Creedance Clearwater Revival swamp music becomes soul with the late Solomon Burke
Here’s Solomon Burke infusing Proud Mary with tons of soul, despite his disability and sitting position. He had used a wheelchair and sitting on a throne on stage because of his weight.
The conversation has gone from CCR to Tony Joe White, both purveyors of “swamp rock” to the king of Soul Solomon Burke.
Solomon Burke, who died on October 10, 2010 at age 70, was not a swamper. He was an R&B singer from Philadelphia, PA who started as a preacher. Soul is a good place to start singing R&B.
Burke had an early career that produced one of the most enduring R&B songs Everybody Needs Somebody to Love which was covered by many including The Blues Brothers in the famous ballroom concert.
CCR released Proud Mary in 1968. Solomon Burke covered it in 1969. So did Ed Ames and a country singer.
Ike and Tina Turner started performing Proud Mary sometime between 1969 and 1970. They performed in on Soul Train in 1970. That version became a thunderous hit in 1971. The song is almost always done by Tina in her live shows.
Stick through the slow startup with Ike. Tina Turner never fails to deliver excitement on “Proud Mary.”
Tina Turner • Proud Mary • 1970
It’s hard to argue with the energy that Tina puts into the song but some argue Solomon Burke has more groove on the song. His performance is pumped up by an excellent R&B backing and the eager dancers on stage.
Does anyone know which performance or year the video is? Found it!
There are hundreds of Solomon Burke performances on YouTube which are great to get acquainted with him.
One of the great things about YouTube is you can find almost any performer from the shared fan videos.
David Hall
This video is from Pinkpop 2003, The Netherlands.
John Fogerty who wrote Proud Mary has always said that he thought the best version of his song was by Solomon Burke!
Stephen Pate
Thanks for the info.
Tlaka
I really doubt John Forgerty wrote that song
Stephen Pâté
According to Wikipedia John Fogerty did write “Proud Mary.” Fogarty had created a Louisiana swamp band vibe for Creedance Clearwater despite being an LA brat. The sound and songs are from that bayou vibe.
“ Proud Mary” is a song written by John Fogerty and first recorded by his band Creedence Clearwater Revival. It was released by Fantasy Records as a single from the band’s second studio album, Bayou Country, which was issued by the same record company and is generally considered to have been released in early January 1969,[1][2] although one source[3] states that it came out just before Christmas 1968.”
Tlaka
That song is about segregation and explotation and John Forgerty didn’t experience this discrimination, by the way his name sounds like forgery, they even said they named their band the Golliwogs because they were ignorant of segregation.
But even if he did write it, it’s an appropriation of the life of people of dark skin living in an aparthate state, a very low attitude, very characteristic of American culture: the first proffesional singer in the US made money appropriating the song Oh Susana which is about forced separation because of slavery, I think his name was also John.
He has sued even his own brother and there were like three versions of the song in the year it was released, Solomon’s with a very personal attachment to the lyrics.
When I watched the CCR documentary I started thinking that there are many things that don’t fit on Forgerty’s elaborate claims of authorship of Proud Mary.