John Fogerty has dropped a pointed new song called “Weeping in the Promised Land,” a gospel-flavored, piano-driven lament about the state of the country and the world. With multiple references to President Trump as a “forked-tongued Pharoah” as well as Covid (“With dread in their eyes all the nurses are crying”) and the deaths of George Floyd and Breanna Taylor (“Out in the street on your neck with a knee the people are cryin your words i can’t beathe and the white judge say been no crime here today”), the song clearly is intended as a successor to Fogerty’s topical songs of the late ‘60s with Creedence Clearwater Revival, such as “Fortunate Son” and “Have You Ever Seen the Rain.”
The song’s video features now-familiar footage of 2020 protests with Fogerty, wearing his trademark flannel, performing the song on piano on a hilltop (about as socially distanced as a person can be).
“I took a look back at what 2020 has been and tried to get my feelings out about the political climate, Black Lives Matter, Covid and everything else that occurred this year,” Fogerty said. “Friends are dying, we are stuck at home, we are indeed weeping in the promised land.”
The song’s video and full lyrics appear below:
Water in the well been poisoned with lies
Weeping in the promised land
Satan’s dark angels are falling from the sky
Weeping in the promised land
Children of God, he turns into stone
The sick and the weak, he dances on their bones
Pharoah shouting down the medicine man
Weeping in the promised land
Fork-tongued pharaoh, behold he comes to seek
Weeping in the promised land
Hissing and spewing, it’s power that he seeks
Weeping in the promised land
With dread in their eyes, all the nurses are crying
Everywhere sorrow, everywhere dying
Pharoah keeps preaching but he never had a plan
Weeping in the promised land
Weeping in the promised land
Pharoah’s army knocking on the door
Weeping in the promised land
Shoot you in your bed just like they done before
Weeping in the promised land
Out in the street, on your neck with a knee
All the people are crying your last words
“I can’t breathe”
And the white judge say “there’s been no crime here today”
Weeping in the promised land
Weeping in the promised land