Old Lang Syne

[Lilith]

Dan Fogelberg dead of cancer at 56. He sure knew how to write music that moved me.

[IowaMan]

:(

I hadn't heard of this until just now. You're absolutely right Lil, he wrote some incredible music that I enjoyed quite a bit. Wow, wasn't expecting to read that one.

[sodaklostsoul]

Bummer!!

[dicksbro]

56 is awfully young. Very sad. :(

[jseal]

Goodbye Dan. Good music. :(

[Oldfart]

Prostate cancer boys.

Gone far too young.

[osuche]

He was a great singer and composer. I grew up with his music. RIP.

[Aqua]

Far too young. Rest in peace Mr. Fogelberg.

[Freya]

So sad. I loved "Phoenix"

[Scarecrow]

R.I.P. Dan Fogelberg. I remember from an album cover I read years ago that he was born in Peoria, Ill and is/was 2 months younger than I am.

[gekkogecko]

Oh, that truly sucks.

[scotzoidman]

This one hit me hard as well,if y'all will indulge me for a moment...Dan Fogelberg first started his career here in Nashville, & recorded his 1st album "Home Free" here. I first saw him open for Joe Walsh in Jan 1974, & I have a crudely recorded "bootleg" I made of that performance in front of me as I type this - this crappy little cassette is a relic I treasure, & will keep until I pass into the void.

I was lucky enough to watch his talent develop...at first he was little more than, as a friend called him, a "third-rate Jackson Browne"...a really good singer-songwriter, but nothing brilliant...then came the "Nether Lands" album...I, along with my 2 best friends at that time (one was the author of the above statement) were totally blown away. A collection of powerful songs, lushly orchestrated, with that touch of melancholy that he did so well. He had written & scored the record himself, finally putting to use the skills he had learned from his dad, who he later honored with the song, "The Leader of the Band". I still get chills listening to the title track (put on a set of headphones & try to resist the urge to play conductor), & there's a deep cut called "Sketches" in two parts that evokes the memory of lost love like nothing I've ever heard before or since.

"Late in the summer, when the cottonwood dies,
And the fields are on fire with green bottle-flies,
And I'm still seeing reflections of me in your eyes,
And why did you leave
Last summer?

Now the seasons are changing from summer to fall,
And I've still got that picture hung on my wall,
And there's so much forgotten, and too much recalled,
And why did you leave
At all?"

My eyes are welling up now, & isn't that what a great artist is supposed to do, move people with their art.

Farewell & RIP, Dan

...& yes, I think they can hear ya out in Kingston Springs ;)