I Can Find My Way Home: “Lookin’ Out My Back Door”/”Long As I Can See The Light” by Creedence Clearwater Revival

I’m not really sure how or why CCR managed five number two singles; there is an apocryphal tale about the then publisher of Billboard having a beef with the people in charge of Fantasy Records and vowing that never would something on Fantasy be number one in his charts but that has yet to be substantiated. Still, this is their final appearance in this list, and I’m going to miss them – I’ve got used to their being regulars here.

I don’t need to say too much about either of these songs as I previously wrote about both of them in the context of their parent album. Suffice it to say that the pair present a pretty fair picture of the Creedence experience in précis; “Back Door” is a knockabout rockabilly rave-up for (John Fogerty’s) kids which cites Buck Owens, while “Light” may be the band’s own “Let It Be,” a patient and optimistic farewell, Fogerty’s wavering vocal contrasting nicely with his own doleful saxophone playing. I remember walking down towards Gloucester Green bus station in Oxford early one May day morning in the late nineties to catch the coach to London (and go to work); the students were already swarming peacefully in the streets for their traditional dip in the river. I had a Walkman on and was listening to the local radio station (Oxygen FM as it was then called); it was playing Monkey Mafia’s ambient dance/big beat cover of “Long As I Can See The Light” and I felt that all was right and good with the world. That is the same feeling with which Creedence Clearwater Revival leave us.

Date Record Made Number Two: 3 October 1970

Number Of Weeks At Number Two: 1

Record At Number One: “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Diana Ross

UK Chart Position: 20 (only “Long As I Can See The Light” listed as an A-side)