Sweet Hitch-Hiker

Background

"Sweet Hitch-Hiker" b/w "Door To Door" was the second 45 rpm Creedence Clearwater Revival released in 1971 and the first recorded as a trio (John Fogerty vocals and guitar, Stu Cook bass, Doug Clifford drums). It came out on June 30th, 1971. Both single cuts ended up to the Mardi Gras album one year later. "Sweet Hitch-Hiker" peaked at #6 in the USA, #36 in the UK and #6 in Germany. 

The band released the previous album, Pendulum, in turmoil in December 1970. Tom Fogerty (rhythm guitar) resigned in February and the rest of the band left for a long vacation - each of them to a different destination. It was as late as June 1971 when Fogerty, Cook and Clifford hit the studio again.

"Sweet Hitchhiker" b/w "Door To Door" was the  last session the band held at Wally Heider's Studios in San Francisco. The rest of the Mardi Gras cuts were put onto the master tapes in the new studios of Fantasy Records in Berkeley.  

John Fogerty played a Gibson Les Paul Custom on the track (Lars Bundesen, CCR Fan Club Bulletin #50, February 2000). 

Promo film

A promo film of "Sweet Hitch-Hiker" was  released in 1971.  It featured simulation of a live concert and motorcycle riding somewhere in the Bay Area. The film was screened in Dick Clark's American Bandstand in the USA on September 18th, 1971. The film was released commercially on a bonus DVD of the Creedence Clearwater Singles Collection in November 2009 together with four other promo films the band launched.

Cover photos

The cover of the single contains two photos: one featuring Clifford, Fogerty and Cook sitting on the balcony (Fogerty and Cook on the couch). Another side features the band posing in front of a bird statue.  The "couch photo" was taken in Pinole, a couple of miles to north of Berkeley in the Bay Area.

The "bird photo" was taken in front of the Post Office to the north of and somewhat adjacent to Spengers Fish Grotto restaurant in Berkeley (1919 Fourth St). The statue was removed from there since then. A similar but different bird sculpture now appears near the southwest corner of the restaurant (on the corner of University Avenue and 4th Street and across the street of Berkeley Amtrak Railway Station where the photo of the back cover of the "Run Through the Jungle" b/w "Up Around the Bend" single was shot no less than a year earlier).

Trivia

The lyrics of the song contain the line "We could make music at the Greasy King." The Greasy King was the nickname for the local burger stand near Cosmo's Factory, Berkeley.

Collector's notes

The "Sweet Hitch-Hiker" b/w "Door to Door" single was released with a similar cover sleeve in Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, USA. It was different from the one launched in Denmark, Israel,  Netherlands.  Fantasy also released a promotional single in the USA. It had no cover photo (Peter Koers, Green River: An Illustrated Discography, 1999).  

Live versions

Creedence Clearwater played "Sweet Hitch-Hiker" live for the first time in the closing concert of the Fillmore West in San Francisco on July 4th, 1971 - five days after the release of the single. The show was broadcast live by KSAN-FM in the Bay Area.  Another summer 1971 live concert by the band in Forest Hills, New York, a couple of weeks later, was broadcast by WNEW-FM in the Big Apple.

The song remained in the group's set list until the breakup of the band in 1972. One of the versions recorded during the European Tour in autumn 1971 ended up to the Live in Europe album. 

John Fogerty delivered "Sweet Hitch-Hiker" live for the first time in Detroit on November 20th, 2004. He played the song in approximately every other show on the Deja Vu All Over Again Tour in 2004-2005 but the playing frequency decreased gradually towards the year 2008. In 2009-2011, Fogerty only performed it four times.

Fogerty also added "Sweet Hitch-Hiker" to his setlist in Sturgis, SD, USA, on August 11th, 2011. The aforementioned Legendary Buffalo Chip concert was also broadcast live by AXS-TV in the USA.  

John Fogerty also performed "Sweet Hitch-Hiker" at Glastonbury Festival in the UK on June 23rd, 2007. The show from the fields of Somerset was televised nationally in Britain by BBC4.  On July 26th, 2009, concert goers heard "Sweet Hitch-Hiker" also in Lucca, Italy, where the John Fogerty gig was partially broadcast by the Italian public radio RAI. 

"Sweet Hitch-Hiker" appears on one of the three John Fogerty concert DVDs: The Long Road Home (2006).

John has used a blue Ernie Ball Music Man guitar in the live versions in the 2000's. 

Critical reception

"The boys have speeded up the tempo once again - and the palpitating beat, scorching bass lines and resonant guitar work, not to mention John Fogerty's fervent vocal, combine to make this a real humdinger." -New Musical Express, 1971. 

"'Sweet Hitch Hiker' is marred by the stiffness so characteristic of later Creedence, from Willy and the Poor Boys onward." -Jon Landau, The Rolling Stone,  May 25th, 1972. 

"But John Fogerty had the last laugh: closing the record with the explosive "Sweet Hitch-Hiker," a three-minute assault that is as good as anything Creedence ever recorded, and proving once again you shouldn't mess with a great thing." -Jeff Hinkle, Phoenix New Times, January 17th, 2002. 

Fans' views

"Perfect music to accompany the opening chapter of Tom Clancy's "Without Remorse", where Kelly is driving down the highway and picks up a hooker who's hitchhiking."

"Is a prime example of the beautiful simplicity in CCR songs ... the solo in this song is so simple yet it fits so well and says so much ... to me, that is the beauty of Creedence."

Thanks to Petra, Robert and Dana.

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