Review by J. Fogerty
By the time I was 22, I realized I wanted to use imagery and write about things, rather than love songs. "Porterville" was the first example of that. I was real excited about "Porterville," which I worked on while I was marching around in the Army, when you get into that semi-hallucinatory state, marching day after day in the heat. While "Porterville" isn't a very good track or a very good record it's a pretty good song. I actually wrote it before I named it. I'd heard somebody say the name of the city a couple of times. You'll notice in the song, I never say the name of any particular place, one of those things you can do in rock n roll. "Porterville" is filled with teenage angst, a kid having to deal with paying the debt his parentage had laid on him. It's about not wanting to be in the town where you live, wanting to get away. As a songwriter, "Porterville" led me to where I was going, writing with imagery that could be deemed powerful, where you steer the listener into the right direction with a few of your own images, and off they go, completely on their own. It's a little like being a guide.
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19.03.2002, 19:09
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