Before You Accuse Me

Background

"Before You Accuse Me" is an album track on Cosmo's Factory, the fifth long-player of Creedence Clearwater Revival. The blues number was originally written and performed by Bo Diddley in 1957. 

As a big Bo Diddley fan, John Fogerty bought his albums as a kid. "Before You Accuse Me" had been a part of the repertoire of the Golliogs from the very beginning.    

Alternate version

Creedence Clearwater recorded "Before You Accuse Me" for the first time in the sessions of the first album on January 19th, 1968 (the same day they also cut "Suzie Q"). John Fogerty left it out because he was disappointed with the sound. The early version was released as a bonus track in the 40th Anniversary CD Edition of the debut LP in 2008.  

Trivia

Early pressings of Cosmo's Factory contained a 3-second dropout on the left stereo channel during the song.

Live versions

Creedence Clearwater played "Before You Accuse Me" at Deno & Carlo's (later Keystone Korner) in San Francisco each week as per February 2nd until April 28th, 1968.  

John Fogerty performed the song live with Duke Tumatoe's band in Chicago on February 20, 1988, while he was producing Tumatoe's album. Fogerty also played the Bo Diddley original in Los Angeles in September 1994. 

"Before You Accuse Me" was added to the set list when John Fogerty began regular touring in 1997. After the hiatus, the song made a short return to the concert repertoire during the John Fogerty summer tour in the USA in 2004.   

To hear "Before You Accuse" live again, the audience had to wait until the Cosmo's Factory album concerts in North America and Australia in 2011-2013. The Cosmo's Factory album show at Beacon Theatre in New York on November 17th, 2011, was broadcast live by Sirius XM satellite radio. Soundboard recordings of the John Fogerty concerts have been officially available as per autumn 2013 as files.

Critical reception

"When it comes to guitar breaks, it's so pleasing to hear a well-constructed solo that doesn't smack of third generation Clapton or Hendrix." -Roy Carr, New Musical Express, July 25th, 1970.   

"In addition to lead guitar and vocal on Bo Diddley's "Before You Accuse Me" he drops in some fine blues piano riffs but apparently out of modesty keeps them pretty well buried in an easy-going, traditional arrangement." -John Grissim, The Rolling Stone, September 3rd, 1970. 

"--- the ol' blues cover 'Before You Accuse Me' distinguishes itself in my memory by possessing one of the most ingenious and memorable solos I ever heard in my entire life: excellently constructed and played with almost a mathematical precision, yet fully adequate and masterful (apparently, they just slightly modified the original, because if you listen closely to Eric Clapton's version of the same number on Unplugged, you'll hear him playing more or less the same way)." -George Starostin. 

"---“Before You Accuse Me” is given a faithful rendition, with the almost surreal country voice of the younger Fogerty taking this blues song into a fun rock and roll area." -J.C. Macek III, Pop Matters, January 10th, 2014. 

Fans' views

"This is the ultimate R&R song with blueish elements. I really dig the guitar picking in the verses and the solo. They're ascetic but very effective! Compared to this version all other versions sound rather dull."

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