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Rating: Are you heading off on a vacation? Do you have to tackle a journey on some deserted road? Well, then do whatever you can to get this album, load it into your car's player when packing, lower the windows at departure (as long as it’s not raining) and… OFF YOU GO!
Good old Johnny, in 1997, reemerges from a long discographic absence, a solid 11 years since the not so stellar “Eye of the Zombie,” mainly due to the well-known disputes with his old record company, Fantasy. He was even forced not to sing his old Creedence Clearwater Revival songs in public to avoid enriching the sharks any further, and he lands the punch of the old lion.
“Blue Moon Swamp” is indeed a great album, perhaps not an absolute masterpiece, but a splendid little record that revisits in its own way the vast sea of American musical tradition. It starts with a country piece, “Southern Streamline,” and then continues with some tracks destined to become his future staples like “Hot Rod Heart” (pure rock'n'roll) and the great swamp-rock of “Blueboy.” There’s even room for a gospel-like track, with the addition of a black chorus (“A Hundred and Ten in the Shade”). The journey can then continue with some rock rides like “Rattlesnake Highway” and “Bring It Down to Jerry Roll,” which perhaps steals a bit from the Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women” (but it’s a small “theft” that one can forgive from someone like him).
“Walking in a Hurricane”: if this track had been on an early '80s Springsteen album, it would be a world-acclaimed anthem, but that’s not the case, the album certainly didn’t get the radio promotion it could have easily deserved. “Swamp River Days” is also beautiful, the temptation I had the first time I heard it in the car was to stop the car in a clearing, get out, and dance… Standard procedure for “Rambunctious Boy” (it’s the track on the album that perhaps left the least impression on me), then there’s a ballad where John makes eyes at his wife (“Joy of My Life”) and then two rock’n’rolls, “Blue Moon Nights” and “Bad Bad Boy,” that close this excellent album in a fitting manner.
Excellent for many reasons, first and foremost the high-level music it contains, and also because in that year no one expected John Fogerty. He then resumed performing high-quality concerts, as evidenced by the fantastic live album from the following year, “Premonition,” which I plan to discuss soon. Evidently, during that period, he had regained the inner peace that he had been missing for a while due to his troubles (death of his brother Tom in 1990 due to a blood transfusion through which he contracted AIDS, the aforementioned legal issues, etc.).
Furthermore, I have also seen the recently released DVD, “The Long Road Home,” documenting a 2005 concert: exceptional, don’t miss it if you can.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Southern Streamline (03:56)
Mama I'm on fire
Old flame
Sweet desire
Comin' on the midnight
Comin' on the midnight train
Rollin' steel and thunder
Bring my baby back again
Roll on down the line
Big wheels rollin' right on time
Hear that whistle blowin'
Hear that engine roar and whine
Take care of my baby
Ridin' on that southern streamline
Well I got a little letter this morning
Just about the break of day
Bluebird ringin' my doorbell
Rollin' my blues away
Said honey when we go steppin'
Long about Saturday night
So head it down to the station
An' everything'll be alright
Honey what's that sound
Big wheels rollin' homeward bound
See that smokestack sparkin'
Lightin' up a purple sky
Take care of my baby
Ridin' on that southern streamline
Well I got a little letter this morning
Just about the break of day
Bluebird ringin' my doorbell
Rollin' my blues away
Said honey babe we'll go steppin'
Long about Saturday night
So head it down to the station
An' everything'll be alright
Mama I'm on fire
Old flame
Sweet desire
Comin' on the midnight
Honey let your little light shine
Rollin' steel and thunder
Ridin' on that southern streamline
Take care of my baby
Ridin' on that southern streamline
03 Blueboy (04:04)
Way back in the hills
There's a ploace I know
People comes from miles around
Just to watch 'ol Dooley do the show
Ooh let the blueboy play
Ooh let the blueboy play
Gonna ride the mule
Gonna chase him too
Pullin' on-a pullin' on-a
Pullin' on-a pony
He goes...
Soon's the sun go down
That's when the fun begins
Hitch your wagon down the track
Up to the roadhouse
And come on in
Ooh let the blueboy play
Ooh let the blueboy play
Gonna ride the mule
Gonna chase him too
Pullin' on-a pullin' on-a
Pullin' on-a pony
He goes...
Instrumental
Sheriff says it late
Closin' time we got to go
But Dooley he don't want to quit
Ain't nobody feels like goin' home
Ooh let the blueboy play
Ooh let the blueboy play
Gonna ride the mule
Gonna chase him too
Pullin' on-a pullin' on-a
Pullin' on-a pony
He goes...
04 A Hundred and Ten in the Shade (04:19)
Way out there in the cotton
Sun beatin' down so hard
Sweat rollin' of this shovel
Diggin' in the devil's boneyard
Sure like a cool drink of water
Soft rag to soothe my face
Sure like a woman to talk to in this place
It's a hundred and ten
Hundred and ten in the shade
Goin' way down
Mama won't you carry me
Handle so hot I can't stand it
Might shrivel up and blow away
Noonday sun make you crazy
Least, that's what the old men say
Bottom land hard as a gravestone
Couldn't cut it with an axe
Gonna lay me down right here
And that's a fact
It's a hundred and ten
Hundred and ten in the shade
Goin' way down
Mama won't you carry me
Sometimes late in the evenin'
Everything is quiet and still
I set here and think about leavin'
Lord, I guess I never will
Heartache down in that city
Bright light scares me anyway
Sure like a woman to talk in this place
It's a hundred and ten
Hundred and ten in the shade
Goin' way down
Mama won't you carry me
05 Rattlesnake Highway (04:17)
It may look easy When you look at me But it took years of effort To become the mess that you see Now what kind of woman Take you for a ride Down the rattlesnake highway An' leave you busted up inside All busted up inside Smiles like a cobra With her rattlesnake eyes 'n leave you for dead on the highway Just mumblin' at the sky She did me wrong She did me wrong She did me wrong Tell me...she did me Smiles like a cobra With her rattlesnake eyes 'n leave you for dead on the highway Just mumblin' at the sky Now she did me wrong She did me so wrong She did me wrong You know she did me so wrong Get me outta here
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