Proud Mary

Seven years ago I already wrote a post about this excellent song, and now the blog has apparently caught the Hollywood trend of rewriting and remaking its biggest hits. That is not really true, of course, because we try to publish articles and videos that remain useful over time, but Proud Mary deserves a proper, detailed tutorial video.

Proud Mary was written by John Fogerty and released with his band Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) in January 1969 – some sources say it had already appeared before Christmas 1968 – and became incredibly popular almost immediately. There is hardly better proof of that popularity than the fact that it is difficult to find a singer or band that has not covered the song. The original is excellent in its purity and simplicity, but Ike and Tina Turner also created an extremely famous version, and Tina Turner practically had to perform it at her concerts. Many Hungarian performers have also sung and continue to sing the song; Eszter Szabó, for example, has a voice particularly well suited to Proud Mary. YouTube is full of Proud Mary covers, including some very interesting ones – there is even a ukulele duet – so it is well worth exploring.

Returning to CCR: if you do not know the band, definitely search for their songs on YouTube. Many excellent tracks guarantee their immortality in rock history (Down On The Corner, Who'll Stop The Rain, Have You Ever Seen The Rain, Lookin' Out My Backdoor and so on). The band's frontman John Fogerty has an extraordinarily powerful high voice, sings brilliantly and still performs live today.

Years ago I practically wore out a cassette full of CCR songs, and I still have not grown tired of them. So for me it is only natural to enjoy accompanying their songs with chords. The intro to Proud Mary is a very clever chord progression that demands attention because the rhythm has to be extremely tight and precise, with quick chord changes in the third bar. Let us have a look: