PJ Madam: 'Their songs transcended generations'
Reporting on Sunday Night will often throw you into some interesting situations.
It was only two weeks ago when I was shopping for shampoo and conditioner and got a call from uber-producer Paul Waterhouse.
He was singing.
I tried to pick the song – unsure if I knew the tune or could pick the melody through Paul’s rendition.
“How quickly can you be ready?,” he asked.
I knew why he was asking. The story was Creedence Clearwater Revival and I had to jog my memory to think of their greatest hits.
After all I was born in 1980 - eight years after the band broke up.
A reporter swap meant I was filling in last minute. Very last minute.
“I’ll see you at the airport.”
I hit the panic button as I dropped everything at the supermarket to google Creedence Clearwater Revival. I knew their music, but couldn’t name one song. I knew their tunes, but couldn’t remember their lyrics.
I had 24 hours and a lot of work to do.
Enter the saviours: my mum and dad who live in Mackay, North Queensland.
I’d be interviewing one of their favourite bands in the world.
On hearing this news – mum let out a screech before excitedly handing over the receiver to my dad.
“You know, we played some of their songs when your mother and I first met in a band,” dad said.
I didn’t know.
My mum and dad met in a covers band in the mid 1960’s.
They were called the “Crescendos” and one of their first fights was over some chord change to a song they barely remember.
Growing up with Creedence Clearwater Revival was so normal to them, that when the band broke up, they felt like they'd lost friends.
Today, my parents are 70 years old – the same age as John Fogerty, Stu Cook and Doug Clifford.
One of my parent’s favourite songs is still Proud Mary.
“I thought it was called ‘Rolling on a River’,? I said.
“Yes, hardly anyone remembers it’s real name,” replied dad, “But it’s one of the most famous songs in the world.”
I think he might be right.
According to John Fogerty, Proud Mary can be heard on any radio, from the smallest villages in Siberia to the towns along the Amazon.
It hit the charts in Austria, Canada, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, along with being a huge success in Australia.
It would go on to be covered by Tina Turner and Elvis Presley.
I got to interview the three surviving members of a band once considered to be Number 1 group in the world. The incredibly sad fact is that after all this time, John doesn’t talk to Stu and Doug anymore. They’re not getting any younger and have vowed to never reunite. But I was sincerely hoping a make up drink – where they could forgive and forget – might be on the cards. Maybe now that Doug has exclusively revealed to Sunday Night that he’s battling cancer, that burying the hatched may now be possible.
Their songs have transcended generations and are still played across pubs and clubs today.
As Doug Clifford told me ‘thank God the legacy is our music’.
