Latest news with #ProudMary
Time Out
15-07-2025
- Time Out
More than a pretty plate: Why Proud Mary deserves the hype
Since opening in 2021, Proud Mary has been pleasing palates and racking up awards. Now, it holds the title of Best Hotel Restaurant in the 2025 Luxe Awards, so naturally, we had to see what's got 25,000 diners talking. It's a warm Friday in winter when we step into the matte black building that houses Hyde Hotel and Proud Mary. From the outside, it's understated. Inside? Surprisingly romantic — elegant, beautifully designed, but never overdone. The energy of Rosebank calls to a sophisticated younger crowd who are chasing the sun, so I half expected to find the restaurant packed with cosmopolitan singles ready for a night on the town, but inside it was quite the opposite. Seated at the bar were two guys taking a load off after a long week. In front of them, a couple's body language read like a neon sign flashing 'first date.' Behind us, a dad enjoyed a quiet meal with his two kids. Off to the side, a big family (baby and all) had gathered for what looked like a mini-reunion. All of this in one of the most beautifully curated spaces in Johannesburg. You can come alone and feel completely comfortable, or come with friends and celebrate. Proud Mary is warm, inclusive and unpretentious. People watching done, our starters arrive. The crispy fried squid is a flavour bomb, golden and light, served with lemon aioli, turmeric onions, a zingy basil and coriander salad, toasted coconut flakes, parsley dust, and preserved lemon. Each bite delivers a perfectly balanced mix of crunch, zest, and freshness. The chicken kabobs are just as impressive: tender grilled thigh skewers paired with smoked grapes, saffron aioli, lime yoghurt, and shards of crispy chicken skin. It's Proud Mary on a plate, refined, generous, and effortlessly cool. For mains, the Caper Butter Sole was a standout, beautifully cooked, delicate, and sliding off the bone with ease. No awkward mid-bite bone moments here (thank the heavens). Served with thick-cut chips, the dish is finished with a bright caper and lemon butter, shaved fennel, and fresh herbs like coriander and chives, giving it that perfect balance of richness and freshness. The Wagyu Cheeseburger is far from your average burger. Juicy and packed with flavour, the patty is topped with smoked Stanford cheese, a tangy fennel and mustard jam, garlic aioli, and lemon watercress for a citrusy lift. Add triple-fried chips, smoky ketchup, and fresh truffle, and you've got a burger that feels indulgent but incredibly refined. Proud Mary's consistent innovation is something that has helped to secure the restaurant awards time and time again. The seasonal menus and strong relationships with small wine and spirit producers help to keep things fresh. They champion organic wines and work directly with family-run farms. So it's not just beautiful food, it's thoughtful, too. The service at Proud Mary is worth highlighting too, warm, attentive, and impressively well-informed. The staff know the menu inside out, and every recommendation feels spot-on. Courses arrive with just the right pacing, giving you time to savour each dish while keeping anticipation high for what's coming next. For dessert, we shared the Peaches and Cream Panna Cotta, a dreamy combo of silky yoghurt panna cotta, mango jelly, passion fruit pearls, peach salsa, crumble, Chantilly cream, and a scoop of vanilla bean gelato. Light, creamy, and bursting with summery flavours, it was the perfect sweet note to end on. I had my eye on the Coconut Brûlée Cheesecake (with vanilla cheesecake, white chocolate and coconut ganache, and coconut gelato), but the waistband of my jeans was already begging for mercy. That one's firmly on the list for next time, and yes, there will be a next time.
Los Angeles Times
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
John Fogerty on the stories behind 5 of his turning-est, burning-est hits
In a time of exploding success and creativity in rock music, Creedence Clearwater Revival was quite possibly the finest singles band of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Formed in suburban El Cerrito in Northern California by frontman John Fogerty, his brother Tom on guitar, bassist Stu Cook and drummer Doug Clifford, CCR put up an absurd number of all-timers in the space of about 2 1/2 years, including most of the 20 collected on 'Chronicle,' the 1976 greatest-hits LP that still sits on the Billboard 200 album chart today, nearly half a century later. The band's instantly identifiable sound — which the members began developing first as the Blue Velvets and then as the Golliwogs — combined blues, rock, psychedelia and R&B John Fogerty's voice, preternaturally scratchy and soulful for a guy in his early 20s, gave the music a feeling of sex and grit even as he flexed his commercial pop smarts as a producer and hook-meister. For all their popularity, Fogerty refused to play Creedence's biggest hits for decades due to a prolonged legal battle with his old label, Fantasy Records, over the rights to his songs — a feud that reached a kind of apex when Fantasy's head honcho, Saul Zaentz, sued Fogerty for plagiarizing himself with his solo song 'The Old Man Down the Road,' which Zaentz said sounded too much like CCR's 'Run Through the Jungle.' (Fogerty eventually won; Zaentz died in 2014.) Yet two years ago, Fogerty regained control of his publishing, and now he's made an album of Taylor Swift-style rerecorded versions of the band's songs called 'Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years,' due Aug. 22. Ahead of a concert Sunday night at the Hollywood Bowl, where he'll be accompanied by a band that includes his sons Shane and Tyler, Fogerty, 80, called from the road to tell the stories behind five of his signature tunes. After charting in 1968 with covers of Dale Hawkins' 'Susie Q' and Screamin' Jay Hawkins' 'I Put a Spell on You,' Fogerty scored his first hit as a songwriter with this funky and propulsive country-soul jam. 'Proud Mary' came as a bolt of lightning and inspiration from heaven. I'd received my honorable discharge from the Army in the middle of 1968, and I was overjoyed — I mean, absolutely euphoric. It meant that I could now pursue music full-time. So I went in the house with my Rickenbacker guitar and started strumming some chords, and the first line I wrote was 'Left a good job in the city / Working for the man every night and day.' That's how I felt getting out of the Army. But what is this song about? I really didn't know. I went to my little song book that I'd only started writing in a few months before — it was a conscious decision to get more professional — and, lo and behold, the very first thing I'd ever written in that book was the phrase 'Proud Mary.' I didn't know what it meant — I just wrote it down because that was gonna be my job. I've got this little book, and I'm gonna collect my thoughts. At the very bottom of the same page was the word 'riverboat.' I remember saying to myself, 'Oh, this song's about a riverboat named Proud Mary.' How strange is that? Who writes a song about a boat? But after that I was off and running — finished the song within the hour, and for the first time in my life, I was looking at the page and I said, 'My God, I've written a classic.' I knew it was a great song, like the people I admired so much: Hoagy Carmichael or Leiber & Stoller or Lennon & McCartney. I felt it in my bones. Where did the narrator's accent come from? 'Big wheel keep on toinin'' and all that?Howlin' Wolf was a huge inspiration to me when I was 10, 11, 12 years old. He said things like that a lot, and I guess it went into my brain. I didn't do it consciously — it just seemed right to me when I was writing the song. CCR had five singles that got to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, including 'Proud Mary.' Do you recall what was at No. 1 when 'Proud Mary' reached No. 2?Let's see, this was early 1969 — I'd love to think that it was [Otis Redding's] 'Dock of the Bay.' 