Rambunctious Boy

Background

“Rambunctious Boy” is the ninth track on Blue Moon Swamp, the fifth solo album of John Fogerty. It came out in May 1997. The song of a restless spirit was written, produced and arranged by John Fogerty, engineered by John Lowson and mixed by Bob Clearmountain. The album peaked at #37 in the USA, #1 in Sweden, #1 in Finland and #8 in Australia. It also won Best Rock Album at the 40th Grammy Awards in 1998.

Fogerty wrote "Rambunctious Boy" in Newhall, south of Santa Clarita, just approximately 30 miles out of Los Angeles. He’d take this beat-up route they called “the old road", which took you to the first commercially successful oil well in California. He’d sit out there all day (John Fogerty, Fortunate Son, 2015).

Personnel

Mandolin, guitars, electric sitar, vocals: John Fogerty

Bass: Howie Epstein

Drums: Kenny Aronoff

Tambourine: Luis Conté

Backing vocals: The Lonesome River Band

Handclaps: Bob Fogerty, John Fogerty, Tommy "V" Verdonck

Drummer Kenny Aronoff came to Blue Moon Swamp sessions in 1995. Fogerty is quite sure "Rambunctious Boy" was the first track he recorded with the drummer  (John Fogerty, Fortunate Son, 2015).  

"Rattlesnake Highway" and "Rambunctious Boy" are the only songs in the catalogue of John Fogerty in which he play electric sitar.   

Equipment

On "Rambunctious Boy", Fogerty played his custom Telecaster, which at one point belonged to the Eagles. He used an old Vox AC30 amplifier on top which you can fry eggs (John Fogerty, Fortunate Son, 2015). 

"Rambunctous Boy" is probably the only rock song that has a mandolin and an electric sitar on it. The mandolin is a 1923 or 1924 A model, but it's not a Lloyd Loar. Fogerty picked it up in North Carolina. The sitar is a Jerry Jones one (Willie G. Moseley, Interview with John Fogerty, The Vintage Guitar, August 1997).  

Trivia

Fogerty shelved an earlier version of "Rambunctious Boy" because it was too country and reminded Buck Owens. So he went back and started over again, until he finally "came up with a Buddy Holly, Bobby Fuller Four, Texas kinda feel..." (Official website of John Fogerty, 1997).  

Collector's notes

“Rambunctious Boy” was also released as a promotional CD single (WB PRO CD 9065) in the USA. The disc contains an edited version (Peter Koers, Green River, 1999). 

Live versions

Fogerty skipped "Rambunctious Boy" on the Blue Moon Swamp World Tour in 1997 and saved it for the Premonition Tour that kicked off in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, on June 13th, 1998. The song was turned from a country-rocker into a full tilt boogie in the concerts of this summer. 

The audience enjoyed the concert version regularly in 2004-2008 until the frequency of plays started to decrease in 2009. Eventually, it was only heard once in 2012 (Park City, Utah, USA, June 21st).

The song appears on two John Fogerty concert DVDs: The Long Road Home (2006) and Comin' Down the Road (2009). 

Extraordinary live versions of "Rambunctious Boy" include the acoustic one John Fogerty and Keith Urban performed on the sofa at the CMT Crossroads TV show on February 19th, 2005. 

Critical reception

"Elsewhere, his energy seems forced, his moves the product of good-timey shtick. On songs like "Rambunctious Boy," he does that thing a lot of calcifying rockers do: adding a few weird melodic turns at the end of a line to force-feed the song with novelty. It doesn't work here, either." -Bill Wyman, The San Francisco Weekly, July 16th, 1997.  

"Beginning with Bluegrass-themed, a cappella harmony featuring The Lonesome River Band and a short burst of mandolin, “Rambunctious Boy” immediately brings to the forefront of the listener’s attention much of the excellence Fogerty has brought for this record.  The track ultimately feels like something The Eagles would have been proud to have written and released." -Cole Powell, Southern Senses, September 14th, 2015. 

Fans' views

"Makes me feel good after a very long week. Makes me want to get up and dance."

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