The phrase "Proud Mary" reminded John Fogerty of a domestic washerwoman, which is what he started writing the song about. When he wrote the music, the first few chords reminded him of a paddle-wheel going around, and he thought of the Mississippi River. Instead of "Proud Mary" being a clean-up lady, "she" became a boat.

It's a CCR kind of week. I recently went to a clogging class with my daughter and they were clogging to Bad Moon. It was fantastic.