Deja Vu (All Over Again)

Background

"Deja Vu (All Over Again)" is the opening track of Deja Vu All Over Again, the seventh solo album of John Fogerty. The collection of songs was released in September 2004. It reached #23 in the USA and #1 in Sweden. 

"Deja Vu" draws parallels between the Vietnam and Iraq war. The song started to evolve in 2002 or early 2003 when it looked obvious that there will be a war in Iraq. Fogerty talked to journalist Lynne Margolis about the origins of the song a decade later:

"I had a separate residence that was my songwriting place, and one day [September 2003] I had gone there to write a swamp-rock song, an escapist thing. And I was thinking about what was going on in America. We hadn’t entered Iraq yet. It was just saber-rattling. As I walked up to the door, this melody entered my head. This sound just grabbed me. It was tapping me and saying, “Come with me.” What I heard was [sings], Did you hear ‘em talking about it on the radio? And I heard that terrible, mournful sound that tugs at your heartstrings. I went right to my acoustic guitar. Something was pulling me, and it was so overwhelmingly sad. --- I started to write words that were just coming out of the sky. I didn’t know what I was writing about until I wrote It’s déjà vu all over again. And then I thought, “My God, is that what this is about?” I was writing about the war that was coming and the unnecessary deaths that were gonna happen all over again." (Lynne Margolis, Q & A with John Fogerty, The American Songwriter, January 14th, 2013).  

 

Fogerty wrote the first verse and the chorus in one and a half hour. However, it took much more time to complete the second verse "One by one I see the old ghosts rising/Stumblin' 'cross Big Muddy/Where the light gets dim/Day after day another momma's crying/She's lost her precious child/To a war that has no end". An inspiration from a Pete Seeger song helped him through (Robert Hilburn, Interview with John Fogerty, The Los Angeles Times, July 14th, 2004; Jim Bessman, Interview with John Fogerty, Reuters, October 19th, 2004).   

John Fogerty pointed out in several interviews at the time the album was out that "Deja Vu (All Over Again)" isn't a political song but a description about the sadness caused by human losses in the war. 

Personnel

Guitars, vocals: John Fogerty

Drums: Kenny Aronoff

Bass: Paul Bushnell

Electric slide guitar: Bob Britt

Organ: Benmont Tench

Percussion: Alex Acuña

"Deja Vu" was the first collaboration in the studio between John Fogerty and the Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench. The song also features the only contribution by Bob Britt on the record of John Fogerty.  

Trivia

"It's like déjà vu all over again" is a quotation from baseball player Yogi Berra (1925-2015). 

"Writing at the Wall" refers to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC.

"Stumblin’ across Big Muddy" refers to a Pete Seeger song "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" (John Fogerty, Fortunate Son, 2015).  

Collector's notes

"Deja Vu (All Over Again)" was released as a promotional CDR single in the USA on July 20th, 2004. The front cover sleeve was similar to the album except the texts were all white. 

Video

A video featuring scenes from the Vietnam War and a little girl plucking leaves off flowers was exposed on screen during the Long Road Home Tour in 2006 while Fogerty was performing "Deja Vu" on stage.

Live versions

Fogerty’s summer tour began in the USA in June 2004. He played the new “Deja Vu (All Over Again)” song from the forthcoming album live for the first time at John Kerry-John Edwards Fundraising at Radio City Music Hall, New York, on July 8th. 

He then delivered the number regularly on each tour until March 2008 when it suddenly vanished from the programming except the concert in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada on June 8th 2011 when the piece was heard live for the last time.

"Deja Vu (All Over Again)" was changed from an electric band version to an acoustic solo performance (as far as regular concerts are concerned) on the summer tour of 2005 in the USA and Canada which was kicked off in Northampton, Massachusetts, on June 4th, 2005.  An acoustic rendition also appears on the Long Road Home DVD filmed at Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, on September 15th, 2005.   

To promote the album, Fogerty and the band performed "Deja Vu" in a couple of TV shows in America in September/October 2004.  

He also talked to David Dye of WXPN, Philadelphia, and Darren DeVivo of WFUV, New York, and performed "Deja Vu" as an acoustic (WFUV) and electronic (WXPN) rendition in September 2004. He also did another band version on the broadcast of the Sirius Satellite Radio in New York.   

In subsequent years, he only delivered "Deja Vu" in one TV concert, on PBS Soundstage on February 7 and 14, 2008. Recorded at WTTW Studios in Chicago on November 29th, 2007, the version was unplugged. 

