Bad Moon Rising (1969) – Creedence Clearwater Revival

The scene of the American’s (Dave) conversion to a werewolf (with Creedence’s Bad Moon Rising) is both terrifying and a technical marvel. It is said the real star of this film is the Oscar-winning transformation effects by Rick Baker, who changed the face of horror makeup in the 1980s. Also the whole music soundtrack is dedicated to the ‘Moon’.

– An American Werewolf in London (1981) – John Landis (Friday’s Finest)

Creedence Clearwater Revival have a sense of impending doom on their 1969 hit “Bad Moon Rising.” The song was the lead single from Creedence Clearwater Revival’s third studio album, Green River. The song reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in September 1969.

Lead singer and songwriter John Fogerty told Team Rock that the name “Bad Moon Rising” came from a book of song titles that he kept. he said, “I didn’t even know what it meant, I just liked how the words sounded.” The lyrics were inspired by a 1941 black-and-white film Fogerty had watched called The Devil and Daniel Webster. He said:

The scene I liked is where there’s a devastating hurricane; furniture, trees, houses, everything’s blowing around. That story and that look really stuck in my mind and they were the germ for the song.

[Verse 1]
I see the bad moon arising
I see trouble on the way
I see earthquakes and lightnin’
I see bad times today

[Chorus]
Don’t go around tonight
Well, it’s bound to take your life
There’s a bad moon on the rise

[Verse 2]
I hear hurricanes a-blowing
I know the end is coming soon
I fear rivers overflowing
I hear the voice of rage and ruin

[Chorus]
Don’t go around tonight
Well, it’s bound to take your life
There’s a bad moon on the rise
All right

Fogerty allegedly wrote the song the same day Richard Nixon was elected president—he denies the song has a political subtext. However, the song still became an anthem both for troops in Vietnam and anti-war protestors across the country. Fogerty acknowledges the song’s political undercurrent:

The song was a metaphor. I wasn’t just writing about the weather. The times seemed to be in turmoil. Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy had been assassinated. I knew it was a tumultuous time.

References:
1. Bad Moon Rising – Wikipedia
2. Bad Moon Rising Lyrics – Genius