ON SONGWRITING
you’re 35; and you hear yourself stumbling all
the way through the 10 years it took to create
Centerfield. Once I finally went into the studio
to do Centerfield, it was really just a few weeks,
actually. But you can imagine once I had finished
that record and had some success with it, I never
wanted to do it that way again!”
One of the questions Fogerty posed to himself
as a young songwriter was, “How do I make
this better?” Fogerty attributes that particular
mindset to his mother, who would talk to John
about songwriters like Irving Berlin and Hoagy
Carmichael while he was growing up. Having read
several books about different writers and learning
how they worked instilled in Fogerty the idea that
you don’t just go on inspiration alone. You continue
to “polish your song” in order to keep improving it.
Fogerty readily agrees with this “flies in the face
of the rock & roll ethic,” but he had grown up with
the idea that a great song was a worthy thing that
doesn’t just happen “casually.” It’s something to
be proud of. With that in mind, Fogerty continues
to follow the tenet of saying whatever he’s trying
to say with “the best words and the fewest words.”
That way, he feels it leaves room to tell more
story. Fogerty never subscribed to the idea of
being “very wordy” in a song. Rather, he prefers
the idea that a really great word could cause
listeners to have their imaginations to take over.
Flexibility, determination, and relentless drive are
things that have all contributed to making John
Fogerty one of the most successful songwriting
guitarists of the last 50 years; and the man
expects to keep on toining, er …, turning that
crank for many years to come. ■
Mike Mettler writes the weekly Audiophile
column for the Digital Trends website and is
also the music editor of Sound & Vision.
He interviews artists and producer about their
love of music and its creation on his own site,
The SoundBard (www.soundbard.com)
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