Due to Presidential Election in 2004, the political climate was polarized in the USA at the time of the release of Deja Vu All Over Again. Fogerty was booed in some concerts at "Deja Vu" (John Fogerty, Fortunate Son, 2015).   

Critical reception

"The opening title track, in particular, is an old-school protest song that echoes "Who'll Stop the Rain" with its midtempo groove and minor chords. The bass line that wraps around the end of the verses is pulled almost note-for-note from "Have You Ever Seen the Rain." Yet because of Fogerty's legacy as a protest musician in an era when that sort of thing defined rock as a cultural force, the song's nostalgia doesn't undermine its message. Instead, Fogerty's world-weary vision suggests, with effortless realism, how little has changed since the Vietnam Era." -Jim Abbott, The Orlando Sentinel, September 17th, 2004.  

"With its surging, boiling echoes of CCR, it ['Deja Vu'] stands in contrast to a number of the new CD's other songs, which are quieter and less sweeping than past Fogerty anthems like 'Proud Mary' and the anti-war plea 'Who'll Stop the Rain'. -David Hinckley, The New York Daily News, September 19th, 2004. 

"The title track is Fogerty's indictment of the Iraq war as another Vietnam, a senseless squandering of American lives and power." -Anthony Decurtis, The Rolling Stone, September 22nd, 2004.

 

Written by John Fogerty.

Recorded at NRG Recording, North Hollywood, CA, USA, between September 2003 and early 2004.

Appears on the Deja Vu All Over Again album. 

Released on September 21st, 2004. 

Spotify

"Just the one song, the title tune --- But it's there all right, something that gets close to the indefinable spirit of Creedence, with winking reference to Have You Ever Seen the Rain in the bass line included. What's more, Fogerty is singing about something that is close to him, the only truly memorable song released thus far to come out of the Iraq war. --- This time, feel the goosebumps rise as Fogerty sings: ``Day by day we count the dead and dying/Ship the bodies home while the networks all keep score.'' Already seen, right?" -Noel Mengel, Courier-Mail, Brisbane, Australia, September 25th, 2004. 

"In interviews, Fogerty has insisted that this is not a political song and that what he's trying to do is capture the feeling of loss and anguish that accompanies this latest war. Consider it mission accomplished. Where his antiwar songs with Creedence were fiercely energetic and brimming with resentment and even outrage, this new effort is somber and sober, a shadow of the Creedence leader's former self. When it comes to antiwar songs the second time around, Fogerty sounds more resigned and depressed than anything else." -Joe Heim, The Washington Post, October 3rd, 2004. 

"In the title track, Fogerty poses the question: doesn't the Iraq situation seem eerily familiar? He pulls his punches only slightly, evoking images of flag-draped caskets and grieving families, and turning a repeating line about reading the writing "on the wall" to "at the wall," clearly comparing Iraq to Vietnam. It's a very powerful statement, punctuated by the signature bass run from CCR's 'Have You Ever Seen The Rain'." -DJ Johnson, Cosmik, November 2004.  

"The title track already sets the scene. Its simple, unadorned acoustic melody is not very hook-ish, and yet at the same time it can't help but remind you of CCR's golden past, 'Lodi' and 'Who'll Stop The Rain' at the same time. But it's more than just an unfortunate coincidence: the resemblance is deliberate. John is clearly singing about the Iraq War, drawing an analogy between today's bloodshed and Vietnam - which, fittingly enough, was the metaphorical subject of 'Who'll Stop The Rain', wasn't it? Thus the 'old ghosts rising' in his lyrics get extra support from the musical ghosts rising as well, and as simple and straightforward as it is, it actually gives the song extra creepiness, reinforcing the idea that none of the thirty-more-year old problems have really been resolved. We're still killing for nothing - and we're still sort of singing the same old songs about it." -George Starostin. 

Fans' views

"First Deja Vu did´t hit me, but after listening it more and more I see it is a really good and powerfull song. It´s so John Fogerty."

"This song relates to the present more powerfully than anything since Creedence and is one of the best songs since then."

"John threw so much emotion into this song; he really wanted to make a strong statement as to his opinions / feelings as to current events."

"Tribute to vets and sincere tone."

"The perfect compliment to Fortunate Son in it's political statement."

"John's stident strumming at the beginning of Deja Vu, echoing a Native American tom-tom war beat, sets the mood and echoes the powerful emotions John felt as he wrote the song. And when I saw John live singing Deja Vu in Houston, you could read his emotions and convictions on his face: he did want that song to be an anthem for the current generation of pacifists."

"New classic, absolutely."

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