Or, if not a she, then what is and why does it? Didn’t find the answer in a short search of the web.
She is a riverboat. Google for Creedence Clearwater Revival, that might help.
I kind of suspected that, or that she was some part of a river boat, like the smoke stack or something. But why does she keep on burning. BTW - didn’t Tina Turner (or Ike and Tina) make the song famous first? I did google proud mary and tina turner, and found the lyrics several places, but there was no discussion of what Proud Mary actually was.
Well, if she dosen’t keep on burnin’, then they’ll have to row all the way to St. Louis, and that’s gonna hurt in the morning…
You should probably email a mod to get this moved to Cafe Society, rather than General Questions.
CCR made it famous first,John Fogarty wrote it.
Big wheel keep on turning,–this of course is the steamboat’s paddle wheel
Proud Mary keep on burning,–as in, burning coal in your engine room so you can keep moving, which could be described as:
Rolling, rolling, rolling on the river.
Note the lyric is “keep on burning,” not “keeps on burning.” Whether Fogarty meant “keeps” (declarative) or “keep” (imperative), I dunno.
Speculation on Fogarty’s grammar is probably futile.
“He take the thunder from the mountain, he take the lightning from the sky,
He bring the strong man to his begging knee, he make the young girl’s mama cry.”
“Look at me, I can be Centerfield.”
“Jody fell out of his tractor, couldn’t b’lieve what he seen.”
Just for the record: it’s spelled Foggerty.
I’d always heard that Proud Mary was marijuana.
Close, but there’s only one ‘g’. Fogerty.
Proud Mary entire is at:
<http://home.wanadoo.nl/hotitem/lyricsproudmary.html>
excerpt
Claimed a lot of plates in Memphis
Pumped a lot of thains down in new Orleans
What I never saw the good side of the city
And did I hitch the ride on the riverboat Queen
Big wheel keep on turning
Proud Mary keep on burning
And we’re rolling, rolling yeah, rolling on the river
Said we’re rolling, rolling, rolling on the river
i thought it was
cleaned a lot of plates in memphis (dishwasher)
pumped a lot of 'tane down in new orleans (gas station attendent)
etc…
“Pumped a lot of thains?” - Tolkienist pornography, anyone?
These are closer to the Creedence version:
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/c/creedence-clearwater-revival/34308.html
Tina Turner changed it a bit when she covered it, IIRC.
I honestly thought it was "…keep on toynin’ "…boynin’
Silly me.
Pumped a lot of pane down in New Orleans
Propane, you yutzes! Propane!
Off to Cafe Society.
bibliophage
moderator GQ
According to this site ( http://www.chron.com/cgi-bin/auth/story.mpl/content/chronicle/features/hoffman/hoffman97/hoffman0530.html ), it’s “pain.”
*Here’s the correct lyric, straight from the writer John Fogerty:
“Sometimes I write words to songs because they sound cool to sing. Sometimes the listener doesn’t understand what I’m singing because I’m dedicated to singing the vowel, having fun with the word sounds coming out of my mouth. Cleaned a lot of plates in Memphis, pumped a lot of pain down in New Orleans,' is a good example. I think Tina Turner sang tane’ instead of `pain,’ as in a contracted form of octane. But I knew what she meant,” Fogerty said.*
It would be nice if there were an explanation of what “pumping pain” means, or a reassurance that the above was written by Fogerty rather than spoken by him. I can’t help but suspect it was “'pane,” misunderstood by a clueless reporter to be “pain.”
Creedence Online ( http://www.creedence-online.net/lyrics/proud_mary.php ) also has “pain.” It looks like an “official” site, but I’m not sure I would know how to tell that.
If the above are correct, what does it mean to “pump pain?”
Maybe he meant he did a lot of acid … WINDOWpane, man …
Actually, “pumping 'pane” makes the most sense, but I seem to recall seeing it written “pain” in commercial songbooks.
how about “pumping 'tang”?