John Fogerty is not a fan of President Donald Trump; former Creedence leader Clearwater Revival even issued an order to cease and desist (promptly ignored) this fall, when “Fortunate Son” was triggered during Trump’s rallies. Now, Fogerty will send Trump in his own way – with “Weeping in the Promised Land,” the 75-year-old rocker’s first new song in eight years.
Focused on Fogerty’s voice and piano, with only a handful of gospel singers accompanying him, the song marks a return to the socially conscious themes that propelled Creedence’s anthems like “Fortunate Son” and “Who’ll Stop the Rain”.
“It’s like being a rock star in a band and then the band breaks up,” Fogerty says of Trump’s refusal to step down – and his affinity for rallies. “I used to stand in front of 30,000 or 40,000 people and they were all rooting for me. I know what it is. I understand the emotion he is feeling. I’m trying not to sound like an aggressor – I’m trying to understand the situation. I think he likes rallies a lot. “
In lyrics that touch last year’s discouraging events, Fogerty refers to Trump’s attacks on Anthony Fauci (“He dances on his bones / Pharaoh screaming down the healer”), health care professionals (“With dread in his eyes, all nurses are crying / sadness everywhere, dying everywhere ”), and the murder of George Floyd (“ On the street / On his neck with one knee / People are crying / His words ‘I can’t breathe’ and the white judge said there was no crime here ”).
Like many of his colleagues, both from his generation and the youngest, Fogerty found himself with time available this summer, after a scheduled tour was canceled due to Covid-19. He had first written the phrase “crying in the promised land” in one of his composition diary notebooks about 25 years ago. A few years ago, he finally wrote a song with that title, but he was not happy with it, now calling it a “generic song”. But this summer, with the pandemic growing around him, the phrase “seemed very relevant to me,” he says, and Fogerty decided to abandon his previous attempt and write an entirely new tune around that title.
For someone who remembers to knock out “Fortunate Son” in 20 minutes, writing “Weeping in the Promised Land” was a challenge. During the summer and fall, Fogerty struggled with the letter and breadth of what he wanted to say. Throwing a folding chair, bottles of water and bags of peanuts in his car, he drove to local parks in Southern California just to get out of the house and find inspiration. “I felt like I was wandering in the desert,” he says.
Weeks passed and, finally, at the end of the summer, a phrase hit him: “Water in the well, it was poisoned with lies”. With that, other images and rhymes began to emerge. “It ended up being the most difficult song I’ve ever written,” he says. “I kept trying to find better words. You can always find a better word to describe a situation. “
Even so, the trip is not over. Fogerty initially cut the song with the help of drummer Jim Keltner, bassist Don Was and Fogerty’s son Shane on guitar. The version was very “in a swamp rock way,” Fogerty says, but his wife and manager Julie, while supporting her, gave her the impression that she was disappointed and heard something more in the song. Your suggestion: play the piano, not the guitar, according to your usual approach.
At first, Fogerty was hesitant, but coincidentally, he had perfected himself on the keyboard after contributing to a live tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis’ 85th birthday in October. Just before a family dinner, he entered his home studio, tried the music on his piano and something clicked. Soon after, a week before Thanksgiving, he tried again, playing and singing at the same time, and had a final version in just a few takes. Days later, he ventured to a studio in Los Angeles, where a small group of supporting singers added their voices to the track.
Naturally, he and his colleagues took Covid precautions, wearing masks and working in different parts of the studio. “The singers were after Plexiglas and separated,” he says. “They were used to being shoulder to shoulder. But each was in his own space, almost like a cage, to do this. ”In two more days, the song was mixed, mastered and ready to go.
Given that Trump will technically be out of office in two weeks from today, does Fogerty regret not having released the song even earlier? “When I finished the song in late November, I said, ‘Some other things are going to happen now,'” he says of the news cycle. “I knew that the leopard would not change its spots. God knows that everything will probably get worse [until January 20]. He’s been verified. The only thing he is thinking about is a way to maintain power. But you knew This one. I wonder, on the 20th of January, will he sit next to Joe Biden? Even if the gloomy reality hits him that he won’t be president, he probably won’t show up. “
“Weeping in the Promised Land” also has the distinction of being one of the few singles that Fogerty released without an accompanying album, although he says a new album – which would be his first collection of all-new material since 2007 Rebirth – is in progress. “We’ve had a few recording sessions since this song was made,” he says. “Taking this song off me was almost like a block. I had to finish this first. ”As in the first version of“ Weeping in the Promised Land ”, Fogerty has been using Was and Keltner on some of the tracks in the rhythm section.
As for any changes he hopes to make with music, Fogerty is optimistic. “Can a song do that?” he asks. “It’s probably catching up. But it’s time to stop wearing a number on the back that indicates which political party you belong to or which candidate you support. We are all human and we face very terrifying things. And we’re still looking at them. My intention is that, hopefully, everyone is in the mood or arguing, not just ‘You made a mistake!’ “
A new album, entitled Fogerty factory, was released at BMG in November – with vinyl scheduled for January 15th. Order the Fogerty Vinyl Factory here.