John Fogerty Debuts New Gospel-Flavored Protest Song to See Trump Off

John Fogerty is no fan of President Donald Trump; the former Creedence Clearwater Revival leader even issued a cease-and-desist order (promptly ignored) this fall when “Fortunate Son” was cranked during Trump rallies. Now, Fogerty will be sending Trump off in his own way — with “Weeping in the Promised Land,” the 75-year-old rocker’s first new song in eight years.  Centered around Fogerty’s voice and piano, with only a handful of gospel singers accompanying him, the song marks a return to the socially conscious themes that powered Creedence anthems like “Fortunate Son” and “Who’ll Stop the Rain.”  “It’s kind of like being a rock star in a band and then the band breaks up,” Fogerty says of Trump’s refusal to step down — and his affinity for rallies. “I used to stand in front of 30,000 or 40,000 people and they were all cheering for me. I know what that is. I understand the emotion he’s feeling. I’m trying not to sound like a basher — more like trying to understand the situation. I think he enjoys the rallies very much.”      In lyrics that touch on the dispiriting events of the last year, Fogerty references Trump’s attacks on Anthony Fauci (“He dances on their bones/Pharaoh shoutin’ down the medicine man”), health care workers (“With dread in their eyes, all the nurses are crying/Everywhere sorrow, everywhere dying”), and the murder of George Floyd (“Out in the street / On your neck with a knee / The people are cryin’ / Your words ‘I can’t breathe’ and the white judge say been no crime here”).   Warnock Makes History as Democrats Eye Senate Majority Grammys Postpone 2021 Ceremony Over Covid-19 Concerns Tom Petty's 50 Greatest Songs 'Six Feet Under': The Oral History of HBO's Beloved Landmark Series  Like many of his peers, both of his generation and younger ones, Fogerty found himself with time on his hands this summer after a scheduled tour was canceled due to Covid-19. He’d first written down the phrase ”weeping in the promised land” in one of his songwriting journal notebooks about 25 years ago. A few years back, he finally wrote a song with that title but wasn’t happy with it, now calling it a “generic ditty.” But this summer, with the pandemic raging around him, the phrase “seemed very relevant to me,” he says, and Fogerty decided to scrap that previous attempt and write an entirely new tune around that title.  For someone who recalls knocking out “Fortunate Son” in 20 minutes, writing “Weeping in the Promised Land” proved challenging. Over the summer and into the fall, Fogerty grappled with the lyrics and the breadth of what he wanted to say. Throwing a folding chair, bottles of water, and bags of peanuts into his car, he’d drive to local parks in southern California just to get out of the house and find inspiration. “I felt like I was wandering around in the desert,” he cracks.  Weeks went by, and, finally, in late summer, a line hit him: “Water in the well, been poisoned with lies.”  With that, other images and rhymes began