Lodi (Creedence Clearwater Revival song)

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"Lodi"
Lodi label.jpeg
Single by Creedence Clearwater Revival
from the album Green River
A-side "Bad Moon Rising"
ReleasedApril 1969 (1969-04)
RecordedMarch 1969, Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco
Genre
Length3:10
Label Fantasy
Songwriter(s) John Fogerty
Producer(s) John Fogerty

"Lodi" is a song written by John Fogerty and performed by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Recorded in March 1969, it was released in April, four months before the album, as the B-side of "Bad Moon Rising", the lead single from Green River. [4]

Contents

Background

The song describes the plight of a down-and-out musician whose career has landed him playing gigs in the town of Lodi, California. After playing in local bars, the narrator finds himself stranded and unable to raise bus or train fare to leave. [4] John Fogerty explained the song's genesis in his autobiography:

"Lodi" was just a title for a long time. The inspiration was those trips with my dad to those small towns in central California, a place that I felt very warm and special about ... Somehow I got the idea of a traveling musician, probably a country guy, but older. A guy whose career is in the rearview mirror. The kicker is, "Oh Lord, stuck in Lodi...again!" That "Oh Lord" tells you how he feels. I was twenty-three writing this song, a very young man who'd just had a million-selling single ["Proud Mary"] all over the radio. That has nothing to do with the well you are drawing from when doing your craft. [5]

Fogerty also said, "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." [6]

Fogerty later said he had never actually visited Lodi before writing the song, and simply picked it for the song because it had "the coolest sounding name." [7] The song's chorus, "Oh Lord, stuck in Lodi again," has been the theme of several city events in Lodi. [7]

The song's arrangement includes a key change in the final verse, emphasizing the melancholy drama of the lyric "If I only had a dollar for every song I sung..." [4]

Reception

Billboard described the single as having "an easy beat," being as powerful as its flip side "Bad Moon Rising" and as having a similar feel to Creedence Clearwater Revival's earlier single "Proud Mary." [8] Cash Box similarly described it as "powerhouse material" that is similar to and as strong as the group's previous single "Proud Mary." [9]

Cover version

In 1969, soul singer Al Wilson released a cover of "Lodi" that peaked at No. 67 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. and No. 51 in Canada. [10] [11] [12]

Certifications

Certifications for "Lodi"
RegionCertification Certified units/sales
New Zealand (RMNZ) [13] Gold15,000‡
United States (RIAA) [14] Gold500,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ↑ "The 25 best country rock songs of all time". Classic Rock Magazine . August 5, 2016. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
  2. ↑ Marsh, Dave (1989). The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. Plume. p. 527. ISBN   0-452-26305-0.
  3. ↑ Segretto, Mike (2022). "1969". 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Minute - A Critical Trip Through the Rock LP Era, 1955–1999. Backbeat. pp. 205–206. ISBN   9781493064601.
  4. 1 2 3 Janovitz, Bill. "Lodi". AllMusic . Retrieved November 21, 2012.
  5. ↑ Fogerty, John; McDonough, Jimmy (2015). Fortunate Son: My Life, My Music. New York: Little, Brown. p. 169. ISBN   978-0-316-35189-8.
  6. ↑ "Fogerty's Guide to Creedence Clearwater Revival". Johnfogerty.com. Archived from the original on December 31, 2012. Retrieved November 21, 2012.
  7. 1 2 Farrow, Ross. "Residents are proud to be 'Stuck in Lodi'". Lodi News-Sentinel . Archived from the original on October 31, 2006. Retrieved June 7, 2007.
  8. ↑ "Spotlight Singles" (PDF). Billboard. April 26, 1969. p. 82. Retrieved February 20, 2021.
  9. ↑ "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. April 26, 1969. p. 22. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  10. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2013). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955–2012. Record Research. p. 918.
  11. ↑ "RPM Top 100 Singles - September 27, 1969" (PDF).
  12. ↑ Perrone, Pierre (April 24, 2008). "Al Wilson: Expressive singer of 'The Snake'". The Independent . Retrieved April 29, 2025.
  13. ↑ "New Zealand single certifications – Creedence Clearwater Revival – Lodi". Radioscope. Retrieved July 17, 2025.Type Lodi in the "Search:" field.
  14. ↑ "American single certifications – Creedence Clearwater Revival – Lodi". Recording Industry Association of America . Retrieved June 12, 2025.
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