In 1970, Creedence Clearwater Revival wrote the biggest hit song about Woodstock to date
John Fogerty had a mixed experience at Woodstock back in 1969.
On one hand, Creedence Clearwater Revival were at the height of their fame and served as one of the marquee names of the festival’s lineup, along with acts like Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead.
On the other hand, Fogerty and the band arrived at a massive scheduling snafu, torrential rain, and myriad other acid-washed headaches that colluded to force the group to take the stage early in the morning hours. Some sources say 3am, but the records show it was closer to 00:30. Either way, it was far later than Creedence had ever intended.
“We were ready to rock out and we waited and waited and finally it was our turn … there were a half million people asleep,” John Fogerty recalled about the band’s time slot. “These people were out. It was sort of like a painting of a Dante scene, just bodies from hell, all intertwined and asleep, covered with mud.” Not a dream audience, then.
Yet, the set still managed to go down a storm with the rare few troopers still on their uppers. There’s even a Live at Woodstock album of the set from 2019 to prove that the band were in inspired form. Contrary to Fogerty’s recollection, there’s a magic to their performance that captured a moment in time.
Nevertheless, when Fogerty returned from the alternate universe that Woodstock had become, he may well have been disappointed with the experience, but the imagery of a rain-soaked mass stuck in his mind, like the mud to half a million ruined sneakers.
So, Fogerty went back to California and began writing what would become CCR’s next single, ‘Who’ll Stop the Rain’. Although it had political undertones, Fogerty cleared up the source of inspiration at a Vermont concert in 2007. In the process, he revealed it to be a landmark: the biggest hit ever written about Woodstock.
“Well, this next song has a bit of a fable surrounding it. A lot of folks seem to think I sang this song at Woodstock way back then. No. I was at Woodstock 1969. I think. It was a nice event. I’m a California kid. I went up there and saw a whole bunch of really nice young people. Hairy. Colourful,” the gravel-voiced singer creatively put it.
“It started to rain, and got really muddy, and then half a million people took their clothes off!” Fogerty remembered.
“Boomer generation making its presence known, I guess. Anyway, then I went home and wrote this song.”
‘Who’ll Stop the Rain’ was part of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s infamous run of number two hits that the band had throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s. Although songs like ‘Proud Mary’ and ‘Bad Moon Rising’ were stone-cold classics, CCR had an unfortunate streak of bad luck that kept them from ever getting to number one. All told, five different singles from the band landed at number two without CCR ever reaching the top.
However, when it comes to ‘Who’ll Stop the Rain’, this bridesmaid position feels fitting. After all, it was inspired by a lack of timing and a surplus of twisted beauty.
