See the Creedence Legend Revive Classics

John Fogerty plays impassioned versions of three Creedence Clearwater Revival classics and two solo tracks in a new episode of NPR’s Tiny Desk — and also retells, at length, the story of how “Proud Mary” came to be.

“This song was so much better than anything I’d ever done,” he says in the episode, after kicking off the set with that 1969 classic, backed by sons Shane and Tyler Fogerty. “And I was literally kind of dumbfounded and shocked that it had happened … I was sitting there all alone and I realized I’m the only person in the whole world that knows about this song and knows that it’s a great song. It was just the strangest feeling.” 

He also shouts out the show’s host network, offering a subtle political message. “I do wanna say that I am an avid listener of NPR,” he says, just before playing “Long As I Can See the Light.” “I don’t wanna cause too much controversy, but especially in these times, you guys — just keep doing what you’re doing, please.”

Before concluding with “Have You Ever Seen the Rain,” Fogerty thanked his fans for years of devotion. “I’ve been very blessed in my life to have music as my vocation,” he says in the Tiny Desk episode. “I’ve also been very blessed to have my family around me, which is the greatest feeling in the world — to get up on a stage with my family every night and play. And the most wonderful thing that has occurred is all these fans, you guys, have come and seen me through the years, singing these songs … The fact that you embrace my songs has been a rainbow in my heart. This song has a rainbow in it.”

Two years ago, Fogerty regained the publishing rights to his Creedence songs, a triumph he told Rolling Stone was liberation from decades of feeling like a “prisoner of war.” Last summer, he released Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years, painstaking recreations of his CCR catalog recorded with his sons. “I learned to make my mind or soul go back to that time,” he told Rolling Stone.