Dan Fogelberg died today. He died from advanced prostate cancer which had been diagnosed in 2004. I didn’t know.
I’d thought of him a while back, but unlike any other time, I didn’t Google him to find out where he was or what he up to. I didn’t realize he had been fighting for his life. I’m sad to read that he lost.
After I read about his death, I went onto Itunes to download some of his songs. I’d owned several of his albums from years ago, LP’s, not CDs. I gave them to Goodwill during one of my many moves, in an effort to continue downsizing. As I listened to the clips, I was transported to another place and time. It was the late 70’s, and I was wild and crazy, but then again, who wasn’t.
"Same Old Lang Syne", "Leader of the Band", "Souvenirs"…each song brings back not so much a memory as a feeling, a melancholy. I would listen to him when I was feeling blue, usually after being hurt by someone. It seems I was blue a lot. It happens when you wear your heart on your sleeve. I didn’t have anyone to tell me to guard my heart. I was quite careless with it and it shows (even now) the bruises and scars as a result of that carelessness.
"Between the world of men and make-believe I can be found" (Scarecrow’s Dream).
How that has been my life for so many years.
I even wanted to write a story based on one of his songs, "Go Down Easy". I may still have the outline and rough sketch of the cabin. Will have to look for it.
It’s hard to go down easy, it’s hard to keep from crying and it’s hard to lose a lover in the early part of autumn."
I’ll probably download some more songs. It’s a good time to feel sad, as the winter settles in, even here in sunny California.
Goodbye, Dan. I will miss you.
All Things Elda 