Born on the Bayou
"Born on the Bayou" is the first track on Creedence Clearwater Revival's second album, Bayou Country, released in 1969. It was released as the B-side of the single "Proud Mary" which reached No. 2 on the Billboard charts.
Background
Songwriter John Fogerty set the song in the South, despite neither having lived nor having widely traveled there. He commented:"Born on the Bayou" is an example of "swamp rock", a genre associated with Fogerty, Little Feat/Lowell George, the Band, J.J. Cale and Tony Joe White. The guitar setting for the intro is over-driven with amp tremolo on a slow setting; Fogerty uses a Gibson ES-175. The song has also been described as Southern rock and rock and roll.
Creedence Clearwater Revival drummer Doug Clifford has said of the song in 1998:
According to Clifford, "Born on the Bayou" was originally supposed to be released as the A-side of the single with "Proud Mary." Clifford said of the song "I didn’t think 'Proud Mary' was that good, if you want to know the truth about it. I just didn’t like it. I liked 'Born on the Bayou' — to this day, it’s still my favorite Creedence song. It’s nasty, and I was disappointed when got flipped." Clifford added that “I must say I’ve had a change of heart over 40 years, and I love ‘Proud Mary.”
Creedence Clearwater Revival performed the song at Woodstock.