Creedence Clearwater Revival (often referred to as Creedence or CCR) was an… Read Full Bio ↴Creedence Clearwater Revival (often referred to as Creedence or CCR) was an American rock band active in the late 1960s and early 1970s which consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty, his brother rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty, bassist Stu Cook, and drummer Doug Clifford.

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!".

Porterville
Creedence Clearwater Revival Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

It's been an awful long time since I been home
But you won't catch me goin' back down there alone
Things they said when I was young
Are quite enough to get me hung
I don't care
I don't care

They came and took my dad away to serve some time

But it was me that paid the debt he left behind
Folks said I was full of sin
Because I was the next of kin
I don't care
I don't care

Ooh
I don't care
I don't care

Folks were out one night to put me up a fence
And you can guess that I've been runnin' ever since
Ain't no one that's 'bout to help
And I'll keep on, I tell myself
I don't care
I don't care

I don't care
I don't care
I don't care
I don't care

Ain't no one that's 'bout to help
But I'll keep on, I tell myself
I don't care
I don't care
I don't care
I don't care (ooh)
I don't care (ooh)
I don't care
I don't care (ooh)
I don't care (ooh)
I don't care
I don't care
I don't care
I don't care (ooh)
I don't care (ooh)
I don't care
I don't care
I don't care (ooh)

I don't care (ooh)
I don't care

Overall Meaning

In the song "Porterville" by Creedence Clearwater Revival, the singer talks about his reluctance to return home. He has been away for a long time and has no intention of returning, especially not alone. The things he heard when he was young were enough to deter him from returning, as he could be punished for something he didn't do. His dad had been taken away to serve time, but the debt that was left behind was passed onto him. People in the area thought he was full of sin because he was his dad's next of kin. However, he continues to insist that he doesn't care.

Later on in the song, the singer relates the story of how people in the town attempted to put up a fence one night to trap him, and he has been running ever since. He doesn't expect anyone to help him and instead relies on himself to keep going. Despite the hardship he has faced, he still maintains that he doesn't care.

The song portrays a feeling of isolation and loneliness, as well as the burden of being associated with a family member who has committed a crime. The singer resents the assumptions made about him due to his relationship with his father and is determined to keep running and avoid going back to the town where all his troubles began.

Line by Line Meaning

It's been an awful long time since I been home
I haven't been home in a very long time

But you won't catch me goin' back down there alone
I won't go back to that place by myself

Things they said when I was young
Words spoken when I was young

Are quite enough to get me hung
Those words are enough to cause me severe trouble

I don't care
I don't mind

They came and took my dad away to serve some time
My father was arrested and imprisoned

But it was me that paid the debt he left behind
I had to bear the consequence of his actions

Folks said I was full of sin
People accused me of being guilty by association

Because I was the next of kin
As my father's son, I was presumed to be associated with his crime

I don't care
I don't mind

Folks were out one night to put me up a fence
People were trying to trap me one night

And you can guess that I've been runnin' ever since
Ever since that night, I've been on the run

Ain't no one that's 'bout to help
There is no one to help or support me

And I'll keep on, I tell myself
I tell myself to keep going

I don't care
I don't mind

Ain't no one that's 'bout to help
There is no one to help or support me

But I'll keep on, I tell myself
I tell myself to keep going

I don't care
I don't mind

I don't care (ooh)
I don't mind (ooh)

I don't care
I don't mind

I don't care (ooh)
I don't mind (ooh)

I don't care
I don't mind

Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Douglas Clifford, John Cameron Fogerty, Richard Fogerty Thomas, Stuart Cook

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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01I Put a Spell on You4:06

02The Working Man3:04

03Susie Q10:16

04Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won't Do)3:35

05Get Down Woman3:02

06Porterville2:13

PT2M13S

Creedence Clearwater Revival

07Gloomy3:49

08Walk On The Water4:42

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Comments from YouTube:

@raixxi

44w↑9

Dad introduced me to these guys when I was 8. I’m 13 now and I still love these guys. Nothing beats CCR

@jdccool

1y↑9

Interesting. With the passage of time how some bands just don't stand up, even though at the time you may thought they were great. When I first heard CCR, I thought they were different, unique. Yeah, the songs were country-ish, but they were familiar, yet unlike anything I'd heard. 50 plus years on, one word comes to mind...timeless.

@mackydog99

3y↑16

CCR, from start to finish...and I'm talkin 'bout their entire career, is special. So special. Started listening to CCR in '67 and never looked back. So many great bands at the time and CCR certainly held their own.

@adirtybottleofmilk5551

1y↑6

The music scene in Porterville's been booming this past year. You can pretty much go out every Friday and Saturday night and see great musicians now

@bobungurean5340

2y↑3

Amazing. Forgot about this song 30 yrs ago. Could listen to this all day

@surfthemilkyway5972

2y↑4

I love that this album!!! Long live CCR

@stephenchavez4947

4y↑7

Great musicians!

@Raelspark

6y↑28

best original song on the album

@stepney56

6y↑34

Brilliant, CCR best band from the USA

@efflenlychannel1406

6y↑2

Pete Woods The Best My Friend The Best Jhon Fogerty Stu Cook Doug Clifford Tom Fogerty R.I.P Creedence Clearwater Revival The Best Of Rock In Usa & In The World

@luisnaranjo525

3y↑1

@Efflenly Channel . That is right.

