Lyric discussion by msgelter 

Cover art for Proud Mary lyrics by Creedence Clearwater Revival

Okay, boys and girls, once again we are arguing over something that has already been published numerous times. First, the lyric is "pumped alot of 'TANE", refering to pumping gas. And John Fogerty has said that he was working on three songs at the same time, "Proud Mary", about a washer woman, "Riverboat", and "Rollin' on the River". The three ended up blending into each other, and "Proud Mary" became the name of the riverboat. Period. That's all there is, no drugs, just living on the river. Fogerty dicussed this at length in an interview with Jay Leno several years ago, and it's all been published.

he may have said that it had nothing to do with weed at the time, but at the time of his writing it im sure that all the references to weed had to have come from somewhere, maybe he used it as an analogy like how its really about him goin on a riverboat and shit, but the weed references are clearly there and i think if he came out and said that it was actually about leaving work and getting high and "rollin down the river" with other pothead friends of his, then people would be hard pressed to...

he may have said that it had nothing to do with weed at the time, but at the time of his writing it im sure that all the references to weed had to have come from somewhere, maybe he used it as an analogy like how its really about him goin on a riverboat and shit, but the weed references are clearly there and i think if he came out and said that it was actually about leaving work and getting high and "rollin down the river" with other pothead friends of his, then people would be hard pressed to...

@msgelter fogery said "pane" Propane drivers pump a lot of propane.

Tina changed it to "tane" go figure!