It Came Out of the Sky
Background
"It Came Out of the Sky" is an album track on Willy and the Poor Boys, the fourth album of Creedence Clearwater Revival. It's a semi-humorous rock and roll song about a farmer called Jody who finds an UFO and become famous. The event first triggers fear and later greed. Between the lines, there're also sarcastic remarks on American show business, media and politics.
The song was inspired by such movies as Invaders from Mars, Them!, It Came
from Outer Space, The Day the Earth Stood Still and particularly Ace in the Hole. John Fogerty saw these all as a youngster. He also read all the science fiction books in the El Cerrito library (John Fogerty, Fortunate Son, 2015).
Collector's notes
The piece was never released as a 45 rpm single in the USA. John Fogerty had already new songs in his pocket while Willy and the Poor Boys came out. Instead, "It Came Out of the Sky", backed with "Side O´ the Road", was launched as a single in the UK in 1973. It received minimal radio play and went nowhere on charts (Peter Greendale).
In Japan, "It Came Out of the Sky" (the flip-side of "Cotton Fields") was released as a single on February 5, 1970. In 1973, "It Came Out of the Sky" was swifted into the A-side on a Japanese single backed with "Don't Look Now (It Ain't You Or Me)" (Peter Koers, Green River, 1999).
Other countries where the song was released as a single include Mexico, Spain, Sweden and Singapore (Robert Aerts).
Trivia
"Jody" is a mythical character showing up in Fogerty's lyrics to such songs as "Hey Tonight", ”It Came Out of the Sky” and “Almost Saturday Night”. "Jody" might be a homage to an American rocker Jody Reynolds, one of the early influences of John Fogerty. The Creedence frontman recorded a cover version of Jody Reynolds' "Endless Sleep" in 1997. He also used a couple of phrases from the lyrics of ”Endless Sleep” in his song “Searchlight” which appeared on the Centerfield album in 1985.
"Walter" and "Eric" are news anchors Walter Cronkite (1916-2009) and Eric Sevareid (1912-1992) of the CBS TV network.
"Ronnie the Popular" is the Californian Governor Ronald Reagan. "It Came Out of the Sky" is another piece in the catalogue of Creedence Clearwater referring to Reagan. The other is "Ramble Tamble" (with the line "actors in the White House" - though Fogerty certainly didn't know the future of Ronald Reagan while writing the number).
"Spiro" is the US Vice President Spiro Agnew. President Nixon appointed him head of the National Aeronautics and Space Council. After Agnew publicly supported the idea of a space flight to Mars, it was told him that there was no funds for a project of that magnitude. He also failed to report nearly $30,000 in income in 1967 when he was the Governor of Maryland. The seat of the toilet at Cosmo's Factory was decorated by a colour photograph of Spiro Agnew.
City of Moline is located in Illinois, USA. The John Deere tractors are made there.
Live versions
Creedence Clearwater didn't play "It Came Out of the Sky" live on stage as a quartet. The trio added it to the programming for the first time in the closing concert of Fillmore West in San Francisco on July 4th, 1971. It stayed in the set list until the breakup of the band in 1972.
The Fillmore concert was broadcast live by a free-form underground radio KSAN-FM in the Bay Area. Another concert at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in New York a couple of weeks later was put on the air by WNEW-FM in the Big Apple.
A live version recorded during the Euro Tour in autumn 1971 ended up to the Live in Europe album in 1973. Another take taped in Berlin, Germany, on September 16, 1971, is available as a bonus track on the 40th Anniversary CD Edition of Willy and the Poor Boys released in June 2008.
John Fogerty added "It Came Out of the Sky" to his concert repertoire on the Deja Vu All Over Again Tour in 2004. The much awaited debut took place in Washington, DC, USA, on November 12th, 2004. Fogerty played the rock and roll number until the beginning of the Revival Tour in fall 2007. In 2008-2011, he only played the song three times:
in Point Nepean, Australia, on March 22, 2008
in Brisbane, Australia, on March 27, 2008
in Victoria, BC, Canada, on June 8, 2011
The live version that the crowd enjoyed in 2004-2007 featured a couple of tasty, full speed dueted solos on a guitar (Fogerty) and a pedal steel (Bob Britt in 2004-2006 and Hunter Perrin in 2007-2011).
For some odd reason, "It Came Out of the Sky" is not included in the John Fogerty Long Road Home concert DVD though it was recorded at that time when he performed the song regularly in concerts.
Creedence Clearwater Revisited never delivered the song live because Doug Clifford disliked the number (interview with Stu Cook, The Hustle, March 24, 2019).
In movies and TV series
"It Came Out of the Sky" appears in two TV series:
Better Call Saul, episode Five-O (2015)
WKRP in Cincinnati, episode Turkeys Away (1978)
The song was also featured in an advertisement for The Neighbors tv series (2012-2014) but wasn't heard in the show itself (Dana Doak).
Critical reception
"This curious paradox can be resolved by listening to "It Came Out Of The Sky," which is message and comment without moralizing. It is also a very funny song, as funny as Dylan at his best. That's aside from being just a great rock song. ---Comment would be superfluous. Yet, it shows at what Fogerty is superb—compression. He's managed to get three worlds of paranoia into one short, entertaining, musical song. If he fails to take the subject very seriously, well, to steal a quote, "it's too serious not to be taken humorously."" -Alec Dubro, The Rolling Stone, January 21st, 1970.
"It Came Out of the Sky is unadulterated rock and roll with the sound of the fifties stamped all over it - John Fogerty's lead guitar, a rolling piano and Doug Clifford's crashing drums never let up and the whole thing is irresistable." -New Musical Express, 1971.
"Okay, there's one great rocker ('It Came Out Of The Sky') which is so damn fast and funny (especially when you take time to get through all the lyrics) you'd never guess why its place is on this record and not elsewhere." -George Starostin.
Fans' views
"Was among the first songs my brother recorded with a cassette player (using a microphone in front of the speaker on the radio! So silence please...:) Has always been my favourite. It has good/funny lyrics and the rhythm makes a fat old man dance."
"Only John Fogerty could write a 2.5 minute happy pop song about a spaceship crash landing on Earth and the resulting scramble claiming ownership!"
Written by John C. Fogerty.
Recorded at Studio C, Wally Heider's Studios, San Francisco, CA, USA, in October 1969.
Appears on Willy and the Poor Boys album.
Released on November 2nd, 1969.