@gregboardman915

them and thousands of others.

@thomasstahl9683

3y↑4

A great song!

@staroflife4632

3y↑4

You'd have to have grown up in Porterville back in the 50's and 60's to truly get this song. Their story, but a similar story in many homes back then. Strangely enough it always puts a smile on my face.

@bobbybeeman7280

3y↑4

Lived there through that era the best of times. The best of tunes. Made the worst of my decessions then as beer, wine, and weed glazed the mind, like it always will the week in the mind. Still yet the best of times.

@staroflife4632

3y↑5

@Bobby Beeman it has changed, not for the better over the years. I went back for a class reunion a few years ago and found out that the best of Porterville moves away and good friends still live there enduring to the bitter end. I lived there until I was shipped off to Viet Nam and when I came back I was different and left town to find my way. Hope you are well and being kind to.your self. Peace Brother.

@gregboardman915

3y↑4

love late 60s hippy music.

@koverduin9567

4y↑2

There is no better band in the world. CCR

@mjjoseph8259

2y↑1

Lesser known song by CCR.Even my teacher ca. 1970 remarked "I can smell Creedence a mile away" bc of the music class next door.I was about 13,she was prob. 25.She was pretty!

@ElronHumpperdink

4y↑17

1:22 - 1:28 could’ve been done more than once in my opinion. Such a weird lick. Sounds exotic.

@kennethconklin4140

4y↑4

I've always thought, too. I always get ready for another round of it, and then I remember. Lol

@mattwhite3414

3y↑2

I agree. And also in their song Bootleg, I always felt like they should have done the bridge riff twice as well.

@robotubetwob

Sounds like Jerry G stepped in there for a bit.

@cynthiacupler8005

51w↑1

Proud to say that my Son Thomas did Spotlight for John Forgerty,
Red Rocks, Morrison Colorado ❤️🎸💃

@Yverian

When the guitar solo hits, I am shiftin' gears in a 1966 Pontiac G.T.O; with tri-power, running from the law in Mississippi at 110 miles per hour. Fine, fine, FINE!

@xlucascj

3y↑5

Only true Creedence fans here

@reveilleamerica3589

2y↑1

And I'm a proud member of that cadre.

@Diego-eg2nq

5y↑5

QUE BUEN ALBUM LOCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
COMO DICE EL
COLORADO MC ALLISTER

@valiant971

6y↑2

Fucking wow. Buried on the B side.

@RideAcrossTheRiver

28w

In the time of peace and love and soft, happy, glowing, wealthy collective living, a poorboy voice sang about his dad "BUT IT'S BEEN ME PAYIN THE DEBT HE LEFT BEHIND .... I TELL MYSELF... I DON'T CARE, I DON'T CARE"

No loving hippie chicks taking THAT guy on ...

@bridgetstoli2347

45w

Porterville was not any better or any worse than anything around it. Poros!

@stepney56

1y↑1

John wrote this while doing his National Service in the Army.

@kpadalldotablet1009

2y↑5

The brilliance of CCR was that none of the band members were hicks from the south, never lived in Porterville, nor on the "Green River" that sounded like it was a bayou in the south. Fogerty was just somehow in tune with that side of life, even though he was a middle class kid growing up in California. I guess that's what being a genius is all about, right?

"Fogerty was born in Berkeley, California, and grew up in El Cerrito, California, the third of five boys born to Galen Robert and Edith Lucile Fogerty. His father was born in Iowa, and worked as a Linotype operator for the Berkeley Gazette in California. Lucile Fogerty taught second grade and was from Great Falls, Montana." --Wikepedia

@michaelmckenzie5232

39w

Hicks? That’s rather condescending and stereotypical thinking

@betohernandez7712

The band brillant usa

@fernandoacevedo4393

2y↑3

I am from Porterville Ca 😎👏👏

@adirtybottleofmilk5551

1y↑1

im sorry

@dudleyt2833

8y↑41

2 minutes and 22 seconds and not a one of them wasted.

@ellenpedone8499

4y↑1

Freaking AWESOME song!!!

@juangre

6y↑2

temaiken

@rodrigomorales1832

6y↑2

ĹĨŃĎÁ MúŚĨČÁ ČŔĔĎĔŃČĔ ŤŔÁMo❤❤❤

@cindjones6556

Still listen to creeda.n'ce

@sergiosonlinework-sranjovi4304

💜💜💜💜💜💜💥💥💥💥💥💥💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

@anhnguyentien5763

I just ... don't care! ❤

@missingebony

45w

John Fogarty is God

@conniewilliams3805

6y↑6

👉💘👍💋💋💋 sweet

@thomaspercival7702

Hey Connie, I live in Northern Ont. Canads. I've listened to C.C.R. for 50 yrs. Could you tell me where Porterville is and what is so bad about that place, please.

@staroflife4632

3y↑1

@thomas percival Porterville is in the San Joaquin Valley about mid way between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Not so bad, but it definitely was not progressive back fifty years ago. For those of us pushing the envelope of that time it was a hard place, with hard rules and even harder on those living on the edge of the community. There must be places like this all over. Canada?