Thursday, April 30, 2020

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Have You Ever Seen The Rain



Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) is probably the greatest classic rock band I have never talked about on this blog. I should probably do something about that.

Along with Lynyrd Skynyrd, CCR are among the most recognizable and popular classic rock band that captured the sound of southern rock stylings. So much so, I always assumed that “clearwater” was a genre of music related to bluegrass or southern soul, and CCR were on a quest to revive it. Only recently have I discovered that “clearwater” as a music genre does not exist. The point remains CCR were reviving a sound, or at the very least, they greatly increased the popularity of southern rock and roll.

But here is a very interesting fact about CCR, they are not from the south, they are from the San Francisco area in California. Very recently I talked about the Church of the Cosmic Skull, and how they had a southern sound, but they were actually from Nottingham England. Well this is similar, only much more significant, because CCR is a far more prolific band, and they started at least forty years earlier.

Despite not being from the south, I have never heard any controversy or disapproval from the real south towards CCR. I think this has everything to do with the quality of CCR’s music. First and foremost, CCR have so many great songs, regardless of genre, it is very good music, even possessing cross genre appeal. A lot of the country boys I grew up with, who preferred country music, loved CCR. I know of metal heads and punk rockers, who love CCR. Had CCR failed to capture the southern thing, I suspect the south would still love CCR, just because they are so damn good. But, a second major component of why we have never heard any push back, is probably because CCR, despite not being from the south, did capture the sound and spirit of the bayou.

Now would be a good time to segue to the song “Born on a Bayou” but I would rather talk about “Have You Ever Seen The Rain.” Two of my favorite CCR tracks right there. “Have You Ever Seen The Rain,” is possibly my uppermost favorite CCR song. I think a lot of people hold “Have You Ever Seen The Rain” as their favorite CCR song.

“Have You Ever Seen The Rain” appears on CCR’s 1970 album “Pendulum.” Like almost all CCR songs, and all good CCR songs, “Have You Ever Seen The Rain” is written by John Fogerty. Only recently did I discover that this song was written about John’s brother Tom leaving the band. If I am being honest, I probably never would have pieced that together on my own.

From a purely literal interpretation “Have You Ever Seen The Rain” is about a storm and the peace before and after. The chorus is a clear message to the listener that this song is about a lot more then just that.

“I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain?
I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain?
Coming down on a sunny day?”


This question forces the listeners to evaluate the lyrics on a deeper level. Who is John posing this question to? Surely everyone has seen rain before, so this must mean something less common or symbolic.

Thanks to various interviews we know that John is posing this question to Tom, and all the rain must be metaphorical to the struggles the band was facing. There was a fair amount of strife between the members of CCR, mostly stemming from the fact that John Fogerty was by far the most talented member of the band and the only capable song writer; you can tell who’s side I am on. Following all this, I suppose John was telling his brother Tom, that sure things are rough, but things are bound to get better.

“Have You Ever Seen The Rain” fits in perfectly with the southern style that CCR strived for. Rain on a sunny say is rare in most places in the world, but in Louisiana, Alabama and Georgia, summer showers appearing and just as quickly disappearing are quite common. I never really thought about this or picked up that this was a southern thing for a long time, because where I came from the weather is psychotic. I seen snow in every month of the year, more then once, rain on sunny day is considered decent weather.

All this time, I had my own interpretation of “Have You Ever Seen The Rain.” I never really knew this song was John’s musical way of saying goodbye to his brother Tom professional, and I never really picked up on the southern summer rain showers aspect of it, my take away was a lot more depressing.

In all my years of listening to CCR and “Have You Ever Seen The Rain” I always took the rain as a metaphor for hardship. While I am not entirely incorrect, the chorus can take on a much more antagonizing tone when we think of it that way. I took the chorus as a provocation to the listener, basically saying “what do you know about hardship?”

This whole coronavirus has got forced a lot of people to experience some unique hardships, meanwhile, for me, this is just another inconvenience in my life. Seeing people panicking about this epidemic has me looking at everyone thinking, “oh this is the first time something has completely fucked up your life?” Do you see where I am going with this? Have you ever seen the rain?

As potentially negative as my analysis of “Have You Ever Seen The Rain” is, when combined with the knowledge that this song was a send off for the departure of Tom Fogerty from CCR, I suspect there is some truth that this song is something of an taunt from John to his brother. However, time changes us, and when we reflect on various artworks and what they used to mean to us, sometimes the messages changes and not just for the audience, sometimes for the creator as well.

As time marched forward, John’s view of this song shifted, and now he feels it is more about hope, and the comfort that can come after experiencing a struggle. Knowing this, I hold similar emotions about “Have You Ever Seen The Rain.” The challenging provocation has become very secondary in my thoughts when listening to “Have You Ever Seen The Rain” I now find myself more preoccupied with hopefulness as well. Even though my interpretation does not line up perfectly with the intended message, there is a parallel in attitude that I shared with the creator, which is exactly the kind of experience a fan seeks from the artist, and as such, I have an added appreciation for a song, which I already considered perfect.

Until next month keep on rocking in the free world.

- King of Braves

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