Codes and Lyrics

One of my fondest concert memories was seeing John Fogerty live at South Street Seaport,www.southstreetseaport.com in Manhattan, summer of 2009. John Fogerty, FYI, was the force behind Creedence Clearwater Revival in the 70′s. That August night, Fogerty and his group of musicians, brought some of the greatest rock songs ever written to life, including Proud Mary, Run Through the Jungle, and Born on the Bayou. My favorite moment, however, was during his rendition of Bad Moon Rising. South Street Seaport has a public restroom located to the left of the main stage, but, obviously, if you are on stage facing the audience, the restroom is located to the right. During the final chorus of the song, John pointed to the restroom and, in the place of “There’s a bad moon on the rise”, he sang, “There’s a bathroom on the right”. Of course, to everyone in the audience, there was a bathroom on the left, so it took a few moments before the joke sank in. Before long, everyone laughed and applauded. It was a perfect rock ‘n’ roll moment. That he could notice this interesting coincidence and poke fun at his own song speaks to the genius of John Fogerty.