John Fogerty has released a new single, Weeping In The Promised Land, in which he bids farewell to the Donald Trump era and attempts to make sense of the last year.
"I took a look back at what 2020 has been and tried to get my feelings out about the political climate, Black Lives Matter, COVID and everything else that occurred this year," says the former Creedence Clearwater Revival man. "Friends are dying, we are stuck at home, we are indeed weeping in the promised land."
Fogerty tells Rolling Stone that although he first wrote the phrase 'weeping in the promised land' in a notebook 25 years ago, finding the inspiration to finish the song wasn't easy. “It ended up being the hardest song I’ve ever written,” he says. “I kept trying to find better words. You can always find a better word to describe a situation."
"When I finished the song in late November, I said, ‘Some other things are going to happen now,’ ” he continues, referring to the outgoing US President. “I knew the leopard isn’t going to change his spots. God knows this will probably all get worse. He’s checked out. The only thing he’s thinking about is some way he can retain power."
In Weeping In The Promised Land, Fogerty refers to Trump as a "forked-tongue pharaoh" while other lyrics reference health care workers, beleaguered immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci, and the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.
It's not the first time Fogerty has shown his displeasure with Trump - last year he criticised the President for using Creedence's Fortunate Son at his rallies – but he's hopeful. "It’s time to stop wearing a number on your back that tells which political party you’re in or which candidate you support," he says. "We’re all humans and we’ve stared some pretty terrifying things in the face."
In November Fogerty released Fogerty's Factory, an album of covers of Creedence and Fogerty solo classics recorded with his family during lockdown.
