Sad news

[missroserose]

It was just yesterday that I learned that Dan Fogelberg died a couple weeks ago of prostate cancer. I'm a bit surprised that I didn't hear the news at the time, but then, perhaps it's not so surprising - I rarely go looking for news of celebrities, and that time I was wrapped up in getting The Reindeer Monologues off the ground. And Fogelberg's never been the sort of musician who'd have the details of his life splashed across MSN's front page.

I was surprised at how sad I felt on reading the news. Even though I was never what you'd call a big follower of his - I own one of his "best of" albums and that's pretty much it - his music was a staple of my childhood. I grew up with parents who were into the 70's folk resurgence/soft rock movement, and Dan Fogelberg was one of their favorite artists. And while I doubt I'll ever qualify as a rabid fan, "Longer" and "Same Old Lang Syne" will always hold happy memories for me.

On that note, I think it's kind of neat that one of popular music's long-standing mysteries has been resolved - the "lover" Dan describes meeting in "Same Old Lang Syne" has come forward and confirmed that the chance meeting was, in fact, a real event, with just a couple of changes for poetic license (her eyes are in fact green, but "blue" was much easier to rhyme). Apparently it's been one of her treasured memories for decades, but she kept mum about the incident out of respect for Dan's privacy.

Rest well, Dan, and thank you for sharing your music with us - I'm sure many other people have fond memories of it as well. We'll miss you.

Comments

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Huh. I knew the song, of course, but didn't know anything about its genesis -- I think the story felt too perfect to have been a real event to me, so I never wondered about its inspiration. Typically the myth becomes more compelling than the truth, but I think reality prevailed this time -- especially the prescience of the marriage (and whether that was another artistic liberty or an actual insight he may have arrived at...fascinating, it is).

I admit to being melancholy often enough to find myself liking Fogelberg, though it's not all-occasion music by any means. I think it's well-crafted, of course, but emotionally, it's music for a time of your life you find yourself at unexpectedly one day, and it just...resonates, like it never did before.

Thanks for posting this, though. As chance would have it, today's just one of those days, and if you hadn't pointed it out, I never would've known, either.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

That's a good point about his music. I find myself listening to it most either when I'm missing my family or feeling nostalgic, though it's come up during those "How did I get here?" moments, too.

Judging from your last sentence, this may not be the best time to ask this, but...did you enjoy the previous post at all? I only ask because you seemed to be anticipating it, but I don't think I saw your reaction, which disappointed me a bit. I also admit to being a bit concerned that it might've come off as too aggressively sarcastic (although any doubts I had about actually posting it were resolved when I entered the building this morning to smell an entryway full of pot smoke)...

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

I'm still catching up with the f-list -- I'm currently reinstalling Windows for the fifth frickin' time today and am only posting via the emergency MacBook -- but I shall certainly weigh in there....

[dngrsone.livejournal.com]

I didn't realize that was him singing that song... always a favorite of mine.

I grew up listening to an AM radio, which, at the time, played mostly "soft" rock like Folgelberg, Loggins & Messina, Juice Newton. So songs of that era/genre tend to send me nostalgic, as well.

Time to go looking for music done by dead people again.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Yeah, "Same Old Lang Syne" seems to have hit a chord with a lot of people. I think it's the effect of the piano hook, which does just a beautiful job of expressing that kind of nostalgia/longing that everyone's experienced, combined with the story itself, which has just the right quality of mundanity and coincidence to make it both universal and magical. I always figured it was true, and wondered what the other person thought when they heard it...so now we know.