'Everyday People' by Sly and the Family kidding. How cool. Did you know Sly?I never met Sly Stone. I really loved the records. I was at Woodstock, and he was a couple acts after me. I watched Janis [Joplin] and then some of Sly, and then we retired to our Holiday Inn — must have been 4 in the morning by then. Ike and Tina Turner remade 'Proud Mary' for almost a different song. First time I heard it, I was driving in my car — was one of those times you pump your first and go, 'Yeah!' This twangy account of a musician fallen on hard times first appeared on the B-side of the 'Bad Moon Rising' single. My mom and dad loved traveling from our little town of El Cerrito. We would drive up San Pablo Avenue — I don't think there was a freeway back then — and cross the Carquinez Bridge into Vallejo and keep going up into the northern-central part of California and all those wonderful places like Stockton and Tracy and Modesto. I got to know all these towns like Dixon and Davis, and I heard my parents talk about Lodi. As a youngster, that was one of the words I saved in my book, like I was talking about earlier. I told myself, 'That's important, John — you need to save that and remember it.' As I started to get a little older, I remember playing on campus at Cal Berkeley with a ragtag group of guys — a local dance kind of thing for the students. The guy from Quicksilver Messenger Service with the afro [David Freiberg], he was there too playing with his band, and they did a song where it sounded like he was saying 'Lodi.' I was heartbroken. When he got done with his set, I went over and asked the gentleman, 'What was that song you were doing? Was it called 'Lodi'?' He said, 'Oh, you mean 'Codeine.'' Boy, did I crack up. Here I am, the farmer boy thinking about Lodi, and he's the downtown guy talking about drugs. Anyway, all that meandering my family did through the Central Valley was very important to me. There came a time when I was inspired to write a song framed in a place that was kind of out of the way. I was 23 or so, but I was picturing a much older person than myself — maybe Merle Haggard when he gets older. There he is, stuck in this little town because he'd drifted in and he doesn't have the money to get out. Immediately adopted as an anthem among those opposed to the Vietnam War, Fogerty's searing protest song was later inducted into the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry. You said in 2014 that you weren't entirely satisfied by your lead vocal.I still feel the same way. The basic tracks for 'Down on the Corner' and 'Fortunate Son' were both recorded, and one afternoon I went over to Wally Heider's studio to finish the songs. For 'Down on the Corner,' I did the maracas and the middle solo part, then sang all the background vocals, then sang the lead. So I'd been singing at the top of my lungs for probably an hour and a half, then I had to go back and finish 'Fortunate Son.' I was screaming my heart out, doing the best I could, but later I felt that some of the notes were a little flat — that I hadn't quite hit the mark. I always sort of cringed about that. There's an argument to be made that the raggedness in your voice is what gives the song its urgency.I know that in the case of the Beatles, John would just sit in the studio screaming and screaming until his voice got raw enough, then he'd record some takes. Perhaps the fact that it was a little out of tune made it — what's the word? — more pop-worthy. I don't know. 'Fortunate Son' was heard at President Trump's recent military parade, despite your asking him not to use it during his 2020 campaign.I didn't watch other than a few seconds. I was trying to find the Yankee game and came across the parade. I was expecting it would be like the Rose Bowl Parade on New Year's morning, but it seemed really kind of sleepy. Somebody emailed me later that night and told me. I thought it was strange — thought it would be something that someone would be wary of. Because of the cease-and-desist — and because the song is literally about a person of privilege avoiding military service.I thought to myself: Do you think somebody did it on purpose? Are they doing it as some weird kind of performance art? I might be giving too much credit to the thought that went into it. 'Fortunate Son' is one of the great rock songs about class, which is a concept that Trump has deeply reshaped in his time. He's a rich guy but he manages to make himself look like the underdog and the victim. I'm from the '60s — the hippie era — when young people were much more unified in the sense that everybody should be equal and everyone should be tolerant and respectful of each other. It's a little different now, even though I'm very happy that people are protesting and making noise and pointing out injustice — I'm thrilled that's going on instead of just standing by and watching somebody get lit on fire. But we're so polarized in America now. I'm hopeful, though. You didn't ask me the question, but I am. I think we're all starting to get tired of that. It doesn't work very well — what we're doing right now is certainly not working. If we fire everybody and quit all knowledge and science and education and manners and morality and ethics and kick out all the immigrants — well, I guess you and me are probably gone along with everybody else. I mean, it's just such complete negativity. As Americans, that's not us — that's not how we roll. With worries about the spread of gun ownership in his head, Fogerty devised one of his eeriest productions for this swampy psych-rock number. I was trying to do a lot with a little — certainly got the band cooking and got a good groove going. For the intro, I wanted to create maybe a Stanley Kubrick movie soundscape, but of course I didn't have a symphony orchestra or synthesizers or any of that kind of stuff. I had to imagine: How do I use these rock 'n' roll instruments — basically guitar and piano and a little bit of percussion and some backward tape — and create that ominous, rolling vibe? Along with the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, you were one of the few rock and pop musicians of that era who produced your own records. To me, it was natural. I remember a time in the little shed that Fantasy had built outside the back of their warehouse to use as a recording studio — I was working there one day, had the earphones on and I was at the mic. This was Golliwogs time, probably '65 or '66, and I was trying to get something accomplished that was not getting accomplished. I said out loud, 'Well, I guess Phil Spector's not gonna come down here and produce us, so I'm gonna have to learn how to be a producer myself.' Saul Zaentz famously took you to court for self-plagiarism. Is there anything at all in your mind that connects 'Run Through the Jungle' and 'The Old Man Down the Road'?Other than both of them having a very deep footprint within the blues, which is what has influenced me greatly in my life, I never thought they were even similar. The whole thing was preposterous. After CCR's 'Pendulum' LP — which included this tender ballad that now boasts more than 2 billion streams on Spotify — Tom Fogerty quit the group; the remaining three members went their separate ways less than two years later. I loved my band — I thought it was the culmination of everything I'd been working for — and to watch it sort of disintegrating, I just felt powerless. That's why I use the strange metaphor of rain coming down on a sunny day: We had finally found our sunny day, and yet everybody seemed to be more and more unhappy. I just felt completely befuddled by what was going on — I didn't know what to say or do that was gonna fix it. Up to that time, I'd thought the way to fix it was: Well, I'll just write more songs and we'll have more success — that'll take care of all our problems. That's how I felt — pathetically so — even as far as my relationship with Saul Zaentz and the horrible contract. I thought if I just showed that I was a great songwriter and could make these records that perhaps he would have some empathy and go, 'I should treat John better because I want to have more of these songs.' When I say that now, it sounds utterly foolish. In spite of the pain you were in at the time, this song is one of your true. It's like an atom bomb going off in your backyard — it's so horrible that you just sort of cling to your positive human emotion. Even if it's painful, you try to feel rather than be numb. 'Have You Ever Seen the Rain' has been covered widely: Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, the Ramones, Rod Stewart. You have a favorite rendition besides yours?I really liked Bonnie Tyler's version.
Scottish Sun
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
The unease I've felt all these years is now at peace… I'm going to kick butt, says John Fogerty ahead of Glastonbury
The Creedence Clearwater Revival legend's last visit to Worthy Farm was less than satisfactory UNFINISHED BUSINESS The unease I've felt all these years is now at peace… I'm going to kick butt, says John Fogerty ahead of Glastonbury Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) WHEN John Fogerty walks out on to Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage tomorrow, he will be taking care of unfinished business – in more ways than one. After a struggle dating back more than 50 years, he finally owns the publishing rights to the much-loved songs he wrote as Creedence Clearwater Revival's chief creative force. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 5 Creedence Clearwater Revival's chief creative force, John Fogerty Credit: David McLister 5 John wants to ensure his Glastonbury appearance is a rock 'n' rolling success Credit: David McLister 'For most of my life, I've been angry, hurt and frustrated,' Fogerty tells me. 'Not owning the songs meant that I didn't control their destiny. I didn't get to say what movie they'd be in or whether they could be used in a commercial. 'But the unease I've felt all these years is now at peace.' It means he can belt out Proud Mary, Born On The Bayou, Bad Moon Rising and Up Around The Bend with unbridled joy rather than lingering bitterness. Should the heavens open on Worthy Farm, he will have the perfect response with Who'll Stop The Rain. If it stays dry, as is forecast, he can unleash Have You Ever Seen The Rain? Isn't that great for an artist who couldn't bear to sing Creedence songs for the first 25 years of his fight to reclaim his legacy? As he heads to the Somerset countryside, another motivating factor for Fogerty is that his last visit to Glastonbury, 18 years ago, was less than satisfactory. Now he says: 'I want to go there and kick butt!' A month's worth of rain fell during festival weekend in 2007, making it the wettest Glastonbury on record and reducing the huge site to a quagmire. 'It rained like a son of a gun,' reports the rock legend who turned 80 in May. Foo Fighters make surprise Glastonbury performance as The Churn Ups 'It was so muddy, and somewhat chaotic, with all these people wearing rubber boots.' Fogerty recalls playing 'very, very well' despite challenging conditions. 'But we were almost fighting for survival just to stay above water and put on a good show.' He continues: 'We went on way after our start time and, near the end of our set, a big commotion was going on. 'People were shouting, 'You have to come off!' Proud Mary was meant to be our last song but they pulled the power. That didn't leave a good taste!' He compares his experience to the festival which took place in August, 1969 — the daddy of them all, Woodstock. Creedence were one of the headline acts for '3 Days Of Peace & Music' on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in upstate New York, attended by half a million people. The band were at the peak of their powers, selling more records that year than any other act in the world, INCLUDING The Beatles. 'The rain and mud very much figured into everything at Woodstock,' he says. When Creedence finally appeared in the early hours of Sunday morning, at least the deluge had subsided. But Fogerty adds: 'My frustration with Woodstock was that we went on very late. 'The Grateful Dead had been on for well over an hour, a lot of that time with no music coming from the stage. Half the audience was asleep!' Fifty-six years later, I'm speaking to Fogerty as he puts past disappointments aside to ensure that his appearance at Sir Michael Eavis's dairy farm is a rock 'n' rolling success. 'I want to be great and I'm looking forward to it,' he says, 'especially as I'm playing with my sons [Shane and Tyler].' I'm meeting Fogerty in the dimly lit basement bar of a hotel in the heart of London's Soho. The trademark checked flannel shirt is present and correct. He still sports a full head of hair, though perhaps not as impressive as the fulsome mop seen during his early years in the limelight. Unafraid to be outspoken — just what you'd expect of a rock elder statesman — he soon lights up the room. 5 From left, Doug, Tom, John and Stu in 1970 Credit: Didi Zill 5 John performing at Woodstock back in August 1969 Credit: Getty Fogerty is marking the end of his fight to get his songs back with an album called Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years. As with his live shows, it was made in the company of his sons and it summons all the old fire and brimstone. He says: 'It was absolutely wonderful to be making this record with Shane and Tyler — in keeping with the tradition of a father passing on his work to his sons.' Each track comes with the words John's Version in brackets after the title, echoing the Taylor's Version re-recordings by the world's biggest singing star. At a time when Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Sting have been selling off their back catalogues for vast sums, Fogerty and a certain Ms Swift have 'done the opposite'. 'I even lobbied to call mine Taylor's Version,' he laughs. 'That would have been good marketing.' On a more serious note, Fogerty says he understands why those other legends have sold their rights. 'Miraculously, they owned their stuff from a young age. They had better representation,' he says. 'A lifelong quest' 'But it's been a quest all my life to gain the ownership I never had.' It all came about because the head of his small record label Fantasy, the late Saul Zaentz, acquired the rights before Creedence Clearwater Revival hit the big time — and wouldn't let go. 'It was awful,' admits Fogerty. 'If it had been RCA or EMI, some huge conglomerate, and we were a little rock band, you might expect that sort of relationship. 'But this became very personal. I knew Saul Zaentz and he was a nothing, like I was a nothing before I started writing those songs. "A song like Run Through The Jungle hadn't even been written but it was already owned by Saul because of a piece of paper — the contract I signed. 'So, I had a lot of ill will towards him because he treated me so meanly. He was arrogant and dismissive.' After years of legal proceedings and despair, Fogerty credits a very special person in his life for helping to get his songs back. 'My dear wife Julie fought for this and made it happen,' he says. 'It has changed my life. It has changed everything.' Now it's time for a quick Creedence recap. The four members, Fogerty (lead vocals and guitar), his brother Tom (rhythm guitar), Stu Cook (bass) and Doug Clifford (drums) first got together in 1959. They met at high school in El Cerrito, a city in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. As The Blue Velvets, they enjoyed little success and had to endure their name being changed by a record company executive to The Golly***s, which they hated. I want to be great and I'm looking forward to it, especially as I'm playing with my sons John Fogerty Only when they became Creedence Clearwater Revival in January, 1968, did everything start falling into place — creatively if not contractually, that is. Their self-titled debut album featured their first hit, a cover of Dale Hawkins' Suzie Q, and Fogerty's most significant early composition, Porterville. He says: 'I wrote Porterville while on active duty in the military, marching around in unbearable heat and going into a hallucinating mental state. 'Everything was coming to life in my mind and that was pretty new for me. The song is a bit autobiographical, especially about my father/son situation. It captured my feelings in those times.' Porterville is the oldest Fogerty song to get a stirring 2025 reboot on his new album. Many of the other songs first appeared during his golden year of 1969 when inspiration came thick and fast — and THREE top ten albums were released. He says: 'The wonderful thing was that it was all organic and created by the band — not some publicity machine or a record label. 'We didn't have a manager, we didn't have a publisher, we weren't on a big label, so I thought I'd just have to do it with music. 'My bandmates became resistant to all this work but I was the one staying up every night, usually until 4am, writing songs. 'I took it on because, in my mind, I was really the only one of us who could do it. 'I kept kicking myself in the butt instead of going on a vacation or acquiring a bunch of material things. It felt like a matter of life and death.' The first of the three albums, Bayou Country, served notice of Californian Fogerty's infatuation with America's Deep South. I ask him why he relocated, in his mind at least, to the Mississippi Delta and wrote such songs as Proud Mary and Born On The Bayou. Fogerty says: 'I was doing that intuitively. Starting with Susie Q, the way I played the guitar seemed to have a Southern feel. 'As for the musical stars I loved, the spookier the better. People like Bo Diddley, Howlin' Wolf and Slim Harpo. 'Spookier the better' 'There was something so mysterious about what they were doing, almost untouchable, but I wanted to go in there and let it resonate.' He adds with a wry smile: 'I realise this sounds a little strange for a white, middle- class boy but my writing comes from deep inside.' Fogerty recalls movies set in the South having a big impact — Swamp Water with Dana Andrews and Walter Brennan, The Defiant Ones with Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis. He affirms: 'At later times in my life, after the band broke up and through all kinds of trends, I've always thought that bluesy, supernatural place is where I'm at my best.' I invite Fogerty to explain how his most famous song, Proud Mary, came into being. He describes the 'happy confluence' of things going on in his life that 'miraculously came out in that song'. 'I'd just got my honourable discharge from the army. I was very happy about it,' he says. 'Most of us didn't want to go into the jungle [in Vietnam] without knowing why and have to fight an unseen person, perhaps die doing it.' Fogerty remembers the euphoric moment he arrived home: 'I immediately went into the house and started playing chords on my little guitar that were slightly reminiscent of Beethoven's 5th. 'With that happy feeling, I got to a place where I was 'rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river'. I thought, 'Oh, I like that but what am I writing about?'' He dived into the songbook he'd been keeping and saw the words 'Proud Mary' at the top of the first page. At the bottom of the page, which yielded Bad Moon Rising and Sinister Purpose as well, was the word 'riverboat'. Cue a lightbulb moment for Fogerty. 'I thought, 'Proud Mary, oh, that's the name of a boat!' 'There is so much Americana in that idea. Hopes and dreams connected to this boat, which is connected to the Mississippi, which is connected to hundreds of years of folklore. 'I didn't try to make it happen but it converged right there in the perfect way.' I was a team player but the idea of relinquishing and letting the others write the songs seemed like career suicide. John Fogerty Did Fogerty like the Ike & Tina Turner version of Proud Mary which hit No4 in the US singles chart in 1971? 'I loved it,' he replies. 'The first time I heard it, I was in the car. It was dark, somewhere around seven o'clock, so it must have been winter, and it came on the radio. 'I'd been a Tina fan for years. In fact, since hearing It's Gonna Work Out Fine at a club [in 1961], I was always pulling for her.' Proud Mary took pride of place on Bayou Country and the hits kept on rolling through the next four Creedence LPs — Green River (1969), Willy And The Poor Boys (1969), Cosmo's Factory (1970) and Pendulum (1970). One of Fogerty's best songs was searing Fortunate Son which took aim at rich families paying for their children to avoid the draft while poor kids went off to fight. By way of explanation, he says: 'I grew up in a lower- middle-class situation — not at poverty level but many times it felt like it. My parents divorced and my mom had five boys to raise. There was certainly an element of us being behind the eight ball. 'We had a basement that flooded every time it rained. It felt like a semi-prison at times. 'The funny thing is, I've earned millions of dollars in my life, right? But I still feel like that kid in that room.' By the time of 1972's disastrous Mardi Gras album, which shared songwriting duties rather than rely solely on Fogerty, irreparable cracks appeared — and Creedence split in circumstances that he likens to a bitter divorce. 'I was pretty sure that none of the other fellas could come up with anything like I was doing,' he says. 'Before a rehearsal, I'd say, 'Does anybody have anything?' They would look at their toes, so I just kept going. 'I was a team player but the idea of relinquishing and letting the others write the songs seemed like career suicide.' Things came to a head at a band meeting in late 1970 when Fogerty's brother Tom said he wouldn't be in the band 'if it stays the way it is'. 'I had to relent because I realised there would be no band otherwise. So, I gave everybody what they wanted, then it fell apart anyway.' Tom Fogerty was first to leave and sadly died aged just 48, never reconciling with his younger brother. John says: 'When Tom left, it broke my heart. 'He was clearly disliking me and even said publicly that Saul Zaentz was his best friend. That hurt me and drove my anger. 'When Tom passed away, we had not come to grips with the situation but, years later, I made a point in my heart and my mind to forgive him. 'I realise we both messed up but I expect to meet Tom in the afterlife, and that everything will be joyful.' Speaking of joyful, it's the perfect word to describe John Fogerty's return to Glastonbury. Festival-goers will be surprised at how many of his songs they can sing along to. Big wheel keep on turnin' Proud Mary keep on burnin' JOHN FOGERTY Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years ★★★★☆
