Flashback: Creedence Play ‘Born on the Bayou’ at Woodstock
Creedence Clearwater Revival are once again at war with each other. The issue stems from John Fogerty’s comments to the press condemning bassist Stu Cook and drummer Doug Clifford for touring under the name Creedence Clearwater Revisited, which they claim is a violation of a longstanding legal agreement.
“Using the name is sort of sacrilege to what we believed when we were young guys in a band together,” Fogerty said in 2011. “But you know, I don’t sit around and worry about it too much.”
A few years ago Fogerty spoke about the slim possibility of a reunion with Cook and Clifford, but that seems pretty unlikely now. So let’s take a look back to the peak of the group’s popularity in 1969, when they landed a Saturday night slot at Woodstock sandwiched between the Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin. They played an 11-song set, but many people don’t even realize they were there because they didn’t appear in the original movie or on the soundtrack.
“Fogerty decided we didn’t need to be in that movie,” Cook said in 2013. “We were already number one in his mind. There were probably no great performances [at Woodstock.] But in our set I think we probably played 75, 80 percent on the money. We definitely should have been included in the film. It was a huge mistake.”
Judge for yourself how well Creedence played at Woodstock by watching their performance of “Born on the Bayou.” Sadly, it’s probably as close as you’re likely to get to ever seeing them play together again.