'Things got bad and things got worse. I guess you know the tune.'
Creedence were criticised at the time and have been ever since for being repetitive, samey. I guess if you listen through to their albums there is a point to be made. But the songs I've written about thus far from this hits album have successively drawn their inspiration from Rockabilly, Rock and Roll, Rock Music, Soul, music and here with Lodi. pure Country.They had strings to their bow.
'On “Lodi”, I saw a much older person than I was, ’cause it is sort of a tragic telling. A guy is stuck in a place where people really don’t appreciate him. Since I was at the beginning of a good career, I was hoping that that wouldn’t happen to me. '
Some song for a twenty three year old. This one is life viewed from the bottom of a glass. Pure self-pity, never the greatest subject matter for Rock and Roll but the very lifeblood of blue collar Country Music which the band was also steeped in. The song is about a down on his heels musician and the place he winds up in. A kind of imagined, Earthly purgatory for those without the talent or luck to back up their dreams. In this case in a nondescript, and real town in San Joaquin County, California.
Fogerty had apparently never actually visited the place and picked it because its name sounded right which it very much does. Lodi itself has understandably made the most of what potentially could come across as a snub and uses the song's kiss off line 'Oh lord, I'm stuck in old Lodi again....' as its calling card and tourist catchphrase. It's in the heart of Californian wine country and looks like a good place for a Sideways stop judging by its Wikipedia page.Not as bad as Fogerty paints it. He was really, surely only after the name.
More than any song I can think of, this describes a depressed, defeated mindset. Its lyric is clearly not about John Fogerty himself who had talent to burn and knew it. A great writer, (which Fogerty surely was in addition to his skills as a musician), draws ruthlessly on the material around him and you have to wonder who exactly he had in mind for his model for this one. The tale of a mid-grade musician hitting a brick wall might apply to a greater extent to his bandmates and what might have happened to them had they not met him. The more I read of them researching this, they, particularly Cook and Clifford, come across as waspish and mean-spirited in their attitude to Fogerty, certainly never quite appreciative of the talent they hitched themselves a ride with at High School and the life his abilities and drive allowed them despite the graft they obviously put in themselves and their own talents. Perhaps I'm being harsh. In any case, the Creedence story would make a great, tragic American novel or movie. All life is there.
Still, who's to know the truth about musicians relationships with one another, both as musicians but also as people. Most long-serving bands generally come across as doomed, dysfunctional marriages to a lesser or greater degree. This one more perhaps than any other. Ultimately, Creedence's story will always be most of all about the music. And that's as should be. In any case, another beautifully crafted moment. A narrative, done and dusted in three and a half minutes and twenty eight lines. Not an inch of fat on this one, no repetition or chorus either. The B Side to Bad Moon Rising. Its lyrics speak for themselves.
'Just about a year ago
I set out on the road
Seekin' my fame and fortune
Lookin' for a pot of gold
Things got bad and things got worse
I guess you know the tune
Oh Lord, stuck in Lodi again
Rode in on the Greyhound
I'll be walkin' out if I go
I was just passin' through
Must be seven months or more
Ran out of time and money
Looks like they took my friends
Oh Lord, I'm stuck in Lodi again
A man from the magazine
Said I was on my way
Somewhere I lost connections
Ran out of songs to play
I came into town, a one night stand
Looks like my plans fell through
Oh Lord, stuck in Lodi again
If I only had a dollar
For every song I've sung
Every time I had to play
While people sat there drunk
You know, I'd catch the next train
Back to where I live
Oh Lord, stuck in a Lodi again
Oh Lord, I'm stuck in a Lodi again'
Songwriters
JOHN C. FOGERTY
Published by
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC GROUP, INC
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