The Sun
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
The unease I've felt all these years is now at peace… I'm going to kick butt, says John Fogerty ahead of Glastonbury
WHEN John Fogerty walks out on to Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage tomorrow, he will be taking care of unfinished business – in more ways than one. After a struggle dating back more than 50 years, he finally owns the publishing rights to the much-loved songs he wrote as Creedence Clearwater Revival's chief creative force. 5 5 'For most of my life, I've been angry, hurt and frustrated,' Fogerty tells me. 'Not owning the songs meant that I didn't control their destiny. I didn't get to say what movie they'd be in or whether they could be used in a commercial. 'But the unease I've felt all these years is now at peace.' It means he can belt out Proud Mary, Born On The Bayou, Bad Moon Rising and Up Around The Bend with unbridled joy rather than lingering bitterness. Should the heavens open on Worthy Farm, he will have the perfect response with Who'll Stop The Rain. If it stays dry, as is forecast, he can unleash Have You Ever Seen The Rain? Isn't that great for an artist who couldn't bear to sing Creedence songs for the first 25 years of his fight to reclaim his legacy? As he heads to the Somerset countryside, another motivating factor for Fogerty is that his last visit to Glastonbury, 18 years ago, was less than satisfactory. Now he says: 'I want to go there and kick butt!' A month's worth of rain fell during festival weekend in 2007, making it the wettest Glastonbury on record and reducing the huge site to a quagmire. 'It rained like a son of a gun,' reports the rock legend who turned 80 in May. 'It was so muddy, and somewhat chaotic, with all these people wearing rubber boots.' Fogerty recalls playing 'very, very well' despite challenging conditions. 'But we were almost fighting for survival just to stay above water and put on a good show.' He continues: 'We went on way after our start time and, near the end of our set, a big commotion was going on. 'People were shouting, 'You have to come off!' Proud Mary was meant to be our last song but they pulled the power. That didn't leave a good taste!' He compares his experience to the festival which took place in August, 1969 — the daddy of them all, Woodstock. Creedence were one of the headline acts for '3 Days Of Peace & Music' on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in upstate New York, attended by half a million people. The band were at the peak of their powers, selling more records that year than any other act in the world, INCLUDING The Beatles. 'The rain and mud very much figured into everything at Woodstock,' he says. When Creedence finally appeared in the early hours of Sunday morning, at least the deluge had subsided. But Fogerty adds: 'My frustration with Woodstock was that we went on very late. 'The Grateful Dead had been on for well over an hour, a lot of that time with no music coming from the stage. Half the audience was asleep!' Fifty-six years later, I'm speaking to Fogerty as he puts past disappointments aside to ensure that his appearance at Sir Michael Eavis's dairy farm is a rock 'n' rolling success. 'I want to be great and I'm looking forward to it,' he says, 'especially as I'm playing with my sons [Shane and Tyler].' I'm meeting Fogerty in the dimly lit basement bar of a hotel in the heart of London's Soho. The trademark checked flannel shirt is present and correct. He still sports a full head of hair, though perhaps not as impressive as the fulsome mop seen during his early years in the limelight. Unafraid to be outspoken — just what you'd expect of a rock elder statesman — he soon lights up the room. 5 5 Fogerty is marking the end of his fight to get his songs back with an album called Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years. As with his live shows, it was made in the company of his sons and it summons all the old fire and brimstone. He says: 'It was absolutely wonderful to be making this record with Shane and Tyler — in keeping with the tradition of a father passing on his work to his sons.' Each track comes with the words John's Version in brackets after the title, echoing the Taylor's Version re-recordings by the world's biggest singing star. At a time when Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Sting have been selling off their back catalogues for vast sums, Fogerty and a certain Ms Swift have 'done the opposite'. 'I even lobbied to call mine Taylor's Version,' he laughs. 'That would have been good marketing.' On a more serious note, Fogerty says he understands why those other legends have sold their rights. 'Miraculously, they owned their stuff from a young age. They had better representation,' he says. 'A lifelong quest' 'But it's been a quest all my life to gain the ownership I never had.' It all came about because the head of his small record label Fantasy, the late Saul Zaentz, acquired the rights before Creedence Clearwater Revival hit the big time — and wouldn't let go. 'It was awful,' admits Fogerty. 'If it had been RCA or EMI, some huge conglomerate, and we were a little rock band, you might expect that sort of relationship. 'But this became very personal. I knew Saul Zaentz and he was a nothing, like I was a nothing before I started writing those songs. "A song like Run Through The Jungle hadn't even been written but it was already owned by Saul because of a piece of paper — the contract I signed. 'So, I had a lot of ill will towards him because he treated me so meanly. He was arrogant and dismissive.' After years of legal proceedings and despair, Fogerty credits a very special person in his life for helping to get his songs back. 'My dear wife Julie fought for this and made it happen,' he says. 'It has changed my life. It has changed everything.' Now it's time for a quick Creedence recap. The four members, Fogerty (lead vocals and guitar), his brother Tom (rhythm guitar), Stu Cook (bass) and Doug Clifford (drums) first got together in 1959. They met at high school in El Cerrito, a city in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. As The Blue Velvets, they enjoyed little success and had to endure their name being changed by a record company executive to The Golly***s, which they hated. Only when they became Creedence Clearwater Revival in January, 1968, did everything start falling into place — creatively if not contractually, that is. Their self-titled debut album featured their first hit, a cover of Dale Hawkins' Suzie Q, and Fogerty's most significant early composition, Porterville. He says: 'I wrote Porterville while on active duty in the military, marching around in unbearable heat and going into a hallucinating mental state. 