Creedence’s John Fogerty: buying back our songs changed my whole world

John Fogerty plays Glastonbury festival this weekend, where the 80-year-old American songsmith might just blast his fellow old fogies off the Pyramid stage, with more classic hits up his checked shirtsleeve than Neil Young, and as much raw soul in his voice as Rod Stewart.

In a hot streak between 1967 and 1972, the leader of Creedence Clearwater Revival wrote, arranged and produced a fistful of all-time-great rock singles including Proud Mary, Bad Moon Rising and Have You Ever Seen the Rain, from seven hit albums. In 1969, Creedence played Woodstock festival, scored five smash hits and outsold the Beatles in the US.

Their 1970 masterpiece, Cosmo’s Factory, spent nine consecutive weeks at number one, and spawned 6 major hits. And though the band broke up bitterly in 1972, they remain enduringly popular with a generation who probably don’t even know who Fogerty is.

In 1969, Creedence Clearwater Revival played Woodstock festival, scored five smash hits and outsold the Beatles in the US - Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Creedence have three songs with more than a billion streams, regularly sound tracking films (from Forrest Gump to Jurassic World), TV shows (Dexter to Love Island), video games and TikTok trends. Like fellow classic rockers Fleetwood Mac and Queen, the band’s popularity on TikTok has helped introduce them to a new, younger audience. But whether or not this audience turn out in their droves to watch him at Glastonbury remains to be seen.

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“Streaming means pennies for artists, so I’m not getting rich off TikTok,” Fogerty notes with cheerful scepticism. “But I wrote those songs when I was 22 years old, and people still come and listen to me play my guitar, so that’s an amazing thing. I always say it’s all about the song.”

One of his most beloved classics, Fortunate Son, was played at President Trump’s military parade in Washington on June 14, which causes a snort of derision from staunch Democrat Fogerty. “I was kind of astonished. The song could’ve literally been written about him.”

A stormy broadside against privileged kids avoiding the Vietnam draft, Fortunate Son has been enshrined as one of the great protest anthems. Fogerty sent a cease-and-desist letter when Trump used it during the Presidential campaign in 2020, and yet here it was again. “It kinda made me smile that he put it in his parade. Perhaps he doesn’t understand the lyrics.”

There are political undercurrents to much of Fogerty’s work. Creedence’s 1970 hit Run Through the Jungle addressed gun violence in the USA. “Civil rights, power and the abuse of power, I’ve been tuned into that all my life. But you have to make it a good song first, not just yelling expletives about how upset you are. Looking back, I’ve written some that were a little strident, a little preachy, and I don’t even like that in myself. But if a songwriter can help illuminate ideas and change people’s minds, it can be a positive force in the world.”

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Such American music superstars as Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce and Taylor Swift have all been insulted on social media and issued with barely veiled threats by President Trump for perceived criticisms, but Fogerty is unconcerned. “Mr Trump seems to have a very thin skin. He’s so aware of every tiny, little negative thing that might be said about him.

“You know, most people just let it roll off, like that’s part of life. He goes after and tries to punish anyone that has a thought that’s different than his.” He ponders this a moment, then laughs. “There must be a song in that. Maybe I’ll write it.”

Seated in a quiet corner of the luxurious Dorchester hotel, Fogerty somehow manages to convey the avuncular manner of an old western grandpa rocking in a chair on his porch, dispensing hard-earned wisdom. He looks tanned and healthy if a little wizened, with the square jaw of an old cowboy, and the rock-star vanity to dye his long hair auburn. He introduces me to his solicitous second wife Julie with a very public display of affection.

They have been married since 1991, and have three adult children, two of whom (Shane and Tyler) play in Fogerty’s band (he also has three children from his first marriage, which ended in 1980). “When I met Julie, my life became blessed,” says Fogerty. “I’m totally in love with her, and at the same time totally in wonderment. She’s just great, and our family is great, and so my heart is really full. It allows me to let go of things that might have bothered me before.”

