On the turntable this Sunday...Green River

Green River is the third studio album by American rock and roll band Creedence Clearwater Revival, released in August 1969 after their second release Bayou Country which was released in January of the same year. In 2003, the album was ranked number 95 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.  It features two of the band's best-known songs, "Bad Moon Rising" and the title track. The album was remastered and reissued on 180 Gram Vinyl by Analogue Productions in 2006.

In January 1969, Creedence Clearwater Revival released their second studio album Bayou Country and released their breakout single "Proud Mary" b/w "Born on the Bayou", which reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Prior to recording their new album in March, Creedence conducted a test session at the recently-built Wally Heider Studios where they recorded three instrumental test tracks (two of which, "Broken Spoke Shuffle" and "Glory Be", are included in the 2008 remastered CD). The recordings for Green River lasted until June. While completing the forthcoming album the band issued two singles: "Bad Moon Rising" b/w "Lodi" and "Green River" b/w "Commotion", in April and July. Both reached #2 on the Billboard charts.

In an interview Fogerty gave to Rolling Stone in 2012, Fogerty states, "certainly in 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 things that happened to me actually, I just wrote about them and the audience shifted at the time and place."

Rolling Stone called it "a great album" with the reviewer further stating "they are now creating the most vivid American rock since Music from Big Pink". Allmusic gave the album 5 stars (out of 5) with Stephen Thomas Erlewine stating: "If anything, CCR's third album Green River represents the full flower of their classic sound initially essayed on its predecessor, Bayou Country."

The song "Lodi" describes the plight of a down-and-out musician whose career has landed him playing a gig in the small town of Lodi (pronounced "low-die"), a small agricultural city in the Central Valley about 70 miles from John Fogerty's hometown of Berkeley. After playing in local bars, he finds himself stranded and unable to raise bus or train fare to leave. Fogerty later said he had never actually visited Lodi before writing this song, and simply picked it for the song because it had "the coolest sounding name." However, the song unquestionably references the town's reputation as an uninteresting farm settlement, although the narrator does not mention any specific complaints about Lodi. The song's chorus, "Oh Lord, stuck in Lodi again," has been the theme of several city events in Lodi.

Track listing:

All songs written by J.C. Fogerty, except where noted.

Side one

1."Green River" – 2:36

2."Commotion" – 2:44

3."Tombstone Shadow" – 3:39

4."Wrote a Song for Everyone" – 4:57

Side two

1."Bad Moon Rising" – 2:21

2."Lodi" – 3:13

3."Cross-Tie Walker" – 3:20

4."Sinister Purpose" – 3:23

5."The Night Time Is the Right Time" (Napoleon "Nappy" Brown, Ozzie Cadena, Lew Herman) – 3:09

Note: All tracks recorded mid-1969, except for † recorded March 1969

40th Anniversary Edition CD bonus tracks10."Broken Spoke Shuffle" – 2:39

11."Glory Be" – 2:48

12."Bad Moon Rising" (Live in Berlin, Germany, 9/16/71) – 2:07

13."Green River/Suzie Q" (Live in Stockholm, Sweden, 9/21/71) – 4:28

14."Lodi" (Live in Hamburg, Germany, 9/17/71) – 3:19