'Everything was coming to life in my mind and that was pretty new for me. The song is a bit autobiographical, especially about my father/son situation. It captured my feelings in those times.' Porterville is the oldest Fogerty song to get a stirring 2025 reboot on his new album. Many of the other songs first appeared during his golden year of 1969 when inspiration came thick and fast — and THREE top ten albums were released. He says: 'The wonderful thing was that it was all organic and created by the band — not some publicity machine or a record label. 'We didn't have a manager, we didn't have a publisher, we weren't on a big label, so I thought I'd just have to do it with music. 'My bandmates became resistant to all this work but I was the one staying up every night, usually until 4am, writing songs. 'I took it on because, in my mind, I was really the only one of us who could do it. 'I kept kicking myself in the butt instead of going on a vacation or acquiring a bunch of material things. It felt like a matter of life and death.' The first of the three albums, Bayou Country, served notice of Californian Fogerty's infatuation with America's Deep South. I ask him why he relocated, in his mind at least, to the Mississippi Delta and wrote such songs as Proud Mary and Born On The Bayou. Fogerty says: 'I was doing that intuitively. Starting with Susie Q, the way I played the guitar seemed to have a Southern feel. 'As for the musical stars I loved, the spookier the better. People like Bo Diddley, Howlin' Wolf and Slim Harpo. 'Spookier the better' 'There was something so mysterious about what they were doing, almost untouchable, but I wanted to go in there and let it resonate.' He adds with a wry smile: 'I realise this sounds a little strange for a white, middle- class boy but my writing comes from deep inside.' Fogerty recalls movies set in the South having a big impact — Swamp Water with Dana Andrews and Walter Brennan, The Defiant Ones with Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis. He affirms: 'At later times in my life, after the band broke up and through all kinds of trends, I've always thought that bluesy, supernatural place is where I'm at my best.' I invite Fogerty to explain how his most famous song, Proud Mary, came into being. He describes the 'happy confluence' of things going on in his life that 'miraculously came out in that song'. 'I'd just got my honourable discharge from the army. I was very happy about it,' he says. 'Most of us didn't want to go into the jungle [in Vietnam] without knowing why and have to fight an unseen person, perhaps die doing it.' Fogerty remembers the euphoric moment he arrived home: 'I immediately went into the house and started playing chords on my little guitar that were slightly reminiscent of Beethoven's 5th. 'With that happy feeling, I got to a place where I was 'rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river'. I thought, 'Oh, I like that but what am I writing about?'' He dived into the songbook he'd been keeping and saw the words 'Proud Mary' at the top of the first page. At the bottom of the page, which yielded Bad Moon Rising and Sinister Purpose as well, was the word 'riverboat'. Cue a lightbulb moment for Fogerty. 'I thought, 'Proud Mary, oh, that's the name of a boat!' 'There is so much Americana in that idea. Hopes and dreams connected to this boat, which is connected to the Mississippi, which is connected to hundreds of years of folklore. 'I didn't try to make it happen but it converged right there in the perfect way.' I was a team player but the idea of relinquishing and letting the others write the songs seemed like career suicide. John Fogerty Did Fogerty like the Ike & Tina Turner version of Proud Mary which hit No4 in the US singles chart in 1971? 'I loved it,' he replies. 'The first time I heard it, I was in the car. It was dark, somewhere around seven o'clock, so it must have been winter, and it came on the radio. 'I'd been a Tina fan for years. In fact, since hearing It's Gonna Work Out Fine at a club [in 1961], I was always pulling for her.' Proud Mary took pride of place on Bayou Country and the hits kept on rolling through the next four Creedence LPs — Green River (1969), Willy And The Poor Boys (1969), Cosmo's Factory (1970) and Pendulum (1970). One of Fogerty's best songs was searing Fortunate Son which took aim at rich families paying for their children to avoid the draft while poor kids went off to fight. By way of explanation, he says: 'I grew up in a lower- middle-class situation — not at poverty level but many times it felt like it. My parents divorced and my mom had five boys to raise. There was certainly an element of us being behind the eight ball. 'We had a basement that flooded every time it rained. It felt like a semi-prison at times. 'The funny thing is, I've earned millions of dollars in my life, right? But I still feel like that kid in that room.' By the time of 1972's disastrous Mardi Gras album, which shared songwriting duties rather than rely solely on Fogerty, irreparable cracks appeared — and Creedence split in circumstances that he likens to a bitter divorce. 'I was pretty sure that none of the other fellas could come up with anything like I was doing,' he says. 'Before a rehearsal, I'd say, 'Does anybody have anything?' They would look at their toes, so I just kept going. 'I was a team player but the idea of relinquishing and letting the others write the songs seemed like career suicide.' Things came to a head at a band meeting in late 1970 when Fogerty's brother Tom said he wouldn't be in the band 'if it stays the way it is'. 'I had to relent because I realised there would be no band otherwise. So, I gave everybody what they wanted, then it fell apart anyway.' Tom Fogerty was first to leave and sadly died aged just 48, never reconciling with his younger brother. John says: 'When Tom left, it broke my heart. 'He was clearly disliking me and even said publicly that Saul Zaentz was his best friend. That hurt me and drove my anger. 'When Tom passed away, we had not come to grips with the situation but, years later, I made a point in my heart and my mind to forgive him. 'I realise we both messed up but I expect to meet Tom in the afterlife, and that everything will be joyful.' Speaking of joyful, it's the perfect word to describe John Fogerty's return to Glastonbury. Festival-goers will be surprised at how many of his songs they can sing along to. Big wheel keep on turnin' Proud Mary keep on burnin' JOHN FOGERTY ★★★★☆ 5
The Irish Sun
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
The unease I've felt all these years is now at peace… I'm going to kick butt, says John Fogerty ahead of Glastonbury
