Tina Turner – Proud Mary

“Proud Mary” Single by Tina Turner from the album What’s Love Got to Do with It released on November 19, 1993.

Ike & Tina Turner released “Proud Mary” in January 1971 as the second single from their 1970 album Workin’ Together. Their rendition differs greatly from the structure of the original, but is also well-known and has become one of Tina Turner’s most recognizable signature songs.

According to Tina, Ike was not keen on the original version, but the cover of “Proud Mary” by the Checkmates, Ltd. piqued his interest. Ike and Tina Turner’s version was substantially rearranged by Ike Turner and Soko Richardson. The song starts off with a slow, sultry soulful tone in which Tina introduces the song and warns the audience that she and the band are gonna start it off “nice and easy” as “we never do nothing nice and easy” but say they would finish it “nice and rough”. After the lyrics are first sung softly by the Turners, the song is then turned into a funk rock vamp with Tina and the Ikettes delivering gospel-influenced vocals.

The single peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on March 27, 1971, two years after the original by Creedence Clearwater Revival was at its peak. It also reached No. 5 on the Billboard R&B chart, and earned the duo a Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Group in 1972.

Ike and Tina first performed a version of the song on Playboy After Dark on December 3, 1969; episode aired on February 3, 1970. They also performed it on The Ed Sullivan Show on January 11, 1970, in the film It’s Your Thing (1970), and on Soul Train on April 22, 1972.  The song became a staple in all of their live shows. Live versions of the song were released on the albums Live at Carnegie Hall (1971) and Live In Paris (1971).

The song continued to be an essential part of Tina Turner’s performances. In 1988, a live version was included on the album Tina Live in Europe. In the biopic What’s Love Got to Do with It, the song is performed in a timeline of events in Ike and Tina Turner’s career in which the couple are transformed from an opening act for the Rolling Stones to a major headlining act in the 1970s. Tina re-recorded the song for the biopic’s 1993 soundtrack album of the same name. This track was released as a promotional single issued to radio stations and DJs. Tina Turner’s solo performance was later included on her 2004 greatest hits album All the Best. After a contestant’s take on the song on The X Factor in 2010, it entered the UK Singles Chart at No. 62 and fell to No. 121 the next week; it also entered the Scottish Singles Chart at No. 40. Another live version was released in 2009 on the Tina Live album. It was recorded on March 21, 2009, in Arnhem, Netherlands as part of Turner’s 50th Anniversary Tour. Tina also performed duets of “Proud Mary” with Beyoncé and Cher.

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Tina Turner - Proud Mary

Tina Turner - Proud Mary - Live Wembley (2000)09:32

Tina Turner - Proud Mary (Live from Arnhem, Netherlands)09:51

Back-up members:

• Chuck O”Steen – keyboards
• Jim Ralston – Guitar
• Bob Feit – Bass
• Jack Bruno – Drums
• Kenny Moore – Piano, Vocas
• Lejeune Richardson – Back up vocals
• Ann Behringer – Back up vocals

Lyrics:
Left a good job in the city
Workin’ for the man ev’ry night and day
And I never lost one minute of sleepin’
Worryin’ ’bout the way things might have been

Big wheel keep on turnin’
Proud Mary keep on burnin’
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on the river

Cleaned a lot of plates in Memphis
Pumped a lot of pane down in New Orleans
But I never saw the good side of the city
‘Til I hitched a ride on a river boat queen

Big wheel keep on turnin’
Proud Mary keep on burnin’
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on the river
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on the river

If you come down to the river
Bet you gonna find some people who live
You don’t have to worry ’cause you have [if you got] no money
People on the river are happy to give

Big wheel keep on turnin’
Proud Mary keep on burnin’
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on the river
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on the river

Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on the river
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on the river
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on the river

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: John Cameron Fogerty
Proud Mary lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Concord Music Publishing LLC, Royalty Network, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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