John Fogerty – I have no problem with ‘Wooly Bully’ and ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’ sitting right next to each other

ND: How about the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction, where you performed with Bruce Springsteen and others instead of your former bandmates in Creedence?

JF: Let me say, since you’ve opened it, I wouldn’t talk about it but you opened it….A couple of very specific things happened that caused my reaction, which is what everybody saw — the tip of the iceberg above water. They may have heard that I actually had to have a plagiarism trial in 1988 in which I had to defend my new song “Old Man Down The Road” against my old song “Run Through The Jungle”, which Saul Zaentz owned. And there was a trial about that. I actually had to go to trial and defend myself and waste a lot of time and spend a lot of money, then I had to go to the Supreme Court of the United States just to ask for the right to ask: Can I have my legal fees returned to me? Because I was barred because of this one special case in American law — I’m sure it was some old music guy — from having the right to ask for my legal fees even though I won the trial. I won the right, and after many years went by, the judge finally awarded me my fees. So I was kind of made whole.

But it all started back in 1985 when Centerfield came out. [Creedence bassist] Stu Cook went down to Fantasy Records with a copy of Centerfield, played the album for Saul Zaentz and said to Saul, “He’s ripping off Creedence! You should sue him!” And so that’s what happened in 1988. That really ticked me off. I didn’t find out about it until Saul testified in 1988.

Much later, in 1989, I was actually making overtures with the help of Bill Graham to try and make peace with Saul. I was making some headway, but unbeknownst to me…Creedence had an agreement going back to 1965 where it took a unanimous decision by all of us to do anything with our music. I had operated on that ever since. Fantasy actually went to the other guys and got them to sell their vote for $30,000 each. So it was, from now on, we can do whatever we want. We’ve got Creedence’s approval, meaning three of the four, and the business world recognizes a democratic vote, whereas us members in the band actually agreed that it took all of us. So I was totally snookered, in other words. And that was what was reflected when the idea was suggested that we stand up as Creedence and perform. I said “Heck no, I ain’t doing that.” It was a very current issue.

IV: I’VE DECIDED THIS POLICY IS ILL-FATED AND A TRAGEDY

ND: With the year’s election season, “Fortunate Son” has risen to prominence once again. What does that mean to you?

JF: It’s only been quite recently that I realized the whole connection about why George W. is “Fortunate Son”. People even came up to me saying things like, “I ain’t no president’s son,” which I’m ashamed to say I hadn’t thought of myself.

When 9-11 happened, I was the first guy standing right next to the president, meaning, regardless if I thought this guy was a doofus before, this is a very important moment, we need to rally behind our president. That’s the kind of person I am. Again: “Shut up and get in line. How can I help?” I think that was everybody’s emotion. Therefore I really haven’t been spending three years thinking of bad things to say about the President. It’s really only been since the war in Iraq that I’ve decided this policy is ill-fated and a tragedy.

ND: So, how will you feel if Bush is re-elected?

JF: I’ll be really sad because I know that there are a lot of things lurking. I’ve certainly heard about a couple of bills concerning reinstating the draft. They’re being mighty quiet about that one. But obviously they have plans. I will be very disappointed because I feel that obviously policies that I don’t agree with now will not only be continued, but they’re going to act like it’s a mandate and probably go at them full steam ahead.

ND: As an artist, parent, and American, will you do anything different moving forward?

JF: I certainly will do all that I can if in fact George W. is re-elected to make noise both artistically and as a citizen. I’ve got children, two boys, and not too long in the future they will be 18. I know that it was a ritual when I was growing up, as soon as you turned 18 you had to go down and sign up for the [draft]. That existed my whole life. It’s not something I want to see reinstated. The reasons seem clearly corporate and not because of our country’s need.