WHEN John Fogerty walks out on to Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage tomorrow, he will be taking care of unfinished business – in more ways than one. After a struggle dating back more than 50 years, he finally owns the publishing rights to the much-loved songs he wrote as Creedence Clearwater Revival's chief creative force. Advertisement 5 Creedence Clearwater Revival's chief creative force, John Fogerty Credit: David McLister 5 John wants to ensure his Glastonbury appearance is a rock 'n' rolling success Credit: David McLister 'For most of my life, I've been angry, hurt and frustrated,' Fogerty tells me. 'Not owning the songs meant that I didn't control their destiny . I didn't get to say what movie they'd be in or whether they could be used in a commercial. 'But the unease I've felt all these years is now at peace.' It means he can belt out Proud Mary, Born On The Bayou, Bad Moon Rising and Up Around The Bend with unbridled joy rather than lingering bitterness. Advertisement READ MORE ON GLASTONBURY Should the heavens open on Worthy Farm, he will have the perfect response with Who'll Stop The Rain. If it stays dry, as is forecast, he can unleash Have You Ever Seen The Rain? Isn't that great for an artist who couldn't bear to sing Creedence songs for the first 25 years of his fight to reclaim his legacy? As he heads to the Somerset countryside, another motivating factor for Fogerty is that his last visit to Glastonbury, 18 years ago, was less than satisfactory. Advertisement Most read in Music Now he says: 'I want to go there and kick butt!' A month's worth of rain fell during festival weekend in 2007, making it the wettest Glastonbury on record and reducing the huge site to a quagmire. 'It rained like a son of a gun,' reports the rock legend who turned 80 in May. Foo Fighters make surprise Glastonbury performance as The Churn Ups 'It was so muddy, and somewhat chaotic, with all these people wearing rubber boots .' Fogerty recalls playing 'very, very well' despite challenging conditions. 'But we were almost fighting for survival just to stay above water and put on a good show.' Advertisement He continues: 'We went on way after our start time and, near the end of our set, a big commotion was going on. 'People were shouting, 'You have to come off!' Proud Mary was meant to be our last song but they pulled the power . That didn't leave a good taste!' He compares his experience to the festival which took place in August, 1969 — the daddy of them all, Woodstock. Creedence were one of the headline acts for '3 Days Of Peace & Music' on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in upstate New York, attended by half a million people. Advertisement The band were at the peak of their powers, selling more records that year than any other act in the world, INCLUDING The Beatles. 'The rain and mud very much figured into everything at Woodstock,' he says. When Creedence finally appeared in the early hours of Sunday morning, at least the deluge had subsided. But Fogerty adds: 'My frustration with Woodstock was that we went on very late. Advertisement 'The Grateful Dead had been on for well over an hour, a lot of that time with no music coming from the stage. Half the audience was asleep!' Fifty-six years later, I'm speaking to Fogerty as he puts past disappointments aside to ensure that his appearance at Sir Michael Eavis's dairy farm is a rock 'n' rolling success. 'I want to be great and I'm looking forward to it,' he says, 'especially as I'm playing with my sons [Shane and Tyler].' I'm meeting Fogerty in the dimly lit basement bar of a hotel in the heart of London's Soho. Advertisement The trademark checked flannel shirt is present and correct. He still sports a full head of hair, though perhaps not as impressive as the fulsome mop seen during his early years in the limelight. Unafraid to be outspoken — just what you'd expect of a rock elder statesman — he soon lights up the room. 5 From left, Doug, Tom, John and Stu in 1970 Credit: Didi Zill 5 John performing at Woodstock back in August 1969 Credit: Getty Advertisement Fogerty is marking the end of his fight to get his songs back with an album called Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years. As with his live shows, it was made in the company of his sons and it summons all the old fire and brimstone. He says: 'It was absolutely wonderful to be making this record with Shane and Tyler — in keeping with the tradition of a father passing on his work to his sons.' Each track comes with the words John's Version in brackets after the title, echoing the Taylor's Version re-recordings by the world's biggest singing star. Advertisement At a time when Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and 'I even lobbied to call mine Taylor's Version,' he laughs. 'That would have been good marketing.' On a more serious note, Fogerty says he understands why those other legends have sold their rights. 'Miraculously, they owned their stuff from a young age. They had better representation,' he says. Advertisement 'A lifelong quest' 'But it's been a quest all my life to gain the ownership I never had.' It all came about because the head of his small record label Fantasy, the late Saul Zaentz, acquired the rights before Creedence Clearwater Revival hit the big time — and wouldn't let go. 'It was awful,' admits Fogerty. 'If it had been RCA or EMI, some huge conglomerate, and we were a little rock band, you might expect that sort of relationship. 'But this became very personal. I knew Saul Zaentz and he was a nothing, like I was a nothing before I started writing those songs. Advertisement "A song like Run Through The Jungle hadn't even been written but it was already owned by Saul because of a piece of paper — the contract I signed. 'So, I had a lot of ill will towards him because he treated me so meanly. He was arrogant and dismissive.' After years of legal proceedings and despair, Fogerty credits a very special person in his life for helping to get his songs back. 'My dear wife Julie fought for this and made it happen,' he says. 'It has changed my life. It has changed everything.' Advertisement Now it's time for a quick Creedence recap. The four members, Fogerty (lead vocals and guitar), his brother Tom (rhythm guitar), Stu Cook (bass) and Doug Clifford (drums) first got together in 1959. They met at high school in El Cerrito, a city in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. As The Blue Velvets, they enjoyed little success and had to endure their name being changed by a record company executive to The Golly***s, which they hated. Advertisement I want to be great and I'm looking forward to it, especially as I'm playing with my sons John Fogerty Only when they became Creedence Clearwater Revival in January, 1968, did everything start falling into place — creatively if not contractually, that is. Their self-titled debut album featured their first hit, a cover of Dale Hawkins' Suzie Q, and Fogerty's most significant early composition, Porterville. He says: 'I wrote Porterville while on active duty in the military, marching around in unbearable heat and going into a hallucinating mental state. 