♫ Bad Moon Rising ♫ (Redux)

Posted on by under Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Global Issues, music

Okay, okay … yes, I know I just played this one last November, a few short months ago.  But see, here’s the thing … when I played CCR’s “Proud Mary” two days ago, our friend Clive commented that his favourite CCR song was “Bad Moon Rising”, and suddenly the song was being played in stereo in my head.  I didn’t recall that I had only played it a few months ago, and I made a plan to play it … and … well, you know how it is when a song is stuck in your head … and you had a plan … and Clive said, “Go on, you know you want to.”  So … without apology, here it is again!

John Fogerty explained that the lyrics were inspired by a movie called The Devil And Daniel Webster, in which a hurricane wipes out most of a town. This is where he got the idea for the words “I feel the hurricane blowin’, I hope you’re quite prepared to die.” Overall, he said the song is about the “apocalypse that was going to be visited upon us.”  That is a theme that, I think, is just about as relevant today as it was in 1969 when this song was released by Creedence Clearwater Revival, aka CCR.

The song reached its US chart peak of #2 (one of five CCR songs to place that this position – they never got to #1) on July 28, 1969, eight days after the Apollo 11 moon landing. The song has nothing to do with space travel, but the title was somewhat apropos, especially after the mission succeeded.

Now, you all know that I am the world’s worst at getting song lyrics all wrong, so I took some pleasure in reading that the line, “There’s a bad moon on the rise” has often been mistaken for “There’s a bathroom on the right”!

And now, I give you Creedence Clearwater Revival …

Bad Moon Rising
Creedence Clearwater Revival

I see a bad moon a-rising
I see trouble on the way
I see earthquakes and lightnin’
I see bad times today

Don’t go ’round tonight
It’s bound to take your life
There’s a bad moon on the rise

I hear hurricanes a-blowing
I know the end is coming soon
I fear rivers over flowing
I hear the voice of rage and ruin

Don’t go ’round tonight
It’s bound to take your life
There’s a bad moon on the rise

I hope you got your things together
I hope you are quit prepared to die
Look’s like we’re in for nasty weather
One eye is taken for an eye

Oh don’t go ’round tonight
It’s bound to take your life
There’s a bad moon on the rise
There’s a bad moon on the rise

Songwriters: John C. Fogerty
Bad Moon Rising lyrics © The Bicycle Music Company

19 thoughts on “♫ Bad Moon Rising ♫ (Redux)”

  6. Fabulous! I’m glad my prompting pointed you at this one, which still sounds great more than 50 years on. It was #1 here – we did a little better than you guys 😉

    And sorry to Rawgod but I heard that as ‘rage,’ not ‘wreckage.’ It will be interesting to see what others think.

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    • Sometimes you just gotta play what makes you happy, yes? This made me happy. And, I’m glad it made others happy, too!

      I told rg that he’d have to ask you or David or John, for I’m near deaf and almost never hear lyrics properly.

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  7. I am not going to dispute the lyrics, they are what they are, and some words and lines I don’t hear as they were written, but no biggie.
    Yet, when I listen to the sung words, there is one line that I hear differently than written: I do not hear the voice of rage and ruin, I hear wreckage and ruin. Four syllables, not three. Not the long A sound of rage, but the short a sound of wreckage.
    Does anyone else hear that? To me, wreckage actually makes more sense. There is no real connector in the song to rage, but there is one helluva lot of connection to one helluva lot of wreckage.
    Or is that just me, hearing what I think the word should be…

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