John Fogerty on Taylor Swift, Revisiting His Classics and Why His Time Capsule Song Is Not ‘Proud Mary’

On Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years, John Fogerty revisits some of the seminal classic rock hits the legendary musician wrote and recorded more than 50 years ago.

Just as the original songs were a family affair — Fogerty’s late brother Tom was also in CCR — Fogerty has recreated 20 iconic tunes including “Proud Mary,” “Fortunate Son” and “Bad Moon Rising,” but this time with his sons Shane and Tyler. His wife/manager Julie serves as executive producer.

Over Zoom, Fogerty can’t hide his pride when he talks about recording with his sons, who have been in his touring band for several years now, and about how his wife’s business acumen and vision led him to remake the renowned tunes.

The impetus for Legacy, which came out Aug. 22 on Concord, was Fogerty regaining control over his songs after a half-century fight, as well as turning 80. In 2023, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer gained majority control of his CCR publishing rights after one of the most bitter, longest battles in rock & roll. It made him view the songs with a new sense of ownership and pride.

The Legacy songs are tagged “John’s Version” in a fun nod to Taylor Swift and the superstar dubbing her album re-recordings as “Taylor’s Version.” Fogerty jokes, “I wanted them to call [the re-recordings] Taylor’s Version. I lobbied for that: ‘You want this to sell? Call it “Taylor’s.”‘”

Though they are decades apart, Swift and Fogerty’s ultimately successful fights to own their material —for Swift, her masters, and for Fogerty, his publishing — are not dissimilar, and he declares, “I was so happy to see her solution to her predicament… I was applauding her doing [the re-recordings]. I’m convinced that her re-recording those albums in many ways reset the condition, so that she was able to purchase the originals. She was strong enough and powerful enough a force that she rearranged the playing field.”

By intent, the new versions on Legacy so closely mirror the originals that even Fogerty can’t always tell the difference. It’s not just the instrumentation, Fogerty’s voice has lost none of its gruff suppleness over the decades. “I was driving with Julie, and we were listening to a national radio station and they were playing ‘Up Around the Bend.’ Of course, our goal is to have them play the new versions, and I’m looking at her and going, ‘Oh, man, they’re playing the old original,’” he says. “The [song’s] going along and [I realized] ‘Hey! They are playing the new one!’ I mean, it actually fooled me. That made me feel so cool. I can’t even tell you how great that was, because that’s Shane playing [the lead].”

In an expansive interview, a gregarious Fogerty talks about what it meant to revisit some of America’s most beloved rock songs, spending time in the studio with his family, his friendship with Bruce Springsteen and — though he doesn’t mention him by name — his dismay at some of the activities of the current occupant of the White House.

How did this album come about?

Julie years ago murmured about maybe me re-recording some of the songs from back in the day. I wasn’t jumping up and down. One of the things she said — I’m paraphrasing her intent — she had had a vision that was full of joy, and part of that vision was re-recording my songs. I was in a different mindset. Then we got the publishing back, which is such a wonderful thing. I can’t even describe all the different dimensions — one of which is relief, just something that you felt should have been and had finally coming to pass. And that’s sort of put me at ease about a lot of things.

I’m sure turning 80 is another facet of that. It started to look more like something I could be engaged to do, especially if I was doing it with Shane and Tyler and Julie and the rest of my family. And so, I sort of tenuously agreed to start.

What was it like being in the studio? These tracks sound so vital and joyous.

Thank you for noticing. That’s actually how we are. I don’t think you can manufacture or plan that that’s going to be there. I had no idea about what sort of commitment and artistic involvement [it would take]. This process has reacquainted me with that person that’s in my soul that is relentless. I just can’t consider it finished until it’s really, really good.

When did you feel it clicked in the studio?

When it got to the part where I’m interacting with Shane and Tyler and Julie as the people who are actually performing the musical parts, I think that’s where the engagement really got strong. I was interacting with my kids. We’re making something together. It wasn’t easy. It’d be like you’re in a football game. It’s getting late and you’re down a couple of touchdowns, but you know you should be winning. And I think that’s kind of what happened.

Then you hear it back and realize that it’s succeeding. There is great joy and excitement in that, because what I got to do is watch this new band feel what I felt 50-something years ago with the guys in Creedence. The old days had ups and downs, and the tail end of it didn’t end so well. I have lingering memories of all of that. And so, delving into that and watching a new set of people become close and committed, I think that’s what you’re hearing.

These are so faithful to the originals. Do you pull out any of the original recordings to make sure you were getting it right?

One of the songs was “Born on the Bayou.” I was playing it pretty much how I have done it live for about 30 years. It didn’t have the same character [as the recording]. It’s like traveling on a road in your car, and there’s landmarks: over there, there’s a group of rocks, there’s a stop sign, and down the road, there’s a clump of cactus and over there, there’s an ice cream store. I kind of wasn’t doing that, and I had to listen to the original.