'Everything was coming to life in my mind and that was pretty new for me. The song is a bit autobiographical, especially about my father/son situation. It captured my feelings in those times.' Advertisement Porterville is the oldest Fogerty song to get a stirring 2025 reboot on his new album. Many of the other songs first appeared during his golden year of 1969 when inspiration came thick and fast — and THREE top ten albums were released. He says: 'The wonderful thing was that it was all organic and created by the band — not some publicity machine or a record label. 'We didn't have a manager, we didn't have a publisher, we weren't on a big label, so I thought I'd just have to do it with music. Advertisement 'My bandmates became resistant to all this work but I was the one staying up every night, usually until 4am, writing songs. 'I took it on because, in my mind, I was really the only one of us who could do it. 'I kept kicking myself in the butt instead of going on a vacation or acquiring a bunch of material things. It felt like a matter of life and death.' The first of the three albums, Bayou Country, served notice of Californian Fogerty's infatuation with America's Deep South. Advertisement I ask him why he relocated, in his mind at least, to the Mississippi Delta and wrote such songs as Proud Mary and Born On The Bayou. Fogerty says: 'I was doing that intuitively. Starting with Susie Q, the way I played the guitar seemed to have a Southern feel. 'As for the musical stars I loved, the spookier the better. People like Bo Diddley, Howlin' Wolf and Slim Harpo. 'Spookier the better' 'There was something so mysterious about what they were doing, almost untouchable, but I wanted to go in there and let it resonate.' Advertisement He adds with a wry smile: 'I realise this sounds a little strange for a white, middle- class boy but my writing comes from deep inside.' Fogerty recalls movies set in the South having a big impact — Swamp Water with Dana Andrews and Walter Brennan, The Defiant Ones with Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis. He affirms: 'At later times in my life, after the band broke up and through all kinds of trends, I've always thought that bluesy, supernatural place is where I'm at my best.' I invite Fogerty to explain how his most famous song, Proud Mary, came into being. Advertisement He describes the 'happy confluence' of things going on in his life that 'miraculously came out in that song'. 'I'd just got my honourable discharge from the army. I was very happy about it,' he says. 'Most of us didn't want to go into the jungle [in Vietnam] without knowing why and have to fight an unseen person, perhaps die doing it.' Fogerty remembers the euphoric moment he arrived home: 'I immediately went into the house and started playing chords on my little guitar that were slightly reminiscent of Beethoven's 5th. Advertisement 'With that happy feeling, I got to a place where I was 'rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river'. I thought, 'Oh, I like that but what am I writing about?'' He dived into the songbook he'd been keeping and saw the words 'Proud Mary' at the top of the first page. At the bottom of the page, which yielded Bad Moon Rising and Sinister Purpose as well, was the word 'riverboat'. Cue a lightbulb moment for Fogerty. 'I thought, 'Proud Mary, oh, that's the name of a boat!' Advertisement 'There is so much Americana in that idea. Hopes and dreams connected to this boat, which is connected to the Mississippi, which is connected to hundreds of years of folklore. 'I didn't try to make it happen but it converged right there in the perfect way.' I was a team player but the idea of relinquishing and letting the others write the songs seemed like career suicide. John Fogerty Did Fogerty like the Ike & Tina Turner version of Proud Mary which hit No4 in the US singles chart in 1971? 'I loved it,' he replies. 'The first time I heard it, I was in the car. It was dark, somewhere around seven o'clock, so it must have been winter , and it came on the radio. Advertisement 'I'd been a Tina fan for years. In fact, since hearing It's Gonna Work Out Fine at a club [in 1961], I was always pulling for her.' Proud Mary took pride of place on Bayou Country and the hits kept on rolling through the next four Creedence LPs — Green River (1969), Willy And The Poor Boys (1969), Cosmo's Factory (1970) and Pendulum (1970). One of Fogerty's best songs was searing Fortunate Son which took aim at rich families paying for their children to avoid the draft while poor kids went off to fight. By way of explanation, he says: 'I grew up in a lower- middle-class situation — not at poverty level but many times it felt like it. Advertisement My parents divorced and my mom had five boys to raise. There was certainly an element of us being behind the eight ball. 'We had a basement that flooded every time it rained. It felt like a semi-prison at times. 'The funny thing is, I've earned millions of dollars in my life, right? But I still feel like that kid in that room.' By the time of 1972's disastrous Mardi Gras album, which shared songwriting duties rather than rely solely on Fogerty, irreparable cracks appeared — and Creedence split in circumstances that he likens to a bitter divorce. Advertisement 'I was pretty sure that none of the other fellas could come up with anything like I was doing,' he says. 'Before a rehearsal, I'd say, 'Does anybody have anything?' They would look at their toes, so I just kept going. 'I was a team player but the idea of relinquishing and letting the others write the songs seemed like career suicide.' Things came to a head at a band meeting in late 1970 when Fogerty's brother Tom said he wouldn't be in the band 'if it stays the way it is'. 'I had to relent because I realised there would be no band otherwise. So, I gave everybody what they wanted, then it fell apart anyway.' Advertisement Tom Fogerty was first to leave and sadly died aged just 48, never reconciling with his younger brother. John says: 'When Tom left, it broke my heart. 'He was clearly disliking me and even said publicly that Saul Zaentz was his best friend. That hurt me and drove my anger. 'When Tom passed away, we had not come to grips with the situation but, years later, I made a point in my heart and my mind to forgive him. Advertisement 'I realise we both messed up but I expect to meet Tom in the afterlife, and that everything will be joyful.' Speaking of joyful, it's the perfect word to describe John Fogerty's return to Glastonbury. Festival-goers will be surprised at how many of his songs they can sing along to. Big wheel keep on turnin' Advertisement Proud Mary keep on burnin' JOHN FOGERTY Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years ★★★★☆ 5 John Fogerty's new album, Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years
