998 album High Proof Cosmic Milk
- Elvis Presley
