GREEN RIVER^©

Live 12 Jan 1993 version

Well, take me back down where cool water flows, yeah
Let me remember things I love, yeah
Stoppin' at the log where catfish bite
Walkin' along the river road at night
Barefoot girls dancin' in the moonlight

I can hear the bullfrog callin' me home
I wonder if my rope's still hangin' to the tree, yeah
Love to kick my feet 'way down the shallow water
Shoefly, dragonfly, get back t'your mother
Pick up a flat rock, skip it across the Green River
Welll

Up at Cody's camp I spent my days, yeah
With flat car riders and cross-tie walkers
Old Cody, Junior took me over
Said, "You're gonna find the world is smould'rin'
If you get lost come on home to Green River"
Welll

[spoken:] Don't be shy, be spontaneous!

Written by John Fogerty, from Creedence Clearwater Revival's 1969 album Green River.

A favourite of Bruce's, but as far as it's known, he performed the song 6 times only, all of them off-tour.

The first known live performance was with John Fogerty on 12 Jan 1993 at Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles, CA, during the 1993 Rock 'N' Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremonies; the above lyrics refer to that performance. Creedence Clearwater Revival were inducted, and Bruce Springsteen did the induction speech the following day [read speech below].

Also performed around 20 Dec 1999 at McLoone's Rumrunner, Sea Bright, NJ, with Bobby Bandiera's band.

Performed for the Rumson Country Day School benefits at the Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ, on 13 and 14 Apr 2002, 30 Apr 2003, and 25 Apr 2004.

GREEN RIVER was sound-checked for the Vote For Change tour, but the song only made it as far as the setlist for the 13 Oct 2004 show at the Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, NJ, where is was replaced by PROUD MARY.

The above lyrics refer to the live 12 Jan 1993 version with John Fogerty at Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles, CA. Bruce was playing guitar, and sharing vocals only for the last line of each verse. Check also Creedence Clearwater Revival's original version (similar lyrics).

Thanks Jesse for the help.

Part of Bruce's speech inducting Creedence Clearwater Revival into the Rock 'N' Roll Hall Of Fame:

In 1970, suburban New Jersey was still filled with the kind of 60's spirit Easy Rider made us all so fond of, I'm referring to the scene where Dennis Hopper gets blown off his motorcycle by some redneck with a shotgun! A weekend outing at the time was still filled with the drama of possibly getting your ass kicked by a total stranger who disagreed with your fashion sense. Me and my band worked on Route 35 outside of Asbury Park, at a club called the Pandemonium. And so it was five 50-minute sets a night and rarely a night without a fight. But into New Jersey came the music of Creedence Clearwater Revival and for three minutes and seven seconds of "Proud Mary", a very strained brotherhood would actually fill the room. It was simply a great song that everybody liked and it literally saved our asses on many occasions. Anyway, I stand here tonight still envious of that music's power and simplicity. And they were hits, and hitsville was reality and poetry and a sense of the darkness of events and history, of an American tradition shot through with pride, fear, paranoia, and they rocked hard. Now, you can't talk about Creedence without talking about John Fogerty. As a songwriter, only a few did as much in three minutes. He was an Old Testament, shaggy-haired prophet, a fatalist. Funny too. He was severe, he was precise, he said what he had to say and he got out of there. He was lyrically spare and beautiful. He created a world of childhood memory and of men and women with their backs to the wall. A landscape of swamps, bayous, endless rivers, gypsy women, backporches, hound dogs chasing ghosts, devils, bad moons rising, straight out of the blues tradition. So let me end by saying that, in their day, Creedence never got the respect they deserved. They played no-frills American music for the people...