Bugs

For Jim’s Song Lyric Sunday the theme this week is Bugs. Not the cute bunny kind, but the creepy, crawly kind.

My choice is this song from Creedence Clearwater Revival off their fifth, and most popular, album, Cosmo’s Factory.

The original album version of Ramble Tamble is a little over seven minutes. The version I attached below is the radio edit of the song which brought it down to a tidy three and half minutes for AM radio play. The lyrics are intact and what was removed was about three minutes of a bluesy, trippy, instrumental jam and a really great guitar solo. The edit comes at the 1:55 minute mark. You can listen to the album cut HERE.

Radio edits were common way back when and I think the first song that didn’t get cut for airplay was The Beatles’ Hey Jude. Other notable songs that escaped the time edit were Stairway to Heaven and American Pie. Possibly the most notorious radio edit was Iron Butterfly’s In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. The album version was just over 17 minutes and filled the entire second side of the album; the single played on the radio was just under three minutes. Every once in a while stations would play the long version and it was probably during the DJ’s meal break.

I think I’m rambling.

Ramble Tamble is a rocking account of a guy who’s just trying to stay one step ahead of life. Considering the lyrics are as relevant today as they were when the album was released 51 years ago this past week, I’m not sure he made it.

Sadly, the band didn’t make it. Plagued by egos and artistic differences, the band broke up after only four years together. Lucky for us they left behind a string of amazing rock and roll that still sounds fresh today.

Move
Down the road I go
Move
Down the road I go

There’s mud in the water
Roach in the cellar
Bugs in the sugar
Mortgage on the home
Mortgage on the home

There’s garbage on the sidewalk
Highways in the backyard
Police on the corner
Mortgage on the car
Mortgage on the car

Move
Down the road I go

They’re sellin’ independence
Actors in the White House
Acid indigestion
Mortgage on my life
Mortgage on my life

Move
Down the road I go

Ramble tamble
Ramble tamble
Ramble tamble

Lyrics: John Fogerty