Julie had gotten my old Acme Rickenbacker guitar back some eight years ago or so. I had given it away and after 44 years, she had gotten it back. Of course, we were determined to use that. I also have the custom amp that I had actually played that song on back in the day. I had the same cabinet, but it didn’t have the same speaker, but I had some new ones that were pretty close. But yet my articulation, even though it’s such a simple thing, was not exactly the same — so we spent a lot of time getting the amplifier settings and all that geeky stuff pretty close.

Did you find yourself at any point saying things to your sons that you remember saying to the original Creedence 50 years ago?

I would say “yes,” but the first person I gave those instructions to was me. I passed through some kind of veil where I gave myself permission that it’s okay [to recreate the songs like the originals] — because it’s me, right? I mean, it was an amazing sort of spiritual or mystical journey. Not many people actually get to do that in the world. I got to understand the reason for the [original] choices, and you get why that’s there in that place. That was just a wonderful existential journey I got to go through.

But this time you got to have your sons with you.

I particularly wanted Shane to play some of the guitar licks that I had performed. I can’t remember actually making a decision; I just know I felt in my heart that I’m the dad and he’s my son. Here’s my metaphor: So, 55 years ago, I opened a little shoemaker shop and it said Fogerty: Shoemaker. And now I get to put “Fogerty and Sons: Shoemaker,” you know? Meaning that I was passing on the craft. It really turned out that way.

Shane’s been playing the lead lick for “Up Around the Bend” in my band for years. He was 12 years old and we were at Royal Albert Hall and I had him play that lick. That’s pretty cool.

But that’s not the same as recreating the original from the record.

When we listened back [to the recording] even though he had my Acme guitar, it didn’t sound the same. He’s a great guitar player, and I didn’t want him to get offended. It was a Friday. I could sense what was wrong. I said, “Shane, I want you to take the guitar home and practice this over the weekend. Listen to the record and get yourself to where you’re wiggling on that top string.” He comes back on Monday. I know he worked on it a lot, and he goes in and nails it. It was great. I know he worked many hours at home. But there’s also a third thing going on here: It’s DNA. I mean, it’s in him to be able to do that.

You wrote “Fortunate Son” when you were in your mid-20s and its story of railing against inequity and entitled privilege for the rich still rings true now. Do you look back in awe that you were so wise at such a young age?

Every once in a while I’ll be lying in bed half asleep or something and then suddenly you go, “Well, yeah, that sure said it, didn’t it?” I was a kid when I did that, but at the time I didn’t think I was a kid. At the time, I was an artist looking at how I’d been educated and how I’d been brought up. My mom was a wonderfully liberal person. She loved Pete Seeger.

He was a role model for you both musically and ethically.

Yes, absolutely. I suppose it could go either way, but because of the way the political spectrum has set itself, if you’re a person that has empathy for the less fortunate or the people that are shut out completely, or you don’t like cheating, lying [or] stealing. I think you tend to kind of go left-of-center rather than right-of-center. I don’t want to condemn all conservatives — and we sure don’t want to go there — but, wow! I’m just amazed… It ain’t me, I ain’t putting up with it, but those guys are. How could you put up with that idiot? Look at what he’s doing right in front of you. He’s using his position of office to make billions of dollars. I mean, the corruption is just rampant. Oh god, there I go. [Laughs.]

Pete Seeger is also a role model for Bruce Springsteen. How do you feel that ever since 2009, he’s ended his tours by playing your song, “Rockin’ All Over the World”?

Yeah. I mean, what a mensch, that guy. It made me feel just really happy inside. I love Bruce. I’m pretty sure he loves me. He’s admired my music. I’ve admired his. But still, sometimes a guy does something that takes your breath away. That one did because it was just so uplifting. It was like, “Wow, it’s just a happy thing.”

If you can only put one song from Legacy in a time capsule, which one is it and why?

I thought I was going to choose “Proud Mary,” but I think I’m going to choose “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” because it’s a beautiful song. Most of my songs were kind of more blues-based, and even though it was based on an unhappy situation [as CCR was breaking up], the song became more of a pop melody. To me, that’s a good thing.

Yes, “Proud Mary” I thought was a classic, and a few more of them I think are a classic, but “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” was the fact that I was able to write that and yet be mysterious enough with the words that the song now is actually a very happy song to me. The reason is — and what I tell my audience — is because it reminds me of you. Thank you for singing my songs and keeping them in your heart all these years. You have been a rainbow in my life, and this song has a rainbow in it. I think it’s a song full of hope.

Is there a joy that you get from being on stage now that you didn’t get 50 years ago?

When I started as a little kid, I just loved music, and never thinking anything would ever change that. But the tail end of Creedence was unhappy. It didn’t end well. And over the years, there’s been so much animosity and lawsuits, just negative stuff. Obviously, some part of my life was affected by that when I would think about some parts of Creedence. [Julie] would say, “Well, you weren’t happy then, but now you’re making music with people that love you and that you love them.”

And [these re-recordings are] such an antidote to [those days]. It’s such an opposite of that way it ended. It’s a very real thing — because for one thing, it’s all one life. Now I don’t have to be this guy at home and then that guy when I go out the door. It’s all one life.

You don’t sound like someone who wants to stop playing live anytime soon.

I’ll never stop.