1969 Rock Song Inspired by a Hurricane Movie Scene Remains a Timeless Classic 57 Years Later
There's no doubt that Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) is responsible for some of rock music's most enduring classics. But given the popularity of the band, which reached its height of success in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s and charted in the Top 10 with over a dozen singles before disbanding in 1972, it's puzzling to learn that all of their biggest hits fell short of the top spot in the U.S.
Such is the case with their beloved song, "Bad Moon Rising" - a song which features dark, ominous lyrics over a fun and catchy beat and a guitar riff borrowed from the Elvis Presley classic, "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone."
Released on April 16, 1969, the tune climbed all the way to the No. 2 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, getting blocked only by Henry Mancini's "Love Theme From Romeo and Juliet." At the time, "Bad Moon Rising," from the band's Green River album, which topped the Billboard 200 chart, had arrived following the success of previous releases like "Proud Mary" and "Born on the Bayou."
But that rise didn't stop them from feeling the pressure to land another hit.
"In those days, you put out singles every few weeks, so when ‘Proud Mary' was on the radio I knew we had to write the next one," CCR's lead vocalist John Fogerty, who penned the tune, said, according to Classic Rock.
"I'd come up with the chords and melody," he recalls, "and I got the phrase ‘bad moon rising' from this little book I'd kept song titles in since 1967. I didn't even know what it meant, I just liked how the words sounded."
Further explaining the story behind the song, Fogerty said he drew inspiration from a hurricane scene in the 1941 classic film The Devil and Daniel Webster, which tells the story of a down-on-his-luck character who sells his soul to the Devil.
"The scene I liked is where there's a devastating hurricane; furniture, trees, houses, everything's blowing around," Forgerty confirmed. "That story and that look really stuck in my mind, and they were the germ for the song."
Since its release, "Bad Moon Rising" has gone on to become a summertime anthem that ranked on notable lists, including Rolling Stone's 2010 ranked list of "500 Greatest Songs of All Time." Throughout the years, the timeless classic has also been covered and recorded by at least 20 different artists from across genres.
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This story was originally published June 4, 2026 at 4:18 PM.