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WATCH: John Fogerty’s ‘Weeping in the Promised Land’ Highlights Social Unrest

Musician John Fogerty wants to highlight social justice across the United States with his recent song “Weeping in the Promised Land.”

Fogerty recently shared a clip from the music video via Twitter with his followers. The song incorporates footage from national protests last year for police reform. Protests and riots sprang up across the country after the death of George Floyd in police custody. The song makes references to both Floyd and Breonna Taylor, who died in a police raid on her home last year as well.

The song features biblical undertones, specifically the tale of Moses in Exodus. Moses led a Jewish slave revolt against the pharaoh and Egyptians using the power of God. In Fogerty’s song, he’s recast the police and “white judges” as extensions of the pharaoh. The title of the song is also taken from this biblical chapter as well.

John Fogerty Discusses the Song

In an interview with The Spin, Fogerty revealed that he actually wrote most of the lyrics to the song years ago. It was originally called “25 to 30 years ago” back then. The original version featured the singer playing the guitar, but he decided to trade-in his pick for the piano.

Once he finally decided to record it, Fogerty recorded the song in just six takes. The singer said he was inspired by the national coverage of the protests to finally get the song out there.

“I’m old enough to know that the problems have been there all my life,” Fogerty told the Spin. “But it seemed to finally ignite a generation. They really reacted, like kids in the ’60s. They just were so offended, and they weren’t going to believe Mr. President telling them, ‘Oh, there’s nothing wrong, everything’s fine.’ And I was so proud of the young kids. The pandemic was bad enough, but then [there was] the absolute dismissal of people of color by our administration. That was just so wrong and so arrogant.”

Fogerty has compared the track to Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” a classic for many. The singer said he wrote the song to unite the country, not further divide it.

“The message in this song is speaking to everyone, not half of us,” Fogerty said. “I told myself, ‘John, you’re supposed to be a songwriter. You’re supposed to be able to take hold of these things. But I hadn’t really done anything difficult in quite a while.”