Green River

by

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Album: Green River

Released: 1969

Charted:

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Tom Fogerty said of this song: "Green River is really about this place where I used to go as a kid on Putah Creek, near Winters, California. I went there with my family every year until I was ten. Lot of happy memories there. I learned how to swim there. There was a rope hanging from the tree. Certainly dragonflies, bullfrogs. There was a little cabin we would stay in owned by a descendant of Buffalo Bill Cody. That's the reference in the song to Cody Jr. The actual specific reference, Green River, I got from a soda pop-syrup label. You used to be able to go into a soda fountain, and they had these bottles of flavored syrup. My flavor was called Green River. It was green, lime flavored, and they would empty some out over some ice and pour some of that soda water on it, and you had yourself a Green River." (thanks, george - stockton, CA)

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Creedence Clearwater Revival Artistfacts
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Comments (20):

The first 8 track I bought as a teenager was CCR, had Green River on it. "I can hear the bullfrog callin me."

- Jim, West Palm Beach, FL

There are gunna be alot of upset folks around Ramah Louisiana;they think the song was written by ccr when they were playing a little bar along the atchfaylaya spillway.

- bert, baton rouge, LA

wish I had a dollar for everytime Ive played that tune in one band or another over the past many years...still one of my all time favorites...fogerty would have been lost without that E chord and its bluesy riff variations....so many of his songs were in that key....swamp music extravaganza....mystical, mysterious, that feeling creedence projected through those vinyl grooves mezmerized me when I was a teen...something about that sound brought me to an even younger period of my life...didnt know it then but later on I realized it was the connection of rockabilly and early elvis...creedence had such a profound affect on me..I would have never learned the guitar if it wasnt for that band...period.

- jeff, panama city , FL

I used to work in Venice, California in 1960 and ate at a lunch counter in a Thrifty drugstore. A Green River was a squirt of green lemon-lime syrup and a blast of soda water. Not bad at all!

- Bob, Berkeley, CA

reminds me of that time in my life when there were no problems, just times to be enjoyed

- Wayne, Las Vegas, NV

I love Green River, that is, the soft drink as well as the song. If you mix it with whiskey, you might get away with violating "open-container" laws because it looks kind of like ginger ale. As for the serial killer, screw him. Gary Lee Ridgeway deserves to be burned at the stake for what he did.

- Darrell, Eugene

One of my all time favorite songs from my all time favorite band. Fogerty kicks a**!

- Mike, Hueytown , AL

i love this song ccr are great the lyrics too their music is so raw

- elie, london

Probably my all-time favorite song by CCR, one of my favorite bands. The opening guitar licks give me chills, and the mental image of "barefoot girls dancing in the moonlight" has stuck with me for years. (By the way, I've had more than one "Green River" at a now-defunct diner in Phoenix, Arizona, the only place I've ever seen it on the menu.)

- Clarke, Pittsburgh, PA

O cool. Someone else noticed. I'm not that crazy after all. Thanks Fyodor. "Long Cool Woman" it what I thought the title was, but I wasn't sure.

- Stefanie, Rock Hill, SC

Stefanie,

When I first heard 'Long Cool Woman' on the radio as a kid, I was sure it was CCR, and I remained amazed for some time that it wasn't and that someone else would so brazenly copy their style!

- fyodor, Denver, CO

There is a great live version on Fogerty's live CD Premonition. Smoking guitar.

- Phil, Borrego Springs, CA

I agree with mark. The song is way too short Still the best ever

- John, Kalamazoo, KY

simple but great, I agree with whoever said its too short, that is a fact.

- Mark, Virginia Beach, VA

I would say that this is one if those songs that's so cool, but it's short. Too bad it's not longer.

- Marc, Vancouver, Canada

The Holly's song I was referring to is the one that starts with "Saturday night I was down town, workin' for the FBI..." I'm not sure I even have the title right.

- Stefanie magura, Rock Hill, SC

Tjis is a weird tidbit, but if you listen to "Green River" by CCR, and "Long Cool woman" by the Hollies back to back, they kind of sound alike. Does anyone agree?

- Stefanie magura, Rock Hill, SC

Good song.Also used on the game Grand Theft Auto:San Andreas on the radio station K-DST.With Axl Rose as the dj.

- Brandon, Morristown, TN

Truely great guitar part... I just love the lyrics to this one.

- John, Calgary, Canada

The camp site was run by a decendant of Buffalo Bill Cody. There was an old-fashioned drug store in Winters the had the old fountain drinks using syrup and carbonated water. The syrup used for Limeades the Fogerty used to love was called "Green River"
Fogerty later recorded a companion song on "Blue Moon Sawmp" called "Sawmp River Days".

- Randy, Beaumont, TX

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