The American songbook wouldn’t be complete without John Fogerty.
Over the course of just four years from 1968 to 1972 with Creedence Clearwater Revival, Fogerty achieved one of the most legendary hits in music history, amassing a collection of hits that took many songwriters’ lifetimes to write. Famous songs he wrote during that period include “Proud Mary,” “Bad Moon Rising,” “Down on the Corner,” “Fortunate Son,” “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” and “Someday Never Comes,” to name a few.
It’s such a prolific catalog that as of this week, CCR’s biggest hit album has spent its 800th week Bulletin board 200 Albums chart, a record for the fifth-longest run in the chart’s history. With this biography in mind, Fogerty was arguably the most notable objector New York Times’ List of the 30 Greatest Living American Songwriters, including the likes of Billy Joel, Tom Waits and Randy Newman. Surprisingly, this doesn’t seem to bother Fogerty much.
“I mean I would have been shocked, but not a lot of people were mentioned,” Fogerty says with disarming calm when asked about the snub in a recent phone call. “There are only 30, and you have to survive. It’s very difficult.”
It’s a refreshing, balanced answer in a work practically built on legacy and ego. But Fogerty is at peace with his career at this point.
It also doesn’t hurt that he’s about to be honored with the most prestigious award a songwriter can receive this week, as the Songwriters Hall of Fame will award Fogerty with the Johnny Mercer Award, the hall’s highest honor and a distinction that confirms him as one of the most important songwriters of all time.
Ahead of Thursday’s tribute, which will also include the likes of Taylor Swift, Alanis Morissette, Kenny Loggins and more, Fogerty spoke with Hollywood Reporter On how Swift inspired him to re-record his songs, pop music’s lack of protest songs today, and why after fighting for decades to get the rights to his music back, he might be willing to sell them.
Let’s start with the Johnny Mercer Award. congratulations. I know you have received many honors in your time but I often hear recipients consider this honor particularly special, He’s basically calling you one of the greatest songwriters of all time. It is a prestigious award.
I didn’t know there were more prizes. When they called, I happened to be on the tour bus, sitting at a small table looking directly at my wife. The Songwriters Hall of Fame told me about this highest honor, the Johnny Mercer Award. It’s my everything, it’s my whole life, it’s everything I ever dreamed of, and they’re giving me this award, basically saying ‘I did a good job.’ I admit I looked at my wife Julie, and my eyes started to water, I was really surprised. It took my breath away.
I grew up learning about all the songwriters who came before me. Some people call it standing on the shoulders of giants, and my mother had pointed out the songbook to me when I was a very young child. We were talking about songwriters like Irving Berlin and Hoagy Carmichael. Then of course in my teenage years I learned about Lennon, McCartney and Carole King.
I’m sure that receiving an honor like this forces you to reflect and look at your work. What do you think is the best lyric you’ve ever written?
There’s a saying that I quote in my family, especially to my wife sometimes, I wrote a song called “Mysterious Highway.” It’s all about the idea of the mysterious highway in the universe that we all travel. I imagine a man who is kind of weary about his family. They are on that highway that most likely leads you to the great light we all seek.
Anyway, this wasn’t a hit song or anything, but it was an idea I thought about for a long time and finally put it on an album with… I wrote a song for everyone. The song’s lyric is “Without knowing where I’m going, maybe I’ll get there anyway.” I just love it. I still see it that way, and it makes me laugh.
What song do you ignore the most in your opinion?
Maybe “weeping in the promised land.” I wrote the title of that song years and years ago in a song book I’ve kept since the 1960s, and I wrote the title down at the time somewhere. It sounded very biblical to me, and it sounded really sad. I didn’t know what to do with it until Covid and the lockdown and Trump.One.
It’s a protest song, you referenced George Floyd and “I Can’t Breathe” in there. Many people these days wonder why there aren’t more protest songs. I’m interested in your thoughts since you’re responsible for many of the most iconic protest songs in popular culture.
This is a very good question. I mean, obviously Bruce [Springsteen] He still does it. But the way Donald Trump has dealt with his own insecurities or shortcomings is that he turns it into a big game of fear. Instead of working on things like politics and maybe fixing the economy — health care, civil rights, all those good things that need to be fixed — he punishes his enemies.
I think this puts people in fear of their jobs. I think there should be more young songwriters who express a carefree attitude towards such things, you know, when you’re young, you have a whole lifetime to make mistakes and you can still catch up with them. I don’t know, maybe their record labels don’t like them, I don’t really have an answer.
It’s an interesting phenomenon. Clearly, you and Bruce still felt empowered. Those were defining songs for an entire generation, and I can’t think of a protest track that’s been similarly defined now.
