It may shock some to learn that Creedence Clearwater Revival has never had a No. 1 song in the United States. While their 1969 hit “Bad Moon Rising” topped the charts in the United Kingdom, it fell just short in their home country, peaking at No. 2 on the Hot 100. And it wasn’t their first song to narrowly miss the top. On this day (March 8) in 1969, the California blues-rockers hit No. 2 on the Hot 100 with “Proud Mary,” where it would stay for three weeks.
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Blocked by Sly & the Family Stone’s “Everyday People” the first week, “Proud Mary” lost out to “Dizzy” by bubblegum pop singer-songwriter the next. The John Fogerty-penned track marked the first of five CCR singles to peak at the runner-up spot.
John Fogerty Knew He Had a Hit
Taking its title from a real-life ship based in Memphis, Tennessee, Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty wrote “Proud Mary” in the two-day period following his discharge from the U.S. Army Reserves. Our low-wage narrator abandons what he considers “a good job in the city” and follows his impulses down the river on the Proud Mary.
Two years later, husband-and-wife R&B duo Ike & Tina Turner would record their own version, which peaked at No. 4 on the Hot 100 and won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance By a Group.
The country was in the throes of the Vietnam War when John Forgerty received his honorable discharge from the military. In celebration, he “turned a real cartwheel” before heading inside to strum on his Rickenbacker. Within the hour, Fogerty had written “Proud Mary.”
“I said to myself while I’m holding the piece of paper, ‘This is the classic, John, you’ve written the classic, and I’m the only one in the whole world that knows,’” he told Guitar World last September.
Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Other Narrow Misses
“Proud Mary” was the first time that Creedence Clearwater Revival just missed out on the No. 1 spot, but it wasn’t the last.
In June of that same year, “Bad Moon Rising” would meet the same fate, losing out to Henry Mancini’s “Love Theme From Romeo & Juliet.”
[RELATED: Looking Back at CCR’s 5 Legendary No. 2 Hits: The Songs That Made Swamp Rock Great]
Three months later, The Archies’ “Sugar, Sugar” felled CCR’s “Green River.” In March 1970, “Travelin’ Band” / “Who’ll Stop the Rain” couldn’t quite overcome Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”
Fast forward to October, when “Lookin’ Out My Back Door” / “Long as I Can See the Light” failed to summit Diana Ross’ “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”
Featured image by Archive Photos/Getty Images
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