"Green River" is a song by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival. The song was written by John Fogerty and was released as a single in July 1969, one month before the album of the same name was released .
The song "Green River" was based on a vacation spot for John Fogerty. In an interview Fogerty gave to Rolling Stone in 2012, Fogerty stated:
"things that happened to me actually, I just wrote about them and the audience shifted at the time and place.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"
Fogerty added that the "actual specific reference, 'Green River,' I got from a soda pop-syrup label... My flavor was called Green River.
Lyrics
Well, take me back down where cool water flow, yeh
Let me remember things I love
Stoppin' at the log where catfish bite,
Walkin' along the river road at night,
Barefoot girls dancin' in the moonlight
I can hear the bull frog callin' me
Wonder if my rope's still hangin' to the tree
Love to kick my feet way down the shallow water,
Shoe fly, dragon fly, get back t your mother
Pick up a flat rock, skip it across Green River
Up at Cody's camp I spent my days, oh, With flat car riders and cross-tie walkers Old Cody, Junior took me over, Said, you're gonna find the world is smouldrin' An' if you get lost come on home to Green River Well, come home
Songwriters: John Cameron Fogerty
Green River lyrics © The Bicycle Music Company
