Porterville

Background

“Porterville”, backed with “Call It Pretending”,  was the last single John Fogerty, Tom Fogerty, Stu Cook and Doug Clifford recorded as the Golliwogs. After the initial release in November 1967, it was re-issued a couple of months later as the first 45 RPM single of Creedence Clearwater Revival. It didn't chart.

The single was recorded at Coast Recorders on Bush Street in San Francisco a couple of weeks after Saul Zaentz had purchased Fantasy Records.

The semi-autobiographical song describes the teenage angst of a kid who has to deal with paying the debt his parentage had laid on him. John Fogerty wrote the song during his army service in Fort Bragg, NC, in the first part of 1967. Recalls Fogerty: "I learned how to meditate while I was walking around and marching in formation in the 120-degree heat on an asphalt parade field in Fort Bragg. You're marching for hours. Without realizing it, I slipped into meditation, or even hallucinating, and I started writing a song."

For Fogerty, this was the beginning of the new approach to songwriting as he described it in an interview in Uncut magazine: "They all seemed to be sort of swampy and Southern, in the woods and with snakes; Br’er Rabbit, Mark Twain, a great old movie with Dana Andrews and Walter Brennan called Swamp Water."

“Porterville” is also one of the few John Fogerty songs where the title of the song is not mentioned in the lyrics.

Recording session

John Fogerty used three-quarter-size Rickenbacker 325 guitars in the sessions for the first album. They had a Bigsby tremolo arm and a humbucker in each, the tremeloes being switched out. One “Rick” was black, and the other sported a Fireglo finish. As for the amplifiers, his choice was the 100-watt Kustom K200.

"Porterville" is one of the three Creedence Clearwater songs where backing vocals are done by the whole group. In other songs, harmonies were sung by John Fogerty (John Fogerty, Fortunate Son, 2015).  

Collector's notes

A "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" b/w "Porterville" single with a cover photo (Bellaphon 18201) was released in Germany in 1973 (Peter Koers, Green River: An Illustrated Discography, 1999).  

Live versions

Creedence Clearwater played “Porterville” live at Deno & Carlo's (later Keystone Korner) in San Francisco each week as per February 2nd until April 28th 1968.  

Surprisingly, John Fogerty added the song to his playlist during “The Long Road Home Tour” in Europe in 2006. “Porterville” was heard for the first time in John Fogerty concerts at Hammersmith in London, UK, on June 29th 2006. Other sites where Fogerty performed the song in summer 2006 included Antwerp, Belgium, and Sotra, Norway.

“Porterville” made a return to the set lists on the North American Tour in fall 2013. It was also played in Bangor, Maine, on August 2nd, 2014. Most of the concerts of the tour were available as downloadable files on the official website of John Fogerty in 2013-2014.  

In the movies

"Porterville" appears in Sean Penn's film "Into the Wild" (2007).

Critical reception

"---the true exception is that third single, "Porterville," an exceptional song with great hooks, an underlying sense of menace, and the first inkling of the working-class rage that fueled such landmarks as "Fortunate Son." It's the song that points the way to the breakthrough of Bayou Country---." -Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide.

"“Porterville” --- is not as outstanding as subsequent work, but it ably demonstrates the songwriting and vocal work of John Fogerty ---". -Richard Elliott, Pop Matters, January 20th, 2010. 

Fans' views

"So powerful and dramatic."

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