"I'm not looking for the big reveal," the rock legend says of his autobiography -- for which he's still looking for a collaborator
John Fogerty's new all-star duets album, "Wrote a Song For Everyone, is locked and loaded for its May 28 release. Not so, the autobiography Fogerty is also planning to write.
John Fogerty Says Tell-All Won't Be a 'Tawdry, Supermarket Kind of Thing'
The former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman tells Billboard that while he has signed a deal with Little, Brown and Company for a memoir that will be published during 2014, the project is still in its formative stages. "I haven't really decided on the (co-) writer yet," Fogerty says. "I need a collaborator. If you get me to sit down and write a letter, that's an accomplishment. E-mail was invented for guys like me."
Nevertheless, Fogerty is confident that once the decision has been made, the writing will go quickly.
"Actually," he notes, "a lot of work has been done because I talked in the years past to other people and got it all recorded and transcribed, even, and that'll be the raw material that the right person will digest and then go, 'Yeah, that's fine, now let's start over...' "
Fogerty has been outspoken over the years about the bitterness he feels towards CCR's label Fantasy Records and its former owner Saul Zaentz over song ownership, and about issues he's had with his former bandmates. But he says he doesn't plan on getting too down and dirty with the book.
"This is not going to be that sort of tawdry, supermarket kind of thing," Fogerty says. "If there's any names of people in my life who have been close friends, lovers, all of that, who are invisible, it's gonna stay that way. I'm not looking for the big reveal or to get a lot of stuff off my chest or anything like that."
Instead he hopes to focus on positive aspects of his life and career.
"I've had a remarkable life in music," Fogerty explains. "I started as a child who knew his field of joy almost from the time he could move, and that was music. And everybody noticed; everyone around me noticed, 'Wow, he's musical. Look, he's dancing,' and I was still in diapers. Since then it's been a journey, and I just want to tell that story...of the original joy of a child discovering music and being just...If i can ever convey how that feels, I think it's something worth talking about."
Fogerty plans to do some touring in support of "Wrote a Song For Everyone," which includes collaborations on CCR songs with Foo Fighters, Bob Seger, Kid Rock, Rascal Flatts, Dawes, Miranda Lambert and others. Meanwhile, he's spent the beginning of this year as part of Dave Grohl's Sound City Players, an experience he says was memorable.
"I really like Dave. I really do," Fogerty says. "He's a happy guy...and he's a thoughtful guy. That (music) doesn't just happen, but he's having fun with it. And that's how I feel. That's what I'm doing. It was fun to let loose and really just not worry about anything and play with all the joy that's in us. The same with all the other guys in the Foos; they're having a great time doing this, and it's such an unusual souffle of stuff all these different artists and stuff like that. I get to be emotionally in charge for a little while, but I'm certainly not the boss. It's been really great, and I hope we get to do it again sometime."
John Fogerty's new all-star duets album, "Wrote a Song For Everyone, is locked and loaded for its May 28 release. Not so, the autobiography Fogerty is also planning to write.
John Fogerty Says Tell-All Won't Be a 'Tawdry, Supermarket Kind of Thing'
The former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman tells Billboard that while he has signed a deal with Little, Brown and Company for a memoir that will be published during 2014, the project is still in its formative stages. "I haven't really decided on the (co-) writer yet," Fogerty says. "I need a collaborator. If you get me to sit down and write a letter, that's an accomplishment. E-mail was invented for guys like me."
Nevertheless, Fogerty is confident that once the decision has been made, the writing will go quickly.
"Actually," he notes, "a lot of work has been done because I talked in the years past to other people and got it all recorded and transcribed, even, and that'll be the raw material that the right person will digest and then go, 'Yeah, that's fine, now let's start over...' "
Fogerty has been outspoken over the years about the bitterness he feels towards CCR's label Fantasy Records and its former owner Saul Zaentz over song ownership, and about issues he's had with his former bandmates. But he says he doesn't plan on getting too down and dirty with the book.
"This is not going to be that sort of tawdry, supermarket kind of thing," Fogerty says. "If there's any names of people in my life who have been close friends, lovers, all of that, who are invisible, it's gonna stay that way. I'm not looking for the big reveal or to get a lot of stuff off my chest or anything like that."
Instead he hopes to focus on positive aspects of his life and career.
"I've had a remarkable life in music," Fogerty explains. "I started as a child who knew his field of joy almost from the time he could move, and that was music. And everybody noticed; everyone around me noticed, 'Wow, he's musical. Look, he's dancing,' and I was still in diapers. Since then it's been a journey, and I just want to tell that story...of the original joy of a child discovering music and being just...If i can ever convey how that feels, I think it's something worth talking about."
Fogerty plans to do some touring in support of "Wrote a Song For Everyone," which includes collaborations on CCR songs with Foo Fighters, Bob Seger, Kid Rock, Rascal Flatts, Dawes, Miranda Lambert and others. Meanwhile, he's spent the beginning of this year as part of Dave Grohl's Sound City Players, an experience he says was memorable.
"I really like Dave. I really do," Fogerty says. "He's a happy guy...and he's a thoughtful guy. That (music) doesn't just happen, but he's having fun with it. And that's how I feel. That's what I'm doing. It was fun to let loose and really just not worry about anything and play with all the joy that's in us. The same with all the other guys in the Foos; they're having a great time doing this, and it's such an unusual souffle of stuff all these different artists and stuff like that. I get to be emotionally in charge for a little while, but I'm certainly not the boss. It's been really great, and I hope we get to do it again sometime."
