Creedence Clearwater Revival – Lookin' Out My Back Door

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Just got home from Illinois lock the front door oh boy!
Got to sit down take a rest on the porch.
Imagination sets in pretty soon I'm singin'

CHORUS:
Doo doo doo Lookin' out my back door.
There's a giant doing cartwheels a statue wearin' high heels.
Look at all the happy creatures dancing on the lawn.
A dinosaur Victrola list'ning to Buck Owens.

CHORUS
Tambourines and elephants are playing in the band.
Won't you take a ride on the flyin' spoon?
Doo, doo doo.
Wond'rous apparition provided by magician.

CHORUS
Tambourines and elephants are playing in the band.
Won't you take a ride on the flyin' spoon?
Doo, doo doo.
Bother me tomorrow, today, I'll buy no sorrows.

CHORUS
Forward troubles Illinois, lock the front door, oh boy!
Look at all the happy creatures dancing on the lawn.
Bother me tomorrow, today, I'll buy no sorrows.

CHORUS

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Lyrics submitted by 3ssence

Track duration: 02:32


Lookin' Out My Back Door song meanings
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51 Comments

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  • +1
    Song Meaning:I think two things. The song is about picking up drugs in IL " Wont you take a ride on the Flyin' Spoon", or It could be about getting home from Prison in IL.
    Flag ELKAY950on April 28, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Perhaps the references to Illinois are about the police riot at the Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968? CCR was not all about drugs -- they were also about anti-war politics. (See Fortunate Son). This video opens with that song (youtube.com/…) Were they in Chicago at that time? I don't know, but I know that the violence apparent there made some politically active young people want to retreat to a farmhouse or to Woodstock to "drop out" instead of continuing to struggle against the war machine.
    Flag TomEMunkon September 21, 2012   Link
  • -2
    General Comment:This song is about John Fogerty coming home after being on tour. The first thing he proceeds to do is pack up a fat bowl and get stoned while looking out his backdoor.
    Flagged FunkmastaLon June 06, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:

    This song is the Creedende's "Lucy in the skies whith diamonds". Nothing else.
    Flag sergioparanahon October 07, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment: This is the Creedence's "Lucy in the sky with Diamonds", nothing else.
    Flag sergioparanahon October 07, 2011   Link
  • 0
    Memory:REST IN PEACE BETHANY-I WILL ALWAYS PLAY THIS SONG FOR YOU AND I WILL ALWAYS LOOK OUT MY BACKDOOR AT THE MOUNTAIN WE NEVER GOT TO CLIMB.LOVE FOREVER MUM,DAD,LAURA,EMILY,GRACE,LIAM AND BEN.
    Flagged daddyoon August 25, 2011   Link
  • 0
    Memory:what does this song mean to me well where do i start,creedence music is a very big part of my life still im 53 years of age now and i love lookin out my backdoor.my youngest daughter bethany was born on november 2001 and ever since day one she would ask me to play that back door song,she would sing along with dad.bethany sadly passed away in october 2006 aged just 4 years 10 months,this song was played at her service.so just what does this song mean to me.there are a lot of references in the song i can now look back on,line like statue wearing high heels,wondrous apparition and look at all the happy creatures dancin on the lawn are just some.i will always play this song in memory of bethy and i know she will be singing with me,that is what a song means to me.
    Flagged daddyoon August 17, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:It is not even funny how wrong most of you are. This song first came out in 1970, just after the Woodstock Music Festival, that which this song is about. Max Yasgur, the man upon whose farm the festival occured, is a farmer, one may therefore assume that this is the reason for the country-esque tune. The "Happy creatures dancing on the lawn" would be a reference to the flower children who, quite literally, were dancing on the lawn. "There's a giant doing cartwheels a statue wearin' high heels," "Won't you take a ride on the flyin' spoon?" (Pipes at this time looked like spoons, which, figuratively, made them fly) "Wond'rous apparition provided by magician," are all drug and hallucination references. One may interperet "Bother me tomorrow, today, I'll buy no sorrows," is a reference to the 3 days of "Peace, Love, and Music."
    Flag theguywhoactuallyknowswhatheissaon July 20, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Nice tune this, but it reminds me a lot of 'Don't Pass Me By' by the Beatles.
    Flag chuckofalltradeson July 04, 2010   Link
  • -1
    General Comment:This song is 100% about drugs. "Magician" is a reference to Polkadot Magician, a type of LSD. This song is about what he saw when he was tripping. CCR was totally into drugs. The reason they don't perform anymore is because they sold the rights to their songs so they would have more drug money. Fogerty almost lost the rights to his solo music because it sounded so similar to what they had sold until a judge said no, he can keep the new material. He is trying to buy back the rights to the old music, I believe.
    Flagged trigojonon June 28, 2010   Link

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