1969 Song of the Day is- ‘Green River” by Creedence Clearwater Revival. The “Green River” single was released in July 1969 a month ahead of the album of the same name. It would go to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. #2 is where the previous CCR single “Proud Mary” had peaked. When all was said and done Creedence Clearwater Revival would send 5 hit singles up the chart that would peak at #2. Incredibly they never hit #1. No other group can match that- being so close with so many singles.

In a 2012 interview with Rolling Stone magazine- John Fogerty who wrote and sang the song spoke on how the song came into being.

‘What really happened is that I used a setting like New Orleans, but I would actually be talking about thing from my own life. Certainly a song like “Green River” – which you may think would fit seamlessly into the Bayou vibe, but it’s actually about the Green River, as I named it – it was actually called Putah Creek by Winters, California. It wasn’t called Green River, but in my mind I always sort of called it Green River. All those little anecdotes are part of my childhood, those are things that happened to me actually, I just wrote about them and the audience shifted at the time and place.”

Green River was based on a vacation spot for Fogerty and he came up with Green River- from a soda pop syrup label- his flavor was called “Green River.”

The b-side- Creedence Clearwater Revival like The Beatles before them- had some great double sided hits- was “Commotion” which also made the Hot 100 peaking at #30.