Lyric discussion by Tripike 

Cover art for Proud Mary lyrics by Creedence Clearwater Revival

I know that lots of people are thinking about drogs, but I am not. I think it is about people who change their life immediately, because they just fed up with their stressful and slavish lifestyle. It doesn't matter if the "man" is a lover or your boss, you have to leave it if it has bad effect on you. They change everything and jump on Proud Mary's boat what is actually burning. Despite that they don't care at that point of their life, because they have to step into some risky situations to get out from this boring and bad period. And since the boat is keep on burning, they really need to be brave and left everything behind from this negative environment. The river is their lifeline and on this river they "don't have to worry", because a lots of nicer people waiting for them in the future. The song starts slow and then it is getting crazier and more rough. I think, this is the process how we start to hesitate about things and after that we just do it strong and confident (especially in the Tina Turner version). I love this song, it can help a lot in different situations in my life. So what we have to do is to "rolling and rolling" on this river.....