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It was not always thus. For a long time Fogerty had a reputation for being wounded and embattled, refusing to play his old hits in concert. He endured decades of litigation with Saul Zaentz, who signed Creedence to a small, independent jazz label Fantasy in 1967 on a contract that (the band belatedly discovered) paid miniscule royalties and gave Fantasy ownership of every song they would ever write.

Fogerty in 1970 - Ochs Archives/Getty Images

“Somehow, he tricked me out of Proud Mary before I’d even written it.” Zaentz parlayed his publishing fortune to become an Oscar winning Hollywood producer (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus, The English Patient and the Lord of the Rings films), whilst Creedence ended their career millions of dollars in debt. It’s a sorry and complex saga, in which Fogerty fell out with his former bandmates (including his brother, rhythm guitarist Tom, who died unreconciled in 1990).

The battle reached a pitch of absurdity in 1986, when Fantasy sued Fogerty (by then a successful solo star) for allegedly plagiarising himself. Fogerty won in the US Supreme Court but says “I kind of circled the wagons around my heart, my emotional being, and said ‘I’ve got to protect this thing I have and not be out there destroying myself and hating every moment.’ That’s why you didn’t hear from me for quite some time.”

He has not forgiven his bandmates for, as he claims, selling the rights to Zaentz without his involvement. “I think the other fellas were selfish and presumptive. You had Doug Clifford, the drummer, out there talking about Fortunate Son as if he was a manifester. But he wasn’t there when I wrote it. They were burying me, pretending I didn’t exist.” (Clifford, for his part, has called Fogerty a “control freak” and said “Each one of us brought something to the table that made that whole thing work.”)

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Zaentz died in 2014, aged 92. “I see him as a sorrowful figure,” says Fogerty. “He just misused and abused. It could have been a wonderful story for everyone, but he wasn’t made that way.” Fogerty did eventually reconcile himself to performing Creedence songs in concert. “They are like your children, the songs came out of you. The relationship is so personal.”

In 2023, as a result of a decade of dogged negotiations by his wife, Fogerty was finally able to buy back publishing rights to his Creedence songs. “I’m dumbfounded by the whole thing. She managed to align all the stars, rematerialise the universe. It just changed my whole world.”

He has re-recorded his greatest hits for an album, Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years, due in August. It is not an exact reproduction in the vein of Taylor Swift’s “Versions” albums (created to reclaim her back catalogue, which she has since bought back), but neither are these radical reinventions. It is an album that blasts with the rock and soul power of prime Creedence.

“When I wrote these songs, that’s how I heard them in my mind. I am the same person, I feel the same way about them, and so I knew I had to get them as close to the originals as possible.”

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His voice, remarkably, still has the same warm frayed tone and huge honking power. “I don’t have the falsetto I used to have, and I’ve lowered the key in one or two places, but I try to take care of myself. I do a lot of running, and that’s about sustaining energy and being able to sing and have enough air.”

John Fogerty now performs with his sons and says he drives them hard - Evan Agostini/Invision

He has his sons in his band, and says he drove them as hard as he once drove Creedence. “To me, it’s about honesty and intensity. That starts with the songwriting. You can have a great title or a great line, but if the rest of the song doesn’t live up to it, you have to keep writing.

“A truly great song stays at that level all the way through. The same with performances. There’s a realm where music is undeniable, when the band is playing at a really intense, engaged level, and you have a sense that nobody’s asleep here, everybody’s giving their best.”

In Creedence, he says “everything lined up perfectly. It was a time when bands were really honoured and glorified, and we were exactly the right age, in our 20s, with everything on the line. I’ve written songs since then, and some of them might be just as good. But as I’ve gotten older, at 30, 40, 50, there’s a lower percentage of the spotlight aimed at you.

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“In some ways, it feels like it’s coming back around again, because being 80 is such a momentous number. I mean, I don’t even believe it. It’s silly, it’s crazy. I’m looking forward to writing some more songs. I still got it in me.”

John Fogerty plays Glastonbury Festival Pyramid Stage on June 28 at 4.30pm, available to be viewed on BBC iPlayer. Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years is released by Concord on August 22

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