The only song that John Fogerty said spoke “the truth”
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The key to being a good songwriter is to tell the truth when you sit down with a guitar. The biggest crime a musician can commit is to be inauthentic when you step up to the microphone, because it doesn’t take long for people to sense when someone is faking it. However, John Fogerty embodied authenticity with Creedence Clearwater Revival. When he started writing his first songs, he believed that Brian Wilson had perfectly captured that essence with the track “In My Room.”
If the Beatles had turned rock music on its head in England in the 1960s, the Beach Boys would have done exactly the same across the Atlantic. Sure, many of their songs were mindless odes to fun at first, but Wilson was slowly simmering in the background, waiting for the right moment to unleash his genius.
Compared to most songwriters, Wilson never claimed to be the genius he was every day. He was happier sitting back and making music with his friends, but the fact that he could conjure many of his best tunes out of thin air without much or any help is something you’d expect from Mozart or Beethoven rather than the guy who wrote “Surfin USA.”
Of all the songs he wrote in the band’s early years, however, “In My Room” is one of the more open and honest songs he ever committed to tape. Rather than talking about going out with a girl or the wonders of surfing or hot rods, Wilson sings about being completely free to be himself when left to his own devices.
Although most people were surprised to hear this kind of song on the radio, Fogerty believed every single word he said. Talking about his favorite songs, the CCR frontman claimed that Wilson hit the core of everything in this song, saying, “Fellow songwriters I admire include Lennon & McCartney, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John & Bernie Taupin, and Brian Wilson. Do you know the song ‘In My Room’ by Brian Wilson? It’s the truth.”
While a song about being a loner doesn’t necessarily rank among the greatest of all time, it’s perhaps one of those things reserved only for songwriters. Along with the lyrics, the chord progression was the star of the more progressive moments Wilson would later tackle, including the musical symphonies he created on “Good Vibrations.”
That kind of honesty carried over into Fogerty’s later work, too. Although they sounded somewhere between rock and roll and country, many of CCR’s best songs also dealt with the truths of life, whether it was the fear of being drafted in “Fortunate Son” or something as simple as riding downriver on a riverboat in “Proud Mary.”
But maybe it’s about something much deeper. Yes, a song about being in your room probably shouldn’t be run through like Shakespeare, but for a songwriter, one of life’s greatest joys is being alone with your thoughts and being able to translate them on either a guitar or a piano. In that way, your guitar isn’t just an emotional translator. It’s your best friend, and when you’re in that room, nothing can get in the way of those feelings.
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