It was such a wonderful feeling when Centerfield was released in 1985. Fogerty produced the album himself and played most of the instruments, building the record track by track in his studio. The sound was familiar without trying to copy the past. Songs like The Old Man Down the Road, Rock and Roll Girls, and the title track Centerfield put him back on the radio and back in front of a large audience. The album went to No. 1 in the U.S., something Fogerty had not done since the Creedence era. I was SO happy to hear that riff to Old Man Down The Road. Only one man could have written that riff.
It had that same Fogerty voice and rhythm guitar sound, but it also felt like a fresh start. The baseball theme helped, too. Even people who didn’t follow rock closely knew the chorus of “Put me in, coach.” The record proved that Fogerty still had what he had with CCR. In 1985, he showed he could step back up to the plate and still hit one out of the park so to speak. I was so happy to hear THAT sound again in the middle of the 1980s.
His next album, Eye of the Zombie, I didn’t appreciate as much because he had one foot in the 80s and the other in his old music. I see why he did it, though, because great artists take chances, and some liked it. His next albums would go back to the swampy music he was known for. I did like the title track Eye of the Zombie somewhat.
Sometimes the interesting songs in an artist’s catalog are the ones that slip in as B-sides. That’s the case with this one. Fogerty recorded the song in 1985 during a trip to Louisiana, and it was later released in 1986 as the B-side of the single Change in the Weather. It didn’t appear on one of his studio albums at the time, so unless you were buying singles in the mid-80s, it was easy to miss. Funny thing, I first heard of this song in the Stephen King book, IT. He quotes a few lines at the beginning of a chapter.
When John Fogerty recorded this song in the mid-1980s, it felt like a left turn to some listeners who knew him mainly from his days with Creedence Clearwater Revival. The song was not a Fogerty original. It was written and first recorded by Louisiana musician Rockin’ Sidney in 1984, when it became a regional hit. Fogerty heard the song and liked the rhythm and humor in it. Instead of turning it into straight rock, he kept the loose spirit of the original.
Fogerty always loved American roots music, and zydeco is part of that same map. This song shows that side of him, a musician who could step outside his usual style and still sound completely at home.
My Toot Toot
Don’t mess with my toot toot, don’t mess with my toot toot,
Well you can have the other woman, but don’t mess with my toot toot.
She was born in her birth suit, the doctor slap her behind, (slap!)
Say you’re gonna to be special, you sweet little toot toot.
Well you can look as much, but if you much as touch,
You’re gonna have yourself a case – I’m gonna break your face!
Oh toot, hey!
Whoa, mama was the same way too, all the fellas didn’t know what to do,
And papa never had a chance, with a sweet little toot toot.
She was born in her birth suit, the doctor slap her behind, (slap!)
Said you’re gonna to be special, you sweet little toot toot.
Don’t mess with my toot toot, don’t mess with my toot toot,
Well you can have the other woman, but don’t mess with my toot toot.