Hit Single

Spencer Patterson

Saturday, Nov. 27, 2004 | 12:25 p.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

November 27 - 28, 2004

Who: John Fogerty.

When: 9 tonight.

Where: The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel.

Tickets: $30-$75.

Information: 693-5066.

For three decades after the breakup of Creedence Clearwater Revival, John Fogerty didn't spend much time fronting a "Travelin' Band."

Embroiled in a series of bitter lawsuits with former label Fantasy Records, Fogerty became famous for his sporadic touring and an infrequent album release schedule.

The Berkeley, Calif.,-born vocalist with the odd Southern twang even took two extended periods away from the music scene altogether, first from 1975 to 1984 and then from 1986 to 1997.

Today the famed songwriter is making up for lost time. Fogerty has spent much of 2004 on the road, either with his own band or with the pre-election "Vote for Change" tour.

And in September he issued his first new studio collection in seven years, the politically charged "Deja Vu All Over Again."

Fogerty, who heated up The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel with a fiery performance in July, circles back to the venue at 9 p.m. Sunday for a return engagement.

On Monday the Sun caught up with the 59-year-old rock 'n' roll legend for a phone interview from a Minneapolis hotel room.

Las Vegas Sun: You released your album between your two Vegas shows. Has your live set changed much as a result?

John Fogerty: Yes, I'm doing songs from the new record, which would not have made a lot of sense in July because nobody would have known what was up.

But also I've kind of shuffled the whole set. I'd kind of gotten set in my ways. For years I just thought people wanted to hear the big singles, the Top 40 songs, that sort of thing.

And I finally just decided I'd like to go into some of the other stuff that I've heard people ask for over the years. I always figured that's just one crazy guy, you know? But I'm committed to it, and it seems to be working really well.

Songs like (Creedence's) "Bootleg" and "The Night Time is the Right Time" ... I don't think I've ever done them in person before.

Sun: The lyrics to the title track from "Deja Vu" draw a parallel between the Vietnam War and the current conflict in Iraq. Describe your songwriting process for that one.

JF: It's interesting how I wrote this song. It's just really different than anything else I ever wrote.

I was gonna try and write a swamp-rock song, very much in a light-hearted vein. And the line "Deja Vu" was just kind of whispered in my ear. It was really kind of spooky.

I didn't want to be distracted. I kind of brushed my hand away, but it came back again. And I've been doing this long enough that I realize, there's something that's trying to happen here. So I went and got an acoustic guitar and really just kind of channeled the song.

As an American citizen a lot of what this song is talking about was in my mind. When the U.S. decided to invade Iraq I shook my head going, "Wow, we're not gonna do this again are we? We're not so stupid that we're gonna do this?"

Sun: You recently played six dates on the "Vote for Change" tour. Given the time you guys put in in the swing states, how disappointed were you in the election results?

JF: In a normal, everyday election year, this is America, and we kind of all shrug our shoulders, win or lose, and we get back to work. Because we are a great country and we have this process that's pretty wonderful called democracy and elections.

But this time, because of the war, I just felt it was different, almost an emergency. So certainly the day after the election I was numb.

Sun: Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band backed you at those "Vote for Change" shows. What was that like?

JF: They're amazing, just wonderful. You may not get it by listening to the records, but when you go see it live, I became a total convert, a total believer. It's a force of nature.

Sun: Springsteen gave Creedence's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction speech and recently called you the "Hank Williams of his generation." Would you be up for a collaboration with Springsteen at some point?

JF: Oh yeah, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Hopefully there will be some avenue, maybe a song or something in the future that we could do together. Because it was great fun, it really was.

Sun: After CCR split in 1972, you went 25 years without playing the songs you wrote for that band, apart from a Vietnam War veterans benefit in 1987. Looking back, was that a good decision?

JF: No (laughs). If I had another person like a manager all that time, he would have been saying, "You're killing your career," which is probably true.

But my heart was broken. What happened to me with Fantasy Records and all that made it just impossible for me to perform those songs, even though they are my songs, because somebody else owns them.

And beyond that, I owed them more and more and more records, the whole thing was just a quagmire that no one should have to live through.

Sun: What ultimately changed your mind about performing your Creedence songs?

JF: One day in the hot sun in Mississippi, God gave me some enlightenment. I was at the supposed gravesite of (bluesman) Robert Johnson, mulling over his legacy, and I wondered to myself, "What happened to his songs?" Because Robert is quite the mythical character.

I cynically said to myself, "Some smart lawyer up in New York City in a tall building with a big cigar probably (owns them)," someone making lots of money off Robert but who didn't care a hoot about his personal life or his heirs.

And I shook my head and said, "You know what? It doesn't matter. These are Robert's songs. He's the spiritual owner." And there was like a microsecond of insight right in that moment.

I said, "John, you're in the same boat. These songs are your songs. You're the spiritual owner." And that little tidbit of angelic knowledge allowed me to decide to start performing my own songs again.

Sun: And judging from your show in Las Vegas in July, you're enjoying playing them.

JF: Right, because it's all for the right reasons. If you're doing something that you don't feel in your heart then you become a sort of schizophrenic Frankenstein.

And I really couldn't do it (before). I would not prostitute myself.

Sun: Your former bandmates Stu Cook and Doug Clifford continue to tour as Creedence Clearwater Revisited. How do you feel about them going around playing your songs?

JF: The most direct answer is, I never would have thought that would happen to such a world-class band as Creedence. The Beatles would never go touring around with one leg and say, "We're the Beatles."

You know, we were right up there with the Stones and Beatles and not sort of a sleazy lounge act.

And the fellas really did a lot of things to me that harmed me, one of which was Stu Cook going to Fantasy Records when I put out my album "Centerfield" (1985) and saying, "John's ripping off Creedence. You should sue him." So they did.

But talk about your heart's not in it. I think that's their punishment. Every night they have to get onstage knowing what a shallow version they are, and then they have to play my songs (chuckles).

Sun: The three surviving Creedence members didn't even play together at the band's Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 1993 ...

JF: The backstabbing had gone on for probably 25 years. And some of those events, as of 1993, were very current.

Of course, (not reuniting for the Hall of Fame) was no surprise. The ex-bandmates turned it into a big dramatic affair but they actually had known full well for years.

My reaction was, "If you're my enemy and you're basically trying to kill me, I guess I'm not gonna make music with you."

Sun: Were the two long hiatuses you took from music ultimately good for your mental health?

JF: No. Those things really harmed my career. I can see that now. I'm kind of being penalized for the long times away from the public eye. I just didn't know any other way to behave at the time.

But now, my life is wonderful, and I'm really looking forward to being in front of people constantly, continuously.

It's kind of like the Muhammad Ali "rope-a-dope" thing. He laid off for 3 1/2 years, so he was a lot fresher than most of his opponents.

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