These members played together since 1959, first as The Blue Velvets, then as The Golliwogs. Their musical style encompassed the roots rock, swamp rock, and blues rock genres. They played in a Southern rock style, despite their San Francisco Bay Area origin, with lyrics about bayous, catfish, the Mississippi River, and other popular elements of Southern United States iconography, as well as political and socially conscious lyrics about topics including the Vietnam War. The band performed at the 1969 Woodstock Festival in Upstate New York.
The group disbanded acrimoniously in late 1972 after four years of chart-topping success. Tom Fogerty had officially left the previous year, and his brother John was at odds with the remaining members over matters of business and artistic control, all of which resulted in subsequent lawsuits among the former bandmates. Fogerty's ongoing disagreements with Fantasy Records owner Saul Zaentz created further protracted court battles, and John Fogerty refused to perform with the two other surviving members at CCR's 1993 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Creedence Clearwater Revival's music is still a staple of US radio airplay; the band has sold 26 million albums in the United States alone. Rolling Stone ranked them 82nd on its Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list.
John Fogerty, Doug Clifford, and Stu Cook met at Portola Junior High School in El Cerrito, California. Calling themselves the Blue Velvets, the trio began playing instrumentals and "juke box standards", as well as backing Fogerty's older brother Tom at live gigs and in the recording studio. Tom soon joined the band, and in 1964 they signed with Fantasy Records, an independent jazz label in San Francisco that had released Cast Your Fate To The Wind, a national hit for jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi. The record's success was the subject of a National Educational Television special, which prompted budding songwriter John Fogerty to contact the label. For the band's first release, Fantasy co-owner Max Weiss renamed the group the Golliwogs (after the children's literary character, Golliwogg).
Bandmembers' roles and the instruments they played changed during this period. Stu Cook switched from piano to bass guitar and Tom Fogerty from lead vocals to rhythm guitar; John became the band's lead vocalist and primary songwriter. In Tom Fogerty's words: "I could sing, but John had a sound!".
It Came Out of the Sky
Creedence Clearwater Revival Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Jody fell out of his tractor, couldn't believe what he seen
Laid on the ground and shook, fearin' for his life
Then he ran all the way to town screamin' it came out of the sky
Well, a crowd gathered 'round and a scientist said it was marsh gas
Spiro came and made a speech about raising the Mars tax
The Vatican said, "Woe, the lord has come"
And Ronnie the popular said it was a communist plot
Oh, the newspapers came and made Jody a national hero
Walter and Eric said they'd put him on a network TV show
The White House said, "Put the thing in the blue room"
The Vatican said, "No, it belongs to Rome"
And Jody said, it's mine but you can have it for seventeen million
Oh, it came out of the sky, landed just a little south of Moline
Jody fell out of his tractor, couldn't believe what he seen
Laid on the ground a shakin', fearin' for his life
Then he ran all the way to town screamin' it came out of the sky
Oh
, it came out of the sky" is a playful yet satirical commentary on the hysteria that surrounded UFO sightings and alien encounters in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s. The lyrics describe the reaction of a small town to the landing of a mysterious object, and how it quickly spirals out of control into a media circus. The first verse focuses on Jody, a farmer who witnesses the landing and is so scared that he runs to the town to alert everyone. The second verse mocks the various groups that would try to take advantage of the situation: scientists who explain it away as natural phenomena (marsh gas), politicians who use it to further their own agendas (raising the Mars tax), the Vatican who sees it as a sign from God, Hollywood who needs to make an epic blockbuster about it, and conspiracy theorists who claim it's a communist plot. The third verse turns to Jody again, who becomes an overnight celebrity, courted by the media and offered large sums of money for the object he found.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh, it came out of the sky, landed just a little south of Moline
A mysterious object fell from the sky near Moline, causing a stir
Jody fell out of his tractor, couldn't believe what he seen
Jody, a farmer in the area, was startled by the object and fell off his tractor in disbelief
Laid on the ground and shook, fearin' for his life
Jody was so frightened by the object that he lay on the ground shaking with fear
Then he ran all the way to town screamin' it came out of the sky
Jody ran to town in a panic, telling everyone he saw that something had fallen from the sky
Well, a crowd gathered 'round and a scientist said it was marsh gas
When people gathered to investigate the object, a scientist claimed that it was just marsh gas
Spiro came and made a speech about raising the Mars tax
Politician Spiro used the event to raise the idea of increasing taxes associated with Mars
The Vatican said, "Woe, the lord has come"
The Vatican interpreted the object as a divine event
Hollywood rushed out an epic film
Hollywood capitalized on the event and made a movie about the situation
And Ronnie the popular said it was a communist plot
Ronnie, a popular figure, claimed that the incident was part of a larger communist conspiracy
Oh, the newspapers came and made Jody a national hero
The media latched onto Jody's story and portrayed him as a national hero
Walter and Eric said they'd put him on a network TV show
Walter and Eric, representatives from a TV network, offered Jody a spot on their show
The White House said, "Put the thing in the blue room"
The White House wanted the object for themselves and instructed that it be put in the blue room
The Vatican said, "No, it belongs to Rome"
The Vatican also claimed the object and argued that it rightfully belonged to Rome
And Jody said, it's mine but you can have it for seventeen million
Jody claimed ownership of the object but was willing to sell it for a high price
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: John Cameron Fogerty
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Gary Davis
This tune is precision Rock and Roll......Sweet stuff!
Gary Davis
If this isn't Rock and Roll I don't know what is!!
Gary Davis
Love the guitar work....