Bayou belter

Interview, Oct, 1998 by Jeff Tweedy

When Creedence Clearwater Revival emerged from El Cerrito, Calif., in 1967, the combo's blistering "swamp rock" - redolent as it was of beer, blues, and the Louisiana Bayou - was simply unlike anything else, Creedence songs like "Proud Mary" and "Bad Moon Rising," driven by pulsating riffs and John Fogerty's leather-tonsilled howl, remind us how much we miss - and need - pure, unrepentant, raucous rock 'n' roll. When Creedence disbanded in 1972, Fogerty embarked on a turbulent solo career, plagued by lawsuits and disputes with his record label. But he recently returned to the Creedence songs he refused to play for twenty-five years with John Fogerty: An In the Spotlight Special, a concert produced for PBS by Thirteen/WNET in New York City, and an accompanying album, Premonition (Reprise). We asked longtime disciple Jeff Tweedy of Wilco to ask Fogerty how It feels to be rolling down the river again.

JOHN FOGERTY.' Hi, Jeff. How are you?

JEFF TWEEDY: Good. How are you?

JF: I'm good, man. Just let me put my guitar down so I can talk to you.

JT: It's strange meeting you on the phone. I've been a huge fan for a long time, so this is pretty daunting. I had trouble sleeping last night.

JF: I'm sorry.

JT: That's all right - it's not your fault. I watched the video for the PBS concert special before I went to bed and I was really thrilled to see you playing those songs again; it seemed like you were having a great time. Did you have any apprehension going back to the Creedence songs?

JF: For a long time I didn't play those songs and I guess that seems weird to the outside world, but I had a lot of really bad feelings associated with them. I had gotten screwed, stolen from, and cheated so many times, I just couldn't seem to separate the songs from the memories. I was like the hermit out in the desert who discovers they're putting a freeway right through his shack: He's sitting there by his little woodstove with his shotgun and he's saying, "Hell, no, I ain't moving." Now 1 see the songs with a weird detachment, and I think, "God dang, these are really good!"

JT: Maybe those demons have been beaten. I think it's a real triumph that you're playing those songs again and that you totally spiritually own them.

JF: And it took twenty years to finally dawn on me: Jeez, I do own them. Everybody knows I created them, no matter what happened to the money. I don't know that all the demons have been beaten, but I'm very, very proud of those songs. And now when I do them I think of what those poor songs went through . . . me and those songs went through hell. And you are absolutely right: It's a rediscovery.

JT: Watching the concert, it struck me how well your new material works with the Creedence songs.

JF: I work hard at that, but the fact that there are a lot of good songs means there are also a lot of really bad songs I've written that you never hear. Every time I sit down, though, to write a new song, I think, Man, maybe in the next few minutes I am going to create "Hey Jude," or "Tubthumper" by Chumbawamba. I love that record. After it took off, I thought to myself, "Here's the little cheeseburger that ate the world."

JT: I've never had a chance to see you play live, so it's something I look forward to.

JF: Thanks. I'm much more energetic now; you might say live performance is my mission. I'm like a twenty-two-year-old kid in a new band trying to get noticed and break through, because the vast majority of people have never seen me play live. I've studied a lot of great people over the years - Pete Seeger, James Brown - and tried to incorporate elements that I've admired, though I can't say I dance like James. . . .

JT: Has touring been rough to readjust to?

JF: I'm touring with my family, so I'm really lucky. We keep our little cocoon, our family environment. You have to protect that because there are so many forces trying to make you lose track of each other, and you have to say, "No, this is our fence here."

JT: I love how you pay tribute to your wife every night with "Joy of My Life."

JF: Julie has given me the go-ahead to keep touting and putting out music. She looks me in the eye and says, "This is you. This is what you were born to do." And you know what? She's right.