Music Notes

Down on the Corner

My thirteenth track is another CCR, as a defunct band. I had a hard time deciding between this one and Looking Out My Back Door, as I have fond memories of and enjoy them both, but I settled on Down on the Corner, which was released in 1969 on their album Willie and the Poor Boys.

It tells a folksy tale of a family street band… now that I think of it, John Fogarty may have been inspired by the old song "Johnny Morgan played the organ." Reading the Wikipedia   page, I see he rather got the idea from Winnie the Pooh, which he declared to be his favorite character. Hey, Pooh Bear is mine as well

Mom played it often, and it became part of my childhood in Tennessee. I enjoyed it, despite not knowing most of the lyrics. As an adult, I find it to be the kind of song where the words don't matter so much as the music. I love getting lost in the flow of the melody.

Down on the Corner became such an instantly recognizable American classic, that Walgreens sampled the music for a series of radio commercials they ran in 2012 or so, much to my youthful delight. It tied into their slogan: "on the corner of happy and healthy."

The comments under the YouTube audio I chose are amusing… one person said "I'm thirty years old, a native English speaker, and I can only understand about thirty percent of the lyrics." I thought I was the only person who had no idea what John's saying. Another person remarked, "Walgreens ruined this song." Honestly, I didn't think anyone else noticed or remembered they used it.

What can I say? It's a favorite of mine. Enjoy

Words: 304.