John Fogerty’s Deep Sadness Inspired One of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Biggest Hits From the 70s

In 1971, Creedence Clearwater Revival released “Have You Ever Seen The Rain” as part of their Pendulum album. The song, written by lead singer John Fogerty, remains among their biggest hits and most successful songs today.

So it’s a bit surprising that “Have You Ever Seen The Rain” came out of a deep sadness Fogerty was feeling, which inspired “Have You Ever Seen The Rain”.

Creedence Clearwater Revival was formed with Fogerty and his brother, Tom Fogerty, along with Stu Cook and Doug Clifford in 1959. In the beginning, they were first known as The Blue Velvets. By the late 1960s, The Blue Velvets became Creedence Clearwater Revival, and began having hit after hit on the radio, including “Proud Mary”, “Bad Moon Rising”, and more. So when Tom Fogerty announced he was leaving after the release of Pendulum, it was devastating to John Fogerty.

The loss inspired John Fogerty to pour out his heartache in the lyrics of “Have You Ever Seen The Rain”. The song says, “Yesterday, and days before / Sun is cold and rain is hard / I know, been that way for all my time / ‘Til forever, on it goes / Through the circle, fast and slow / I know, it can’t stop, I wonder / I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain? / I wanna know, have you ever seen the rain / Coming down on a sunny day.”

What John Fogerty Says About Writing “Have You Ever Seen The Rain”

John Fogerty once recalled writing “Have You Ever Seen The Rain” and the heartache that he was feeling at the time.

“The setting for that was, there could be a blue sky, but way over there, out of your vision, is a storm or rain clouds,” Fogerty tells Guitar Player. “Something in the upper atmosphere is pushing the rain over, and it falls on you. But you look up, and it’s a clear sky. And to me, here is our band going up in the bluest sky you ever saw, and yet everybody’s grumbling and unhappy and miserable. And I couldn’t understand that. That was what caused me to write this song.”

Years later, during a concert, John Fogerty explained how he views the song, decades after it was first released.

 “This song was originally written about a very sad thing that was going on in my life,” he said during a live show in 2012. “But I refuse to be sad now. Because now this song reminds me of my little girl, Kelsy, and every time I sing it, I think about Kelsy and rainbows.”

Photo by PoPsie Randolph/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

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