Creedence Clearwater Revival
Bad Moon Rising came out when I lived with two girl friends in an apartment on West Fourth and Dunbar in 1969. Judy found Creedence irresistible; she played their music constantly.
It's this song, Heard it Through the Grapevine, that takes me back in time to that lovely building with its corner window.
We girls thought the landlady was batty, and were afraid of being hit by the ash that balanced precariously on the end of her eternal cigarette.
We were also convinced that she shared her gin and showed her faded charm, including her bra straps -- scandalous in those days, not to mention grubby -- to the three boys who shared the flat across the landing. Then she gave us shortbread at Christmas, and we decided she might be okay.