Ramble Tamble

Background

“Ramble Tamble” is the opening track of the July 1970, quadruple platinum, Cosmo's Factory album by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Recalls John Fogerty: "I loved playing music that stretched out and jammed. This song was placed at the beginning of the album as kind of a mission statement of things to come… and, yes, “actors in the White House” refers to Ronald Reagan ten years before it happened."

Alternative versions

"Ramble Tamble" is included in a French film A l'affiche du monde. Shot at Cosmo's Factory in 1970, it features Creedence Clearwater playing an alternative version of the solo segment of the song.

Collector's notes

"Ramble Tamble" was released in Singapore on an EP with "Molina" and "It's Just a Though". 

Live versions

Creedence Clearwater never played the song in concerts although the band can been seen training the number at Cosmo's Factory (the rehearsal space) in the French TV documentary A l'affiche du monde in 1970.

It took 36 years for John Fogerty to add “Ramble Tamble” to his concert set list. The world premiere of “Ramble Tamble” - live, took place at Palais des Congrès in Paris, France, on June 28th 2006. After that he has played it regularly at his concerts.

A very special edition of the John Fogerty Revival album was available at Walmart in October 2007. The bonus DVD of the album included a 30-minute interview with John on the making of Revival plus two performances from the June 2007 Glastonbury Festival: “Ramble Tamble” and “Keep On Chooglin’”.

“Ramble Tamble” also appears on the concert DVD Coming Down the Road: The Concert at Royal Albert Hall which was recorded on June 24th 2008 and released on November 3rd 2009.

John Fogerty also performed "Ramble Tamble" in the following TV Specials and televised concerts:

• PBS Soundstage concert at WTTW Studios in Chicago on 29 Nov 2007. Broadcast on 7th & 14th Feb 2008.

• Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, Manchester, TN, USA, June 13th 2010

• The Legendary Buffalo Chip, Sturgis, SD, USA, August 11th 2011.

• Birthday Party at El Rey Theater, Los Angeles, CA, USA. May 28th 2013.

Furthermore, John Fogerty performed it at Piazza Napoleoni, Lucca, Italy, on July 26th 2009. Part of the show, including “Ramble Tamble”, was broadcast live by radio RAI in Italy.

On November 17th, 2011, Fogerty played “Ramble Tamble” in the first Cosmo's Factory album concert at Beacon Theatre, New York, NY, USA. The show was broadcast live by Sirius XM satellite radio in the USA.

He also played the song live at iHeart Radio Theatre in New York on May 23rd 2013.  The concert was broadcast live by WAXQ Q104.3, New York.

In movies

"Ramble Tamble" is featured in the Film "For the Love of Money" (2012).

Critical reception

"---a wild six-minute rocker with much reverb in John's croaky voice ---. Halfway through it slows right down, leading into a ponderous and continually repeated guitar riff with a slight House of the Rising Sun feel to it." -Roy Carr, New Musical Express, July 25th, 1970.  

"---John Fogerty wrote three of the remaining seven [songs] - only one of which, 'Ramble Tamble', is unsatisfying." -John Grissim, The Rolling Stone, September 3rd, 1970.   

"'Ramble Tamble' is a great song by itself, but that sloppy middle instrumental section bores me to death. They were obviously going for imitating some art rock sound or something like that, but they failed miserably. Slow repeated rhythms like that just don't belong on a CCR record. Brr. Really boring stuff, even though it's obvious they're trying hard: on first listen it seems to work, with these distorted chords playing over and over until a soft moody sound comes on and John plays that moody riff in lots of variations. But that's only on first listen. You can't really enjoy it more than once." -George Starostin.  

"--- 'Ramble Tamble' is like two super rockin' songs in one. It starts off as a suped-up, proto-punk take on Sun Records rockabilly. Then, about a minute and a half in, it slows down to a crawl and then dies for just a split-second, starting back up again as a slowly simmering psychedelic blues number anchored by a cascading guitar riff best-described as Abbey Road-esque. Just as drummer Doug Clifford seems spent from pounding the relentless jam into submission, the Sun sound comes back even faster and angrier than before for the closing minute and a half. , 'Ramble Tamble' essentially is a seven-minute mash-up record encompassing the history of blues, country, punk, and psychedelia. Until I fall in love with a different rockin' song, I can't imagine anything out-rockin' it." -Steve Hyden, A.V. Club, September 6th, 2007

"Rockabilly tune that slows into a near-psychedelic middle section. A real Creedence wall of sound." -Uncut, February 2012.

Fans' views

"Has one of the best instrumental sections I've ever heard, I can't help but totally lose myself in that song every time I hear it ... more of that fine Fogerty guitar that I can't get enough of ... I'd like that song to last forever."

"Just flat out rocks... it's just pure energy... especially when the song switches momentum near the end of the song, man, it's just hard to sit still when listening to this song! It's a great one that my girlfriend and I just love to listen to together, it just packs so much energy."

"It is better than smoking a big joint. The rythym, the howling guitar, the beat, the lyrics. This song has it all."

"The instrumental part with the tempo-changes in this song is made in heaven; the best there is. Period."

"CCR's coolest long song IMO.  Love that neat little back-and-forth sounding guitar lick in the CCR recording when the song first transitions from the lyric part to the middle instrumental part; I've never heard John quite replicate that in his live versions of the song."

"So many great things in “just” one song. Woooo-oooo-oooo sounds are simply amazing. And it rocks like hell."

"The best rock song ever, especially the original CCR version."

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