Dan Fogelberg: rock-wuss, or intrepid storyteller? You be the judge

It was around this time last year that Dan Fogelberg died—at the ridiculously young age of 56. And I’m not sure if his pseudo-Christmas yarn, Same Old Lang Syne, was played this much when he was alive. Maybe? I can’t really say. But this year, I keep hearing it, over and over––and you know what? Dan did a pretty good job with the whole story lead-in thing most fiction writers strive for.

The song starts out:

Met my old lover in the grocery store
The snow was falling Christmas Eve…

That kind of says it all. In the first 14 words, we know who, where and when. The writer has essentially made a promise to the reader, or listener, as it were. And the subtle details are revealing. It’s not “Met an old lover”––We don’t want the reader to think the protagonist is a womanizing man-slut. It’s “met my old lover.” And of course the old lover is not described as “Met my old lover and her linebacker of a husband,” or “Met my old lover and her nine screaming kids…” She’s alone, on Christmas Eve––a simple hook. It sets the stage and lets the reader know that some emotional chords are going to be struck. We don’t know how it’s going to end, but we get the sense that some Kleenex might be involved.

So later in the song, when we hear lines like:

We went to have ourselves a drink or two
But couldn’t find an open bar
We bought a six-pack at the liquor store
And we drank it in her car.

Or

She said she'd married her an architect
Who kept her warm and safe and dry
She would have liked to say she loved the man
But she didn’t like to lie.

The story that the reader has been promised unfolds with ease. Syrup and all.

Okay, it’s just Dan Fogelberg fer cryin’ out loud. Not someone I’d want backing me up in a gang fight, but as a storyteller, his simplicity goes a long way.

I now return you to your previously scheduled holiday songs.

Comments

[Rob in Denver]

Easy: intrepid storyteller. Great post.

[Johanna Moran]

Thanks, Jamie. I went to youtube and listened with the guy who didn't get away. Merry Christmas.

Johanna

[Ello]

I admit to loving that song since gosh, how old is that song? I think I was just a kid!!

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Peace,

E

[Jamie Ford]

Merry Christmas!

(Yes, I love that song too).

[Sandra Cormier]

Yesterday while Christmas shopping, I heard him singing Christmas songs in the Hallmark store. I wished they'd sold the CD, because I suddenly missed his voice and wanted to hear those songs at home.

His understated velvet voice pulls at my heart, especially The Run For The Roses. It makes me cry every time I hear it.

Gah! Gotta go CD shopping!

[C. Rooney]

Merry Christmas, Jamie. Really looking forward to reading HOTEL in just over a month. See you on the bestseller list in 2009!

[lin]

Dan was a very talented storyteller thru song!! Many of his songs reflect events in his own life. Its ashame he was only remembered for these pop tunes because he was so, so much more. Take a listen to Netherlands and The Innocent Age-both excellent examples of Dan's true talent. He could bring you to tears, rock out with amazing guitar solos, soothe you with beautifully arranged instrumentals , get down with the blues or get you toe-tappin with his folk-rock and bluegrass!! Dan could do it all!!! So sad He was taken so early... Lin

[Jamie Ford]

Thanks for commenting Lin, I completely agree.

[Rick]

It's been years since he passed. Still miss him in concert, (no one is even a close second) solo acoustic, what he accomplished alone on a stage, not even Clapton has ever done. So few have that kind of talent, holding an audience silent to the point of hearing a pin drop caliber. His solo shows were that every time I ever saw them, which solo is around 15 times, and with a band 18 shows over the years.
The song is (for the most part) quite an actual true story, I know the guy that was at the counter of the little stop & rob he referred to as a grocery store.
Fans will be shocked at how many artists of great fame are actually in the process of recording a The Music of Dan Fogelberg Tribute CD, with all proceeds going to the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Garth Brooks, Joe Walsh, Donna Summers, the lead singer to the country group Alabama, Zac Brown, and other Eagles members as well, just to name a few. Fogelberg was admired, and respected by most musicians that took the time to listen. There is a story Fogelberg told of Jimmy Buffet bringing Kenny Stabler (football quarterback in the NFL) to hear him play Same Old Lang Syne in the recording studio before its release, and it brought him to tears, and Fogelberg said he new it was special if it could bring that guy to tears.
We miss Dan, and all he could have continued to create. What a Loss, even after all these yeara