“If I was a gambling man,
never would have let you play your hand
with the broken down cowboy like me
Cos you never can trust your luck
he’s bad news in a pickup truck
a broken down cowboy like me…”

I typically use this weekly spot to share a new and obscure single that I’ve stumbled on somewhere and to establish my indie rock blogger credibility. I’m throwing that out the window this week to pay some respect to an old fogey – or an old Fogerty to be more accurate. Former Creedence leader John Fogerty has a new record out and Word Magazine featured one of the singles – “Broken Down Cowboy”.

My Dad was a big Creedence Clearwater Revival fan and so I listened to and learned a lot of Creedence songs growing up. Since I left home at 18, I’ve pretty much always had my own copy of “Chronicle” in various formats. I never really explored CCR beyond that (I may have owned a copy of “Green River” for a little while) but the roots brand of California rock that they did so wonderfully has been with me all my adult life. I certainly never bought one of John Fogerty’s solo albums and am not be likely to buy “Revival” – his new one and the source of this track. It’s not that I don’t like Fogerty, I just think his best work was with CCR. At any rate, when I heard “Broken Down Cowboy” today it reminded me of Fogerty at his best – its got the swampy feel of “I Put a Spell On You” and “Green River” with an acceptance of getting older. It’s a little bit cheesy as 70’s vintage roots rock should be.

As a bonus today, in honor of game seven of the ALCS, I thought I would throw in Fogerty’s testimony to the American past time, “Centerfield”. I’ve loved this song since it was used in “Bull Durham” – probably the best baseball movie of all time. I’m pretty sure Crash Davis would pull for Cleveland.

John Fogerty’s “Revival” and other albums, including CCR, are available from Amazon and John Fogerty. Buying music supports artists.

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