Down on the Corner – Cotton Fields – A #TedTocksCovers double shot – #MusicisLife #CreedenceClearwaterRevival #BrandiCarlile #Lumineers #BryanAdams #LeadBelly #TheBeachBoys #JohnnyCash #TheCarterFamily #Tesla #EltonJohn #CharleyPride

Today we have a double shot in honour of the 50^th anniversary of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Willy and the Poor Boys album. This album marked the third album release in 1969 for the prolific act. The problem was, internally things were starting to crumble under John Fogerty’s demanding regimen. Read this quote from drummer, Doug Clifford.

“That was a bit of overkill and I never did understand that. Fogerty told us that if we were ever off the charts, then we would be forgotten…To make it worse, it might sound funny, but we had double sided hits, and that was kind of a curse, as we were burning through material twice as fast. If we’d spread it out, we would not have had to put out three albums in one year.

Doug Clifford

Despite the infighting, Willy and the Poor Boys is still as fresh today as the day it was released. The first song to be featured will be ‘Down on the Corner’.

This upbeat tune tells the story of a band called Willy and the Poor Boys who play their music on a street corner for loose change. Really, they are playing just to share their love of music. It is a classic song that illustrates yet another example of how music brings people together, even in its most simple form. In this case the members of CCR play a gut bass, a washboard and a Kalamazoo guitar. Here is some footage from a 1969 performance. It is so authentic. Mama Cass’s introduction will make you scratch your head…Seriously?

 ‘Down on the Corner’ peaked at #3 on the Billboard singles chart.

Here is a fun cover by Brandi Carlile and the Lumineers. They are rehearsing it in a living room. They played it live later that night (That video is on Youtube too. I just liked this one better). It is raw but it is real. I love it.

Here is one more cool cover. In 2014 Bryan Adams released an album called Tracks of My Years. It was a retrospective where he performed songs that inspired his love of music. Naturally he would include a song from ’69.

Willy and the Poor Boys is also a very influential album because it helped to popularize the music of the great blues artist Lead Belly. ‘Midnight Special’ and “Cotton Fields’ both appear on Willy and the Poor Boys. For more on Lead Belly, I featured ‘Midnight Special’ and ‘Goodnight Irene’ in previous posts. Today we add the classic song ‘Cotton Fields’.

This is another example of how music gets passed down through the generations. Pete Seeger learned about Lead Belly through his association with musicologist/historians John and Alan Lomax. Seeger and his band The Weavers did their best to spread the music of Lead Belly. It was passed on to artists like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, just to name a few. Among the many others is John Fogerty of CCR. He understood the importance of Lead Belly and many other blues artists. They had a story to tell, and it needed to be passed down through the generations.

“Lead Belly was a big influence. I learned about him through Pete Seeger. When you listen to those guys, you’re getting down to the root of the tree.”

John Fogerty

Here is Lead Belly’s original version. This song goes back to 1940. Lead Belly is a musical treasure.

How influential was he? Check out the range of influence.

The Beach Boys recorded it with Al Jardine on vocals. You have to love the country style. As the vocals develop the Beach Boys distinct sound emerges. This is a ton of fun.

Here is Johnny Cash from 1962. It is from his album The Sound of Johnny Cash.

Coincidentally, The Carter Sisters June Carter (later Cash) did a cover version in 1966.

How about a metal version by Tesla in 1991?

That was different. The point is, the song has a widespread impact on musicians from a range of genres.

Here is Elton John from 1969/70 on an album he created in order to get some attention. It was called 16 Legendary Covers. The album was released in 2004.

Sadly, on December 12, the music world lost another legend. Charley Pride passed away as a result of COVID-19 related issues. He was 86.

Here is Charley Pride and his version of ‘Cotton Fields from 1969. It needed to be shared in this updated version of today’s feature.

I hope you enjoyed this walk through eighty years of music history. It emphasizes the importance of the roots, from instrumentation to the stories that inspired the songs. This can never be forgotten.