Legend has it that John Fogerty wrote “Bad Moon Rising” on the day Richard Nixon was elected as president, but he refuted the notion that the song was political in nature, repeatedly stating that it was inspired by the 1941 fantasy movie The Devil and Daniel Webster. “When you’re a very tuned-in young person, you’re tied to everything that affects your generation,” he clarified. “So I think it was there, but I was more into the idea of natural phenomena and unavoidability.” Nonetheless, the song’s paranoid vibe perfectly fit the times, and it became an anthem for U.S. troops in Vietnam.