With and without Creedence Clearwater Revival, John Fogerty has carved out an immense back catalogue which stands the test of time. Naturally, Fogerty prefers some over others in his collection, but none are more dear to him than one song, which he labelled as “one of my very favourite songs in the whole wide world”.
Fogerty has a gift with his songwriting to create beauty out of darkness and reveal hope in a place where it looks to be lost. An example of this is ‘Have You Ever Seen The Rain?’, which was penned by Fogerty as he realised Creedence Clearwater Revival had begun to reach its inevitable end.
At the time of writing the song, they’d finally become commercially successful, and everything was seemingly perfect on the surface. However, tensions had reached boiling point with Tom Fogerty departing the band following the release of Pendulum, the album which included ‘Have You Ever Seen The Rain?’.
While they made one more album after Tom’s exit from the group and attempted to soldier on, the writing was on the wall. Creedence Clearwater Revival officially disbanded in 1972, and although they later reunited for special shows, the band never released another note of music.
During an interview with Howard Stern on his Sirius XM programme, Fogerty said of the song: “I perceived all of the tension, and it just looked like it was breaking up. It really did.”
He continued: “The metaphor of seeing rain come down on a clear sunshiney day, it seemed to be what we were. Here we were, we were achieving all of our dreams, and everything is great. Instead of being happy, we were miserable.”
However, despite the heartbreaking reality of the song, Fogerty holds it close to his heart, and the reason for that is his daughter Kelsey. Now, when he performs the track, he thinks of her rather than being transported back to the traumatic time when he was at blows with his brother.
Before a performance in Arizona in 2012, Fogerty introduced the track by saying: “This next song is one of my very favourite songs in the whole wide world, even though I wrote it. It started out as a sad song many years ago, about 40 years ago. It was about a sad occasion in my life. But I refuse to be sad now.”
He continued: “Anyway, these days, it’s a very happy song because it reminds me of my beautiful little baby girl, Kelsey, and that is the truth. Kelsy rules my world, and she knows it. Anyway, Kelsey is a rainbow in my life, and this song has a rainbow in it. Every time I sing it, I think about Kelsey and rainbows.”
While ‘Have You Ever Seen The Rain?’ could have become a song that Fogerty grew to hate because of how Creedence Clearwater Revival collapsed, it’s taken on a new meaning, and he can’t help but smile whenever it’s performed.