"
Bad Moon Rising" is a
1969-Events:Perhaps the two most famous musical events of 1969 were concerts. At a Rolling Stones concert in Altamont, California, a fan was stabbed to death by Hells Angels, a biker gang that had been hired to provide security for the event. In retrospect, some commentators have concluded that the...
song by
Creedence Clearwater RevivalCreedence Clearwater Revival was an American rock band that gained popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a number of successful singles drawn from various albums....
, written by
John FogertyJohn Cameron Fogerty is an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his time with the swamp rock/roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a #1 solo recording artist. He was born in Berkeley, California and is the younger brother of Tom Fogerty...
. It was the lead single from their album
Green RiverGreen River is the third album by American band Creedence Clearwater Revival, released in 1969. In 2003, the album was ranked number 96 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.-Lodi:...
reaching #2 on the
Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday; while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
singles chart and #1 on the
UK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record industry. The full chart contains the top 200 singles based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 of this list...
for three weeks in September 1969.
The song has been recorded by at least 20 different artists, in styles that range from acoustic folk to reggae to psychedelic rock to zydeco.
Sonic YouthSonic Youth is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Mark Ibold and Steve Shelley ....
named
an entire albumBad Moon Rising is the second studio album by the American alternative rock band Sonic Youth, released on the New York independent record label Homestead Records in 1985. The album is loosely themed around the dark side of America, and includes references to obsession and insanity, Charles Manson,...
after it.
A common
mondegreenA mondegreen is the mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase, typically a standardized phrase such as a line in a poem or a lyric in a song, due to near homophony, in a way that yields a new meaning to the phrase...
of the last line is "There's a bathroom on the right".
"
Bad Moon Rising" is a
1969-Events:Perhaps the two most famous musical events of 1969 were concerts. At a Rolling Stones concert in Altamont, California, a fan was stabbed to death by Hells Angels, a biker gang that had been hired to provide security for the event. In retrospect, some commentators have concluded that the...
song by
Creedence Clearwater RevivalCreedence Clearwater Revival was an American rock band that gained popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a number of successful singles drawn from various albums....
, written by
John FogertyJohn Cameron Fogerty is an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his time with the swamp rock/roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a #1 solo recording artist. He was born in Berkeley, California and is the younger brother of Tom Fogerty...
. It was the lead single from their album
Green RiverGreen River is the third album by American band Creedence Clearwater Revival, released in 1969. In 2003, the album was ranked number 96 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.-Lodi:...
reaching #2 on the
Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday; while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
singles chart and #1 on the
UK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record industry. The full chart contains the top 200 singles based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 of this list...
for three weeks in September 1969.
The song has been recorded by at least 20 different artists, in styles that range from acoustic folk to reggae to psychedelic rock to zydeco.
Sonic YouthSonic Youth is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Mark Ibold and Steve Shelley ....
named
an entire albumBad Moon Rising is the second studio album by the American alternative rock band Sonic Youth, released on the New York independent record label Homestead Records in 1985. The album is loosely themed around the dark side of America, and includes references to obsession and insanity, Charles Manson,...
after it.
Common mondegreen
A common
mondegreenA mondegreen is the mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase, typically a standardized phrase such as a line in a poem or a lyric in a song, due to near homophony, in a way that yields a new meaning to the phrase...
of the last line is "There's a bathroom on the right". (The correct line is "There's a bad moon on the rise".) Fogerty himself has been known to occasionally substitute the "bathroom" version of the lyric as a joke during his live shows, including on his 1998 live album
Premonition.
Use in soundtracks
Recordings by CCR or other artists have been used in the soundtrack of many films, including
BladeBlade is a 1998 vampire action film starring Wesley Snipes and Stephen Dorff, loosely based on the published stories of the fictional Marvel Comics character Blade. It was directed by Stephen Norrington and written by David S. Goyer. Snipes plays the titular character, a vampire hunter who is...
;
An American Werewolf in LondonAn American Werewolf in London is a 1981 American-British comedy/horror film, written and directed by John Landis. It stars David Naughton, Griffin Dunne, and Jenny Agutter. The movie won the 1981 Saturn Award for Best Horror Film and an Academy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Makeup...
;
Sweet Home AlabamaSweet Home Alabama is a 2002 romantic comedy film directed by Andy Tennant and stars Reese Witherspoon, Josh Lucas, and Patrick Dempsey. The film was released on September 27, 2002.-Plot:...
;
My GirlMy Girl is a comedy-drama film released in 1991 that focuses on the coming-of-age of a young girl. It features Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, Macaulay Culkin and Anna Chlumsky in her feature film debut...
;
Twilight Zone: The MovieTwilight Zone: The Movie is a 1983 film produced by Steven Spielberg as a theatrical version of The Twilight Zone, a 1950s and 60s TV series created by Rod Serling. It starred Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Vic Morrow, Scatman Crothers, Kathleen Quinlan, and John Lithgow...
;
My Fellow AmericansMy Fellow Americans is a 1996 comedy film starring Jack Lemmon and James Garner as feuding ex-presidents. Dan Aykroyd, Lauren Bacall, John Heard, Wilford Brimley, Bradley Whitford and Jeff Yagher also appear in supporting performances...
;
Man of the HouseMan of the House is a 2005 comedy crime film starring Tommy Lee Jones as a Texas Ranger given the task protecting a group of cheerleaders, who have witnessed a murder. Much of the movie was shot in Austin, Texas on the University of Texas campus. The film co-stars Christina Milian, Heather Hays,...
;
Mr. WoodcockMr. Woodcock is a 2007 comedy directed by Craig Gillespie, and starring Seann William Scott, Billy Bob Thornton, Susan Sarandon, Amy Poehler, and Ethan Suplee. The film was released on September 14, 2007.-Plot:...
;
Shaun of the Dead (2004)Shaun of the Dead is a 2004 British romantic zombie comedy film directed by Edgar Wright, starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and written by Pegg and Wright....
. It has also appeared in many television programs such as the first season finale to "
SupernaturalThe term supernatural or supranatural pertains to an order of existence beyond the scientifically visible universe. Religious miracles are typically supernatural claims, as are spells and curses, divination, the belief that there is an afterlife for the dead, and innumerable others...
".