THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

502-Creedence Clearwater Revival-Bad Moon Rising.

1969-Number 1 single.

Best Bit-At 0.32.’There’s a bathroom on the right.’

This song contains one of the most famous misheard lyrics.’There’s a bad moon on the rise,’ is often heard of as ‘There’s a bathroom on the right.’ The mishearing became so famous that when the bands lead singer John Fogerty performs the song live, he sings the bathroom line, and points towards the toilets from the stage.

Creedence Clearwater Revival were formed in 1959, in El Cerrito, California, United States, by three school friends, John Fogerty, Doug Clifford, and Stu Cook, originally calling themselves the ‘Blue Velvets, after a short while they were joined by Fogerty’s older brother Tom (1941-1990.) In 1964 they signed with ‘Fantasy Records,’ and were renamed ‘The Golliwogs,’ and then in January 1968 they had a final name change to Creedence Clearwater Revival. ‘CCR’ were active until 1972 as a trio, as Tom had left the band the previous year.They released seven studio Albums between 1968-1972, and achieved 12 top 40 singles on Billboard, they never had a Number 1 single in America, but five of their songs peaked at Number 2.

‘Bad Moon Rising’ was the first single released from the ‘CCR’s third studio Album ‘Green River’ from 1969,the songs writer John Fogerty readily admits borrowing the songs guitar riff from the 1955 Elvis Presley song ‘I’m Left, You’re Right, She’s Gone,’ which was written by Scotty Moore. (1931-2016) In 1986 at an awards function, Moore jokingly grabbed Fogerty from behind and said,’Give me back my licks.’ Fogerty got the idea for the songs subject after watching the 1941 fantasy film ‘The Devil and Daniel Webster,’ being inspired by a scene involving a hurricane. It is ironic that a song inspired by a film should itself be used in so many movies over the years, most famously in ‘An American Werewolf in London,’ in 1981.’Bad Moon Rising’ warns us that armageddon is just around the corner, but what Fogerty was probably referring to was the the state of America in the late 1960’s.John Fogerty was born on May 28th, 1945, in Berkeley, California, United States. The majority of ‘CCR’s material was written by him, including ‘Proud Mary’ which reached Number 2 on Billboard in 1968, and has been made even more popular by the Ike and Tina Turner version (see also best songs 752.) In 1975 as a solo artist Fogerty wrote, and recorded the original version of ‘Rockin’ All Over the World,’ which was made famous by Status Quo, who opened ‘Live Aid’ with the song in 1985.

‘Don’t go ’round tonight it’s bound to take your life, there’s a bad moon on the rise.’