The song "Proud Mary" was written by John Fogerty of American roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival. The song is about an old steamboat on the Mississippi River -- typically "down home" lyrics like so many songs by CCR. Over the years the song has been covered by various artists. The version of Ike & Tina Turner is something special, because it contains a spoken word intro by Tina Turner as a slow opening -- only to become a typically wild and energetic Ike & Tina Turner tune.
Also much has been said about the lyrics of the song. The original line "... pumped a lot of pain in New Orleans" by Fogerty was interpreted by Tina Turner as "... pumped a lot of 'tane ..." -- referring to "octane". A famous example for a type of "mondegreen" in song lyrics ...
Lyrics
You know
Every now and then I think you might like to hear something from us nice, easy
There's just one thing
You see we never ever do nothing nice, easy
We always do it nice and rough
And we're gonna take the beginning of this song and do it easy
But then we're gonna do the finish rough
That's the way we do
Proud Mary
Left a good job down in the city
Workin' for the Man every night and day
But I never lost one minute of sleepin'
I was worryin' 'bout the way things might have been
Big wheel keep on turnin'
Proud Mary keep on burnin'
And we're rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river
Listen to the story
Left a good job down in the city
Workin' for the Man every night and day
And I never lost one minute of sleepin'
And I was worryin' 'bout the way that things might have been
You know that big wheel keep on turnin'
Proud Mary keep on burnin'
And we're rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river
Cleaned a lot of plates in Memphis
You know I pumped a lot of 'tane down in New Orleans
But I never saw the good side of the city
Until I hitched a ride on the river boat queen
You know that big wheel keep on turnin'
Proud Mary keep on burnin'
And we're rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river
We're rolling on the river
Say we're rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river,
We're rolling on the river
I left a good job in the city
Workin' for the Man every night and day
And I never lost a 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
Say we're rollin', we're rollin', rollin' on the river
Alright
Oh, I cleaned a lot of plates in Memphis
And I pumped a lot of 'tane down in New Orleans
But I never saw the good side of a city
'Til I hitched a ride on the riverboat queen
Big wheel keep on turnin'
Proud Mary keep on burnin'
And we're rollin', so we're rollin', we're rollin' on the river
I tell you we're rollin', rollin', we're rollin' on the river
Alright
If you come down to the river
I bet you're gonna find some people who live
And you don't have to worry if you got no money
People on the river are happy to give
Big wheel keep on turnin'
Proud Mary keep on burnin'
And we're rollin', and we're rollin', and we're rollin' on the river
Tell me one more time
Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river
Alright
Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river
Alright then
We're rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river
So we're rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river
I tell you we're rollin', we're rollin', we're rollin' on the river
Alright