Giving the songs about "bayous, swamps and juke joints" another chance

My jazz-loving dad's second-favorite rock band -- after THE BEATLES -- were a Bay Area combo that I could never appreciate.

CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL are duly famous, with five No. 2 singles and albums such as "Bayou Country" that are regarded as classics.

I never connected with them, in part because I couldn't understand how songwriter JOHN FOGERTY could pen songs about bayous, swamps and juke joints.

I grew up in the same East Bay/Contra Costa County region Fogerty did, and I don't remember any bayous, swamps and juke joints.

Recently, I read an interview with Fogerty that prompted me to give the band another chance.

Fogerty claimed his El Cerrito, Calif., hometown was so boring that he created an imaginary, mythic "South" full of the bayous, swamps and juke joints that later populated his songs.

I had always considered Fogerty a little false. Now, I have a better idea about what he aimed for with his songs.
I'll listen to Creedence today and tomorrow, and see if my opinion of them changes.