10 Upbeat Rock Songs With Darker Meanings
5. Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival (1969)
Is there a jauntier more feel good tune than Bad Moon Rising?
Only, Looking Out My Back Door could be a contender, all you have to do is watch these few seconds from The Big Lebowski to understand what the appropriate reaction is to any of Creedence Clearwater Revival's music.
Despite the feel good nature to this track however, the lyrics speak of a coming apocalypse that will soon be visited on all of humankind...
John Fogerty wrote and released the song in 1969. It was a time when America was brimming with political and social unrest. With the struggle for civil rights and the constant broadcasts of a barbaric and unwinnable war, America must have felt like it was ready to implode (not much has changed it would seem).
Despite the song not directly referencing any of these issues, it speaks about coming natural disasters, hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes, all leading to one hell of a contrast to the twangy guitar parts and optimistic sound of Fogerty's vocal delivery.
Given the context of other Creedence songs at the time, Fortunate Son for example, which openly opposed the Vietnam War, it's clear everything going on in that period had left singer John Fogerty with a fairly pessimistic outlook...