Commotion

Background

“Commotion” is the flipside of "Green River," the sixth single of Creedence Clearwater. It was written by John Fogerty and recorded at Wally Heider's Studios in San Francisco in June 1969. The 45rpm was the debut session of the band at Wally Heider's and the first collaboration with engineer Russ Gary. "Commotion"  reached #30 in the USA and #16 in Germany. 

The chaotic rockabilly song depicts the manic side of life in New York City. 40 years later, John Fogerty put the lyrics about traffic in the city, freeways, hurrying and rushing to broader context: "I was writing about what was in the air, and that was what came out of me. I was just doing what came naturally."

Fogerty recalls borrowing the beat from a train: "I love to play the train beat. It’s not so obvious in this song but that’s where it started. Even forty years ago, I was irritated by the fast pace and rapidly increasing information overload of modern life" (John Fogerty on his Twitter page, November 2011). 

Collector's notes

The "Green River" b/w "Commotion" single was released with a similar cover sleeve in France, Germany and Spain. It was different from the one launched in Denmark, India, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Sweden.

"Tomstone Shadow" b/w "Commotion" was released as a single in the USA in 1980. Both cuts were taken from The Concert album. The 45 rpm had no cover sleeve (Peter Koers, Green River, 1999).  

Live versions

The first documented Creedence Clearwater concert with “Commotion” in the set list is Woodstock Pop Festival in mid August 1969. The version the band delivered to the audience at Max Yasgur's farm was released on Woodstock - Three Days of Peace and Music, Twenty-fifth Anniversary Collection Boxed Set in 1994.

The band played the song regularly until their last public show in May 1972. The concert at Oakland Coliseum on January 31st, 1970, was released as a live album ten years later. A live recording of "Commotion" appears also on Live in Europe compilation.

Creedence Clearwater also performed “Commotion” as playback in Dick Clark's American Bandstand TV show on September 20th, 1969, ABC In Concert special 1971 (filmed at Oakland Coliseum, January 31st, 1970) and Royal Albert Hall concert footage (April 14th, 1970).

John Fogerty played “Commotion” live for the first time during his solo career on the opening leg of the Long Road Home Tour at Palais des Congrès, Paris, France, on June 28th 2006. The rockabilly song survived as a regular number in his set-list until summer 2007 after which the plays became rarer. In the concerts in 2009-2012, following the release of Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again, he only did “Commotion” in six concerts.

A live version of “Commotion” appears on John Fogerty live DVD Comin' Down the Road (filmed at Royal Albert Hall, London, UK, June 2008). Fogerty also performed the song in PBS Soundstage TV special which was broadcast in the USA in February 2008.

John Fogerty performed the Green River long-player in its entirety for the first time at Beacon Theatre, New York, on November 18th 2011. The show was broadcast live by Sirius XM satellite radio in the States.

"Commotion" was played in a couple of shows of the John Fogerty tour in North America fall 2013. The concerts were available as files on the official John Fogerty website in 2013-2014.

In TV series

"Commotion" appears in TV series Parenthood, episode Everything Is Not Okay (2012).

Critical reception

"'Commotion' is one of their fastest, if not the fastest, pieces of angry boogie, and when those frantic riffs in the end hit you, wow!.. that's fast rock heaven, indeed. There are even elements of a punkish character here, if you can believe it - this is hardly blues at all." -George Starostin.

"'Commotion' begins with a loud guitar riff and warm harmonica that make it one of the album’s best and a honky-tonk classic. -Sputnik Music, June 28th 2008.  

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