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-   -   the meaning of the song LODI (http://www.creedence-online.net/forum/showthread.php?t=219)

pat 25.03.2005 21:59

I know that there are a few towns in The US with the name LODI - but what does he mean when he sings "stuck in a Lodi again" ? is it a snipe at the small town that he is currently in and calling it Lodi?

Anonymous 27.03.2005 00:25

On one of the live CD's of the CCR box JF mentions that the song is "a sad, sad song about a bad, bad photographer" although I cannot see how it relates to the lyrics as it is more suited to himself

Seekin' my fame and fortune, lookin' for a pot of gold.

Somewhere I lost connections, ran out of songs to play.

If I only had a dollar, for ev'ry song I've sung.
And ev'ry time I've had to play while people sat there drunk. [I always thought he sang while people sat their throne - equally suitable IMHO]

One line has always confused me tho:

Rode in on the greyhound, I’ll be walkin’ out if I go.

Is the greyhound a metaphor or a dub for a transport system?

Lodi:
A city of central California north of Stockton. It is a processing center in a rich farming area. Population: 51,874

Anonymous 29.03.2005 12:53

It's about a musician who's out of cash and stuck in a small town away from his home. "Rode in on the Greyhound" is coming into town on the bus, and "I'll be walking out if I go" is not having enough money for another bus ticket.

Anonymous 30.03.2005 17:45

"A sad, sad song about a bad, bad photographer" could be about being busted in the town of Lodi, CA and therefore losing what is left of his money while he is being photographed for police records. Only he doesn't mention in the song about being jailed - wait let me listen again before I say for sure --- Well he does mention " I came into town a one night stand" and "I was just passing thru, must be 7 months or more - ran out of time and money, looks like they took my friend". That could be a lot of things. What was his friend (guitar?) and who were they who took it (cops?) and why did one night turn into 7 months + (a woman, a bust? - I don't buy the I-went-broke-in-one-day story unless other things happened). The radical conservatism of the 60's and the fact that people like John Fogerty were HATED by the small-brainers of the time plus the weirdness of small western towns in that era, all makes me wonder The mystery of this song is why John Fogerty is a one-man-hit-writing-legend. I've wondered since 1970 what this song means. This is my latest stab at trying to figure. Every time I rethink this song I like it better - and the mystery draws me in further. What a genius!!
He does say "stuck in a Lodi again".I suppose "a Lodi" means every little sh-t sucking small brainer town in the world - I should be able to figure that one out - I live in "a Lodi".

Anonymous 15.04.2005 09:25

I think this song really depends on your life experience in order to interpret it. My interpretation:

A person came to U.S./any big city to seek a better future but he has been here for eight years alone. He thought he was happy being in U.S. but sometimes at night he felt alone and now he realize he has been missing something in life more important than fame and fortune.

Anyway, this song definitely sing about how I feel right now.

freebird 21.07.2008 00:43

easy to understand... Lodi is a woman
John falls in love with Lodi ,and you got the story wrote in a song XD

the chorus is quotable about something of my life u.u

Javier Pérez 26.07.2008 03:20

Lodi
 
Hi!
Did you realize that LODI at the inverse is IDOL!!
Could this give a sense to the song?
Cheers

freebird 26.07.2008 09:51

IDOL?
it doesn't have sense

Lodi is a woman..

Mary Lou 26.07.2008 11:57

In a radio interview, John Fogerty said when he was young his parents took him and his brother to a camp at Lodi lake (called Smith lake then) and they hated camping there. So later on they wrote a song about Lodi using their old hate towards the place. Although John Fogerty was only 23 years old at that time, he could see the reverse side of fame and fortune - things you'll never happen to see in a small towns like Lodi, California.

I don't think anything more complicated than this was meant.

freebird 30.07.2008 07:57

well... mary lou said the truth.... I go to sleep XD
mary lou WINS!

FredSittard 23.02.2009 22:41

[quote=pat;797]I know that there are a few towns in The US with the name LODI - but what does he mean when he sings "stuck in a Lodi again" ? is it a snipe at the small town that he is currently in and calling it Lodi?[/quote]


Here is wath John mean whith Lodi

[URL]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdEG-0k5z4I[/URL]

smoovedogg 03.12.2010 10:36

LODI - From the Biblical Town LODIBAR???
 
I was in church and heard about a town called[B] LODIbar[/B]. Itwas a dismal place of no pasture, no hope - total desolation in the Bible. I used to think that Lodi might be from the ancient town of utter despair calld Lodibar...:(

itcameoutofthesky 21.01.2011 14:10

[quote=Anonymous;799]On one of the live CD's of the CCR box JF mentions that the song is "a sad, sad song about a bad, bad photographer" [/quote]

Well, around the time when this was recorded live on tour in Europe the well known photographer "Jim Marshall " was following them on tour and I heard later on that CCR wasn't too happy with him, maybe that's what John was talking about over here ?

oldjohn366 31.08.2012 10:01

Mary Lou, you are a God. Thank you for putting these people out of their misery. Stuck in Lodi again is my wife's theme song after having 4 children at tha Mason Hospital in Lodi, California. We lived 20 miles away in Walnut Grove.

TexTech 18.07.2018 17:47

Sad
 
It's sad to read all these and see the answers. The question was "What does the word "Lodi" mean?" It basically means the same as it sounds. Low Die.
Well as you will see Lodi is a town in Italy where Napoleon was defeated by the Austrians. It was a slow and painful defeat. He could not advance nor retreat.
Therefor the term was associated with a situation or cycle that holds a person in peril.
On the river a lodi is an undercurrent after a waterfall that will take you under and hold you there or in a kayak it will just hold you in one place while the water rushes by.
On the ocean, in a sailboat it is when the wind dies and your left drifting.
In the old west many travelers found themselves in a situation that can still happen today. You can make enough to survive but not enough to leave. Explaining the reason many towns were named Lodi. That is how the town got started.
I was lucky enough to be exposed to alot of very old people as a child who used the term and took the time to explain it to me. Unfortunately our educational system has failed us again.


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