Society as a whole does not accept it but children still know it. I will mention one aspect that bothers me. When the Israeli government began to deal harshly with the Palestinians in Gaza, the children and youth of our country reacted. It was great to see. it’s great. Instinctively, they understood this and filled spaces on campus where they could protest. This happened during the Biden administration of everything. I assume that we have more or less an ongoing relationship with Israel, and that our government has chosen to try to suppress the protests.
I think of the protest songs of the 60s and 70s and of course I’ll think of Ohio and Kent State if we talk about protests on college campuses. Thank God no one was killed this time.
Children can see something is really wrong. I’m sure young people in Israel probably felt the same way. The kids were right all along. Just because the leader of Israel chooses to use his government in a way that perhaps does not reflect his people…I don’t like our man either.
Going back to the songs, I was surprised you weren’t on the tracklist New York TimesList of the 30 greatest living American songwriters. It was one of the most notable omissions. Do you have any ideas?
The funny thing is that everyone sees this through their own lens. There were all kinds of other really deserving people who weren’t on that list either. It happens. Rolling Stone Tops the list of greatest records of all time. As time goes on, records that I like or artists that I like, more and more of them will be dropped for new things because voters are getting younger and voting for what they like. It’s kind of a natural progression.
If we talk more about your peers, it is still interesting that while many hitmakers sold their catalogs, you bought yours. You’ve clearly been struggling with turmoil for years with your songs. When you see others selling for $200 million, does it make you wonder if you would sell now?
Yes, when you discover that there is a number associated with something you have. God, $200 million buys a lot of rice and beans. I had to live most of my life without having my own songs. It was a tragedy, of course, but it was a part of me. It was like a plaid shirt I had to wear. It was terrible. I felt bad about it for so long, that I was deluded. I felt like an idiot. There was a big dishonest cheater in her midst.
Now that I owned it, people started calling me right away and asking if I would sell it. It was like, “No! I’ve been trying so hard to have him all these years!” I think Bob Dylan had a good look at it, as he seemed like he didn’t want his kids fighting over a song. It is a very terrible thing for your children to struggle with. It’s much easier to cash it out and put the money somewhere, hopefully with some estate planning. It’s hard enough for the man who wrote it himself.
So, in your life, is this what you see yourself doing as well?
Yes, this will be the main motivation. Also, I have a pretty good life, don’t get me wrong. I ended up getting a golden ticket, and I have no right to file a complaint. But maybe it would be a good idea for me as a family man to sell things while I still have time to enjoy the benefits of such a big nest egg.
And this time you can choose who will be a good agent for the music instead of having them make that decision for you.
exactly. You can tell from the way I talk about it, it’s rather my teacher, it’s a kind of academic exercise. I don’t run and get a sale for cheap. “Proud Mary” is still very personal to me, but having watched other great, famous songwriters sell their catalogs and seeing them go on with their lives, still singing their songs, still having fun with it.
Those songs are still emotionally relatable, and that kind of gives you a model of how things should go.
Back to the ceremony, you’ll be receiving your honor on the same night as Taylor Swift’s inauguration. I know the tactics used on Taylor’s releases had at least some effect on you when you re-recorded last year, She had drama with her catalog too. Have you ever talked to her about all this? Would you like that when you’re in New York?
I’ve felt very close to Taylor for years and years because I have a daughter, Kelsey, who was 7, 8 and 9 early in Taylor’s career. Taylor’s is something I’ve shared with my daughter, countless hours of listening and marveling at the wonderful songs. Every time a new album came out we would listen to it and shake my head, so many great songs.
We’ve been to a few of Taylor’s concerts together and were able to meet her together for a meet and greet. We talked about music that way, but I wasn’t specific with Taylor Swift. I didn’t talk to her anymore. But I certainly understood her re-recordings, and I also felt her pain and the motivation to do it in the first place. She was quite capable of buying the masters’ property, and someone sold it to someone else in a capricious way, which was terrible. I understand. It’s great that she got them back. Doing the re-record now was really cool for me, and of course, the inspiration was definitely partly because of what Taylor did.
You sounded great on the re-recordings by the way. Replicating John Fogerty’s work in the 1960s is not easy, but I think it was impressive.
The blessed thing about this is that I was able to do this with my two sons. It was a whole family affair, my daughters were around and of course Julie was in the studio watching this. My son Shane, who is an amazing guitar player, I had him play famous licks that I had done in the past. It was a common thing.
Especially after all the drama, I’m sure this is a relief. It’s as if you’ll be able to see your autobiography end in a way that’s kind of like this Hollywood ending. You can’t write better code.
This is very perceptive. Jolie was really the instigator in all of this. I somehow instinctively understood what would happen if we did this. It definitely gives me a happier, softer frame of reference now for all these songs. I suppose hearing them on the radio and understanding their place in the culture. I definitely feel good about it now. When I look at her, I just think “Did she know this all along?” It’s one of those mysterious things that happen in marriage.
