Sweet Hitch-Hiker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Sweet Hitch-Hiker" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Creedence Clearwater Revival | ||||
| from the album Mardi Gras | ||||
| B-side | "Door to Door" | |||
| Released | July 1971 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 2:59 | |||
| Label | Fantasy | |||
| Songwriter | John Fogerty | |||
| Producers | ||||
| Creedence Clearwater Revival singles chronology | ||||
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"Sweet Hitch-Hiker" is a song by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival. It was first released as a single in July 1971 and reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming their 9th and final top 10 hit. It was later included on the 1972 album Mardi Gras.
"Sweet Hitch-Hiker" was written by CCR frontman John Fogerty and tells the story of a freewheeling motorcyclist who crashes after being distracted by an attractive blonde hitch-hiker.[4] Biographer Hank Bordowitz speculates the song might have reflected on Fogerty's newfound freedom after separating from his wife.[5] The line "We could make music at the Greasy King" references a hamburger stand in the band's hometown of El Cerrito, California.[4] It was the band's first single recorded without rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty, who had left the group in early 1971 after the completion of their album Pendulum.[6]
After the expiration of Fogerty's previous unfavorable publishing deal with Fantasy Records, "Sweet Hitch-Hiker" was the first of only two CCR singles whose publishing he owned, a fact he reflected upon bitterly in his autobiography.[7] The single's B-side, bassist Stu Cook's "Door to Door," was the product of the band's democratic decision-making after the departure of Tom Fogerty, where all members would write and sing their own material. Fogerty wrote that the "results were, to put it mildly, underwhelming."[8]
Reception
The single peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 36 on the Record Retailer UK Singles Chart.[9]
Bordowitz called "Sweet Hitch-Hiker" a "classic John Fogerty stomper," while Michael Oldfield, reviewing Mardi Gras for Melody Maker, called it "the only cut [on the album] which sounds like Creedence."[10]
