I am not saying the guys was an idiot for believing the Southern origins of CCR or anyone who thought that. I am simply saying the members of CCR enjoyed they were good enough to make people think they were born and bred Southern swamp rockers.

Fogarty himself said something to the effect of Since we were in the middle of the progressive psychedelic rock scene, we thought what would be the complete opposite and started playing stripped down raw rock. It resonated and the lyrics could shape around Southern standards and I liked blues like Howling Wolf and classics like Cole Porter, so I just ran with it.

When we saw how much people loved the idea, we went along because hell, we were selling records. We even named our second album Bayou Country to fuel it.

Heck, if you look at their first big hit Proud Mary, Fogarty wrote that it started as a song about a maid for rich people who basically calmly keeps their lives together by doing her job and going home. Stu Cook suggested making the maid become a person working on a Riverboat.

The point is, they liked good music, wrote good music, played good music. They found a niche and rolled with it and did very well so why fuck with it? And it tickled them they were good enough to make people think completely different origins for them.