Born on the Bayou
| "Born on the Bayou" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song by Creedence Clearwater Revival from the album Bayou Country | ||||
| Released | January 5, 1969 | |||
| Recorded | late 1968, RCA Studios, Los Angeles, California | |||
| Genre | Swamp rock, roots rock | |||
| Length | 5:16 | |||
| Label | Fantasy | |||
| Writer | John Fogerty | |||
| Producer | John Fogerty | |||
| Bayou Country track listing | ||||
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"Born on the Bayou" is the first track on Creedence Clearwater Revival's second album, Bayou Country. It was released as the B-side of the single "Proud Mary" and reached #2 on the Billboard Charts.
As the songwriter, John Fogerty, commented:
"Born on the Bayou" was vaguely like "Porterville," about a mythical childhood and a heat-filled time, the Fourth of July. I put it in the swamp where, of course, I had never lived. It was late as I was writing. I was trying to be a pure writer, no guitar in hand, visualizing and looking at the bare walls of my apartment. Tiny apartments have wonderful bare walls, especially when you can't afford to put anything on them. "Chasing down a hoodoo." Hoodoo is a magical, mystical, spiritual, non-defined apparition, like a ghost or a shadow, not necessarily evil, but certainly other-worldly. I was getting some of that imagery from Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters.
"Born on the Bayou" is an example of 'swamp rock', a genre associated with John Fogerty and Tony Joe White. The guitar setting for the intro is over-driven with amp vibrato on a slow setting; Fogerty uses a Gibson semi-acoustic with humbuckers (which was stolen from his car soon after recording this track). The E7 chord gives the song a strong Southern blues feel. To many, the vocal performance on this track represents a pinnacle in John Fogerty's singing, the performance as a whole is regarded as one of Creedence Clearwater Revival's finest hours. "Born on the Bayou" opened most of CCR's concerts, and was known as the band's signature song.
[edit] Cover versions
Tina Britt recorded a tribute to "Born on the Bayou", titled "Born on a Bayou", in 1969.
"Born on the Bayou" was covered by Little Richard on his 1971 album King of Rock and Roll, and by Francis Cabrel on his 2008 album Des roses et des orties, as "Né dans le Bayou." It was also covered by Foo Fighters, and the recording can be found on the Resolve CD Maxi released in 2006. In 2008, Widespread Panic opened their annual Halloween concert with "Born on the Bayou" in New Orleans, LA. The recording can be found at www.livewidespreadpanic.com. A cover by The Broken Homes was used in the film Born on the Fourth of July (1989).
The song was featured in The Return of Swamp Thing, John Woo's 1993 film Hard Target and Adam Sandler's 1998 film The Waterboy. It also appears briefly in the film Stop-Loss.
Roger Daltrey from The Who says he has loved this song since hearing it in Woodstock, and often plays it in solo performances. It was occasionally performed on The Who's 1989 tour as well.
The Blue Öyster Cult's famous rock song "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" takes inspiration from "Born on the Bayou" in its guitar riffs and use of the cowbell.
Ratt also recorded a cover on their self-titeld album Ratt
[edit] Appearances in other media
- The song is played during the opening credits of the 1989 film The Return of Swamp Thing based on the DC Comics book "Swamp Thing".
- The song is available as a playable song for the Rock Band series of music video games as downloadable content.
- The song is heard during the commercial promotions for the History Channel's Swamp People.
- The song is heard in the Adam Sandler comedy The Waterboy and at the end of the film The Expendables.
- A cover of the song is heard in the Captain N: The Game Master episode "How's Bayou", likely performed by Long John Baldry or Levi Stubbs, who were also voice actors on the show. However, it was edited out of later reruns and DVD releases due to copyright concerns.
