‘A woman scorned’ is a phrase that so often lends itself to instances of unexplainable rage showcased in reaction to being slighted. Almost always reactionary to the wrongdoing of a man, it’s a woman’s takeback of power that was assumed she didn’t have. While almost 100% of the time it’s not applicable nor appropriate to use the intricate and unexplainable feelings of women in relation to a man, I think if there were to be one exception it would be a woman scorned being applied to John Fogerty in 1985.
John Fogerty rose to prominence as the bandleader, chief songwriter, lead guitarist, and vocalist of the California-based rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, a band so popular that they revealed the success of The Beatles during their biggest moments. It was hard to deny that the main force behind this unbridled success was that of Fogerty and his leadership role in the band, though the rest of the band didn’t accept this. In a complicated drama that’s far too much to divulge here, the band broke up in 1972 after releasing 6 of the most popular and influential albums of southern rock in only 5 years. Forgery was the one who left the group, saying that if the work he was putting in to get the band as successful as they had been wasn’t good enough, then nothing would be [Have You Ever Seen The Rain was penned about these feelings of his]. He would release two solo albums during the duration of the 1970s: The Blue Ridge Rangers in 73 and a self titled effort in 75, both of which failed to make any noise or produce any big singles of any sort despite the fact they came from the biggest hit making machine of 1969. But in 1985 this losing streak would change.
Coming 10 years after his previous album, Fogerty would release the 2x platinum selling album Centerfield which scored him three singles. The most infamous of these songs [other than the title track] may just be The Old Man Down The Road due to its place in copyright infamy. Fogerty, to get out of his CCR deal, allowed his former label Fantasy and former manager Saul Van Zantz to own the copyright and publishing rights of all his work with the band. What did Zantz do with this power? Sue Fogerty for Down the Road sounding too similar to the CCR composition Run Through The Jungle. Fogerty was
sued for sounding like… himself. The case ended up with Fogerty in court, guitar on witness stand, explaining how the songs were in fact different and that some writers have a certain style in which they write which makes their work sound more or less similar. Fogerty won, and sued Zantz for wasted fees to defend himself on copyright infringement of his own two songs. Fogerty’s case went all the way to the Supreme Court, where he won again. It’s hard to exemplify how stupid this case was in actuality, that John Fogerty had to waste so much time and money just to show that sometimes songwriters write songs that have stylistic similarities due to being written by the same person. That or… this was just another case of Fogerty getting back at Zantz on this record.
Zantz all but made Fogerty’s life a living hell. He took a singular man, one who had the power to become the most successful star of all time, and made it to the point it was difficult for him to make music. He made the band turn on him, telling most that Fogerty was the greedy one, despite all Fogerty asking for back being his intellectual property that he spent years of his life making. Fogerty would go years not even singing any songs from his CCR days, pettiness coursing through his veins over his lack of hold on the songs publishing rights. Some say that the Old Man that stars in The Old Man Down The Road is a dig at Zantz. Lyrics like He brings a strong man to his begging knee or You gotta hide / From the old man down the road aren’t necessarily out of place in the story of Fogerty’s experiences with the man, but two other songs on the album are even more direct shots at Zantz 'character. Mr. Greed is the fifth track on the album, and pulls absolutely no punches about the narrator’s thoughts about the titular character, the first verse ending with the lines: And your appetite will never be denied / You're a devil of consumption; I hope you choke, Mr. Greed. But neither of those songs are necessarily what makes Fogerty the pettiest man in the music business circa 1985. No, that honor goes to none other than the album's final track, one so liable for a defamation case against Fogerty he had to change its name and lyrics in subsequent releases of Centerfield.
Zantz Kant Danz, later recorded as Vantz Kant Danz, may just be the best example of what exactly happens when you not only piss off one of the most prolific and successful songwriters of all time but also what exactly happens when you play the long game in expressing your unbridled frustration. The song slowly fades in with the repetition of the chorus, Vantz Kant Danz but he’ll steal your money / Watch him or he’ll rob you blind. Yikes. The first verse only houses more anger: Out in the street the crowd is gatherin’ / Pushed down by the heat of the building, they’re wantin’ to dance / Makin’ their way up the street, a boy with a pig and a radio / Little Billy can work on the crowd, put ‘em into a trace for the little pig Vanz. Unpacking the identity of ‘little pig Vantz’ isn’t too terribly hard, but who exactly is Billy, the kid who performs on the street entertaining the crowds? Back in 1969, CCR was on top of the world: Woodstock, 3 chart topping albums, and 8 pretty successful singles. The last of those three chart topping
albums was that of Willy and The Poor Boys, a group whose history is fleshed out in the song Down on the Corner. Willy is said to blow harp, what Fogerty is doing on the album cover, and also ‘dance and double on kazoo’, leading us to the conclusion that the Willy of Willy and the Poor Boys would be Fogerty if we are to match the descriptions of instruments to what is happening on the album cover. It can be assumed that Billy is a play on the Willy of CCR, someone who was thrown to the crowds while everyone’s money got unknowingly stolen. Trace would also line up with the fact that CCR was infamous for their cover of I Put A Spell on You. The song is layered with references to what had happened to Fogerty unknowingly, making the story obvious yet still hidden far enough in it’s lines to ensure he wouldn’t be sued for defamation of character.
The music video for 'Vanz Kant Danz', featuring the titular money stealing pig
It’s important also to note how little Fogerty did to truly get back at all those who were wronging him. While some sit now, saying he’s ungrateful for focusing on what he didn’t have as opposed to what he did. The argument only makes sense at face value, as the killing of golden goose should never be lost on the very man. To be the the true only reason for the success of a band, one of the biggest bands of all time, and get little to no respect or credit for that is something that should ruffle one's feathers. Having your brother and colleagues all turn on you, suing you for writing a song they only have ownership over through proximity of a manager they know stole it's rights from a man who had no choice but to sign them away is evil like nothing else. There’s no comparable version of this, the only person behind a band’s success becoming so completely thrown under the bus by every single person they helped create a career for. Fantasy jumping down his throat so much after his music being their only true claim to fame is proof of this. If anything, Fogerty was reserved in his anger. To only really make a point by not singing his work for a while, having a few cheap digs. For what he should have done, could’ve done, should have done? Fogerty was the calmest person in a scenario where wanting to commit murder would be the only real push in most eyes. When CCR was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, he refused to play with the band, yet when they performed it was him and a group of all star backers, in front of the very people he refused to sing with. That's concrete how important Fogerty was to CCR, that upon the choice between two of the performers of a hit band performing the music, the hall of fame chose the one. It was also another push against that band that was no harm no foul, one that was made in a calm manner.
"I’m just not going to stand on a stage with those people, three in a row, play our songs, and be presented as a band — particularly because these guys just sold their rights in that band to my worst enemy. I also made it very clear that if I didn’t play at all, that was fine too." - John Fogerty, 2015
Centerfield would only serve as a stepping stone in Fogerty’s history to get his music back, as he wouldn’t for another almost 40 years. It was him pointing the finger, acknowledging the worth he always knew he held in the music he spent so much of his life creating. Fogerty was the woman scorned, one who was filled with rage that was set in and lethally injected upon the public after years of simmering and perfecting the method in which they were delivered. A woman, scorned.
Dives deep into the resiliency of musicians and their struggles with the cutthroat nature of the industry. Good work!