Don't You Wish It Was True

Background

"Don't You Wish It Was True" is the kick off track of Revival, the eight solo album of John Fogerty with new material. Revival was also his first CD with previously unreleased songs since rejoining Fantasy Records in 2005. The song was written, arranged and produced by John Fogerty and recorded by Jim Scott, Seth Presant and Ryan Freeland at NRG Recording in North Hollywood. The album was released in October 2007. It reached #14 in the USA, #5 in Sweden and #6 in Norway. 

Right after the New Year in 2007, Fogerty started to write songs for his new album. The first four weeks in the studio were lousy; nothing decent emerged. In February, he picked up a semi-acoustic hollowbody humbucker [model BB1200] guitar manuactured by Australian company, Maton. He had acquired it during the Australian tour in late 2005. He was in a certain kind of mood, and that kind of melody he associates with Southern music came through him, from the similar place as “Proud Mary”. There’s a certain laid-back shuffle to the melody, like Allen Toussaint’s “Southern Nights". He then started strumming those chords that same sort of lilting way, and the optimistic piece about an improbable world of love and happiness started to evolve. 

After writing the songs for Revival, Fogerty and his band rehearsed them relentlessly and recorded the basic tracks in a 12-day session in spring 2007. It was the same process Fogerty used with Creedence Clearwater  (Harold Steinblatt, Interview with John Fogerty, The Guitar World, January 2008; John Fogerty, Fortunate Son, 2015).  

Personnel

Vocals, guitar: John Fogerty

Guitar: Hunter Perrin

Bass: David Santos

Drums, percussion: Kenny Aronoff

Backing vocals: Julia Waters, Maxine Waters, Oren Waters

Trivia

Fogerty holds a blue Ernie Bell Music Man guitar in the picture of the cover sleeve of the "Don't You Wish It Was True" single. 

Collector's notes

"Don't You Wish It Was True" was also released as a promotional CDR single (Universal UMUSIC 01269) in Europe in 2007. It had a slimline case with coloured insert.

Video

The music video of "Don't You Wish It Was True" features images of innocence, beauty and children at play. The video was directed by Paul Boyd. It came out on August 21st, 2007. The CMT added it to rotation on September 3rd, 2007.

Live versions

John Fogerty played "Don't You Wish It Was True" for the first time in front of a live audience at Olympia Theatre in Paris, France, on July 1st, 2007 - a couple of months before the release of Revival. The song stayed in his set lists until autumn 2012.

He had already played it at soundchecks in Europe in late June and a few fans who were let in to watch the soundcheck started to dance to it (Dennis Elsas, interview with John Fogerty, WFUV, New York, November 1st, 2007). 

To promote Revival, Fogerty and his band headed for Clinton Street Studios in Lower Manhattan, New York, in October 2007. They performed "Creedence Song", "Don't You Wish It Was True",  "Gunslinger", "Broken Down Cowboy", "Long Dark Night" and "Proud Mary". The studio concert was heard in David Dye's syndicated World Cafe show in the USA on October 26th, 2007. 

A live version of "Don't You Wish It Was True" also hit the airwaves in Italy on July 26th, 2009. A part of the John Fogerty show in a historical Toscana town named Lucca was broadcast live by the Italian public radio RAI.

Fogerty performed the Revival opener in two US TV concerts in 2008: PBS Soundstage on February 7th & 14th and Austin City Limits from Zilkern Park in Austin, Texas, on September 27th.

"Don't You Wish It Was True" appears also on the John Fogerty concert DVD Comin' Down the Road filmed at Royal Albert Hall in London, UK, on June 24th, 2008. 

Extraordinary live versions of the song include the one Fogerty performed at the Night of Proms with Il Novecento Orchestra in Antwerp, Belgium, in fall 2010. It was aired in Europe in New Year a couple of months later.   

Critical reception

"No polish, no contemporary production values, just an effortless balance of tunes that sound rudimentary (“Don’t You Wish It Was True”) and barnburners that display hooks, technique and open-ended jams (“Natural Thing”)." -Phil Gallo, Variety, October 2nd, 2007.  

"--- rolls along like "Proud Mary," with an undertow of frustration." -David Fricke, The Rolling Stone, October 4th, 2007. 

"The album is not without its more laid-back swampy goodness, as with the jangling, cheerful plea for peace 'Don't You Wish It Was True'." -Chad Grischow, IGN, October 26th, 2007. 

"I can’t gloss over the opening song “Don’t You Wish It Was True” as simply “pretty utopian.” It certainly is, in the way John Lennon’s “Imagine” is, and while not as direct in its message it may turn out to be even more persuasive, because of its sweetly engaging images and irresistible melody and rhythm. It’s almost like a children’s song, in those ways; what I was thinking of when I wrote Revival is “sometimes even more sweet and lovely” than Fogerty’s soft-edged CCR work. It’s a great little sing-along, a perfect opener (though a little misleading)." -Charles Andrews, Audio Video Revolution, November 1st, 2007. 

"It is telling the credits on the back of Revival read identical to those on CCR albums: ‘arranged and produced by John Fogerty. ‘ But no lyric sheets accompanied the best Creedence albums and the words shouldn’t have been included here:  the verbiage of “Don’t’ You Wish It Was True” and  “Summer of Love” are not poignant but simplistic as are the transparent potshots taken at our current White House staff on “Long Dark Night.”" -Doug Collette, The Glide, November 26th, 2007. 

"'Don't You Wish It Was True' lulls you into thinking it's the melodic equivalent of high-fructose corn syrup, then reveals itself as an ironic fist in a velvet glove." -Tom Finkel, Riverfront Times, November 30th, 2007.   

"'Don't You Wish It Was True' sounds like something to be played while swinging on the front porch -- and there's a crankiness that runs through this record that's kind of ingratiating." -Thomas Erlewine, Allmusic. 

"The lead off track --- is a catchy hook laden tune with some great lyrics to help it set into your consciousness and gradually melt right into your soul. John is not singing about anything different than he did when CCR was at its zenith. This is not a detriment to his art or development; rather it is an indication of how things have stayed the same. The wars are still raging with hate and violence all around us. It grates against our nerves, and our children are listening to music that glorifies our sad state of affairs. Fogerty opts to take things, turn them around, and ask us all how we would really like things to be. He asks, "What if tomorrow, everybody under the sun, was happy just to live as one, no worries or battles to be won?" Then he says, after each segment, "lord don't you wish it was true?" You will not only notice the familiar subject matter, but John decides to throw in a couple of old CCR licks here and there (you will know instantly when you hear them) ---." -Keith Hannaleck, Enjoy the Music. 

Fans' views

"--- could be a world class hit, with the right promotion, and I'm talking "Bad moon rising" or "Who"ll stop the rain" here. I still don't have any idea if it sounds like something else, maybe a little like Keith Urban, but I'm not sure. It's something special, let me tell you that. It's a beautiful sing a long song about friendship and make peace and no war etc, but NOT a political song in my opinion." -July 2nd, 2007. 

"There have been comparisons of Don't You Wish It Was True to a combo Proud Mary meets Imagine. --- as much as I like this new song I cannot go that far in my esteem for this song. I would classify it graciously in the Bad Moon Rising category but more in the line of Lodi as a basic 1,4,5 - 3 chord song. The lyrics do have that idealistic, utopian quality of John Lennon's song Imagine but musically Imagine is far superior to Don't You Wish It Was True, which is quite a basic melody which is easy to sing to in a sing-a-long kind of way."

"--- the song is kinda bland to start off a cd, and be the first single."

"--- it is my least favourite track on the album, and very unrepresentative of the rest. It would have fit nicely on Deja Vu, but does not do the rest of the album justice. It is growing on me though, and the sentiment behind it is beautiful."

"So good, so sweet, what a happy tune. I can't get it out of my head."

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