Premonition

Background

"Premonition" was the one and only new song on the John Fogerty live album and DVD of the same title. It was recorded with his 1997 Blue Moon Swamp touring band bolstered with the vocals group The Waters at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, California, in December 1997. The album reached #29 in the USA and #10 in Finland.  

Fogerty got the song title while jogging and listening to the radio. He noted the guy on the radio talked about the same thing Fogerty had pondered over earlier. He tried to remember the word that describes when that happens. It's premonition. After returning home he wrote the title on a Post-It note. 

Fogerty had some difficulties in writing a new song for the live album. Time was running out and the song had to start over. On the morning of the last day, he remembered the Post-It note "and, boom, it came out" (interview with John Fogerty, quoted in Craig Werner, Up Around the Bend, 1999).

Personnel

Guitar, vocals: John Fogerty

Drums: Kenny Aronoff

Bass: Bob Glaub

Guitar, backing vocals: Johnny Lee Schell

Guitar, backing vocals: Michael Canipe

Backing vocals: Julia Waters, Maxine Waters and Oren Waters

Collector's notes

Besides the regular CD single, "Premonition" was released as a promotional CD single (Reprise PRO CD 9276) in the USA. It only had one song and only a back cover sleeve. 

Live versions

John Fogerty promoted the Premonition album by performing the title track and other numbers live on the Mark &  Brian Radio Show on KLOS, Los Angeles, on June 9th, 1998. The world premiere in a regular concert took place in Indianapolis, Indiana, four days later. Fogerty played the song  on each leg of the Premonition Tour in 1998.   

The premiere on TV was witnessed by the eager audience gathered together at Rockefeller Plaza in New York early in the morning of July 3rd, 1998. Fogerty's performance was broadcast live in the USA on the NBC Today Show.  The coverage featured The Waters on stage as well. 

The song disappeared from the programming of Fogerty after the Premonition Tour but made a short return to the set lists for four concerts in Europe ten years after in summer 2008. One of the shows included Royal Albert Hall, London, UK, on June 24th but the version didn't make the Long Road Home DVD filmed at the concert.  

Critical reception

"'Premonition,' his 1998 single from the album of the same title, heads in a more straightforward Southern rock direction, relying less on blues licks and more on background vocalists to emphasize the hook." -Ryan Book, Music Times, May 28th, 2015.  

"To be frank with you, the elder songs --- are far superior to Premonition, which combines the inherent simplicity with clumsy structuring and poorly looped lyrics. Five year olds dream up songs like Premonition, as I remember doing at that age. If that is the sound of John Fogerty songs to come, then I certainly hope that he goes back into retirement and lives off his older material, like most performers who wrote material of such calibre are smart enough to do." -Dean McIntosh, Michael DVD, July 13th, 2000. 

Fans' views

"It's sooo different from what I would've expected it to be... and it's sooo good! There's something about the song, and the lyrics, that kinda 'haunt' me. Hard to explain."

"It's psychic stuff."

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