A Very Powerful Spell

When I was a kid, one of the first bands I really latched onto was Creedence Clearwater Revival...I guess it was a combination of that swamp-rock sound, John Fogerty's swampy, yet ferverent voice, and, more than anything else, some damn good songwriting. Oddly, I started with the lesser-known Pendulum album - I guess because it was their most current release when I started buying albums...of course, having heard some of their better-known tracks on good ol' AM top 40 radio, I had to go out and scarf up their previous output in short order. I was constantly begging my mom to stop by any number of Southern California record shops whenever we were out running errands. More often than not, I was rebuffed, but after I discovered that my mom had developed a crush on one Mr. John Fogerty, it got that much easier to cajole her into letting me spend some (usually quite considerable) time in a record store - all I had to do was tell her I wanted another Creedence record.

After I started delving into the Creedence back catalog, I soon discovered that one of their most compelling tunes was a cover of the Screamin' Jay Hawkins classic, 'I Put a Spell On You'. The intensity in Fogerty's vocals was almost a little frightening to an 11-year-old kid...in a GOOD way....

Later I discoverd the superb Screamin' Jay version, along with a plethora of other covers 'I Put a Spell....' Actually, I now have a version of '...Spell...' that I prefer to CCR's AND Screamin' Jay's...I'll save that for another post....