Song Help Request Proud Mary (CCR not Turner)- does the big wheel Turn or Burn? Also dealing with the super-long stay on root chord during verses.

baconsalad

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I know the published lyrics say one thing but i cannot hear Forgerty singing that. It's not a 'bathroom on the right' kind of stretch either to hear what I hear. What do you all think?
Also the verses start on root chord and stay there for what seems 100 bars. Is it just my ADHD that makes sticking to the typical strum-with-mute pattern going for that long untenable?
 
Big wheel keeps on turnin' (it is a riverboat, after all) Proud Mary keeps on burnin'...

From Songfacts.com:
The song came together on the day that John Fogerty got his discharge papers from the US Army. Fogerty had been drafted in 1966 and was part of a Reserve unit, serving at Fort Bragg, Fort Knox, and Fort Lee. His discharge papers came in 1967. Fogerty recalls in Bad Moon Rising: The Unofficial History of Creedence Clearwater Revival by Hank Bordowitz:

"The Army and Creedence overlapped, so I was 'that hippie with a record on the radio.' I'd been trying to get out of the Army, and on the steps of my apartment house sat a diploma-sized letter from the government. It sat there for a couple of days, right next to my door. One day, I saw the envelope and bent down to look at it, noticing it said 'John Fogerty.' I went into the house, opened the thing up, and saw that it was my honorable discharge from the Army. I was finally out! This was 1968 and people were still dying. I was so happy, I ran out into my little patch of lawn and turned cartwheels. Then I went into my house, picked up my guitar and started strumming. 'Left a good job in the city' and then several good lines came out of me immediately. I had the chord changes, the minor chord where it says, 'Big wheel keep on turnin'/Proud Mary keep on burnin'' (or 'boinin',' using my funky pronunciation I got from Howling' Wolf). By the time I hit 'Rolling, rolling, rolling on the river,' I knew I had written my best song. It vibrated inside me. When we rehearsed it, I felt like Cole Porter."
 
Big wheel keeps on turnin' (it is a riverboat, after all) Proud Mary keeps on burnin'...

From Songfacts.com:
I know...but the published lyric for Blinded by the Light is 'reved up like a DEUCE' as in Deuce coupe, but no one can argue what Thompson and Mann are singing
 
I know...but the published lyric for Blinded by the Light is 'reved up like a DEUCE' as in Deuce coupe, but no one can argue what Thompson and Mann are singing
And the original (springsteen) is "cut loose like a deuce".
 
I always heard "Big wheel keep on turnin', Proud Mary keep on burnin' ", back when i actually had really good hearing...(I turned 10 in 1967).

Even now, when I'm not wearing hearing aids, the big wheel still turns, and Proud Mary still burns.

As to Blinded by the Light, Manfred Mann's Earth Band did douche the lyric - Springsteen deuced it; you'll find no argument from me there.

-Kurt​
 
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The leader of my group makes her own arrangements for all the songs we do. Proud Mary is in G, each of the 3 stanzas start with 8 measures of G and ends with 4 measures of G. The F D lick is the intro, in between each stanza and ending. Never did confuse any of the lyrics.
 
Also the verses start on root chord and stay there for what seems 100 bars. Is it just my ADHD that makes sticking to the typical strum-with-mute pattern going for that long untenable?

On those long boring root chord sequences I often play a bar or so of the 7th version as accent. In this case G to G7. And sometimes the vi-minor chord. From G to Em.
 
I use quite a bit of left hand dampening when playing Proud Mary. My basic pattern for the main body of the song is a (EDIT) DOWN UP stroke that rings out and then a down up stroke that is left hand dampened.
The intro and recurring riff is a little different though.
 
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The next question is; What did John Fogerty pump a lot of down in New Orleans?
 
The next question is; What did John Fogerty pump a lot of down in New Orleans?
Fogarty says he was referring to washing a lot of dishes and pumping "pane" (propane) to make a living down in New Orleans!
 
Fogarty says he was referring to washing a lot of dishes and pumping "pane" (propane)

Not quite! He admitted in a 1997 interview that he was referring to PAIN, albeit less literally, and more for the pleasure of the sound of the word.

"Sometimes I write words to songs because they sound cool to sing. Sometimes the listener doesn't understand what I'm singing because I'm dedicated to singing the vowel, having fun with the word sounds coming out of my mouth. `Cleaned a lot of plates in Memphis, pumped a lot of pain down in New Orleans,' is a good example. I think Tina Turner sang `tane' instead of `pain,' as in a contracted form of octane. But I knew what she meant," Fogerty said."

And indeed, Tina sang 'tane, as an abbreviation for high octane diesel, which you would definitely be pumping in a shipyard. No propane in shipyards in 1969. But she was being literal -- what's a job connected to a riverboat? Pumping the kind of fuel that riverboats use.

A better reason for changing a lyric than whatever reason Manfred Mann had. 🤣

And a better choice from Tina, too! I prefer playing Credence's version of the song, and I use Tina's "tane" when I do it.
 
Not quite! He admitted in a 1997 interview that he was referring to PAIN, albeit less literally, and more for the pleasure of the sound of the word.



And indeed, Tina sang 'tane, as an abbreviation for high octane diesel, which you would definitely be pumping in a shipyard. No propane in shipyards in 1969. But she was being literal -- what's a job connected to a riverboat? Pumping the kind of fuel that riverboats use.

A better reason for changing a lyric than whatever reason Manfred Mann had. 🤣

And a better choice from Tina, too! I prefer playing Credence's version of the song, and I use Tina's "tane" when I do it.
Well I suppose that makes sense..saw Tina Turner live...she was amazing
 
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