Dan Fogelberg - Same Auld Lang Syne (lyrics)

Released as a single in 1980 and also included as the 2nd track from "The Innocent Age" (1981). Not long after this song came out, the bass player in my first band asked me if I had heard it. I replied that I had, what of it? "No," he said, "have your REALLY heard it? Because it'll make you cry." Well, he was right. The story of a chance encounter with a former lover is bittersweet and one that probably everyone can relate to in one form or another. At the time I had not listened carefully to the lyrics and didn't realize the saxophone at the end was playing a jazzy version of Auld Lang Syne. But to this day I've never heard a more expressive sax solo.

Here's to old love, my friends...and a new year!

~thatMimosaGrove

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According to Fogelberg, the song is based on a real encounter that occurred when he went home to Peoria, Illinois for Christmas in 1975 or '76. The song peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart in 1981 and is now frequently played during the holiday season and alongside traditional Christmas songs.

There were three toasts (two people, six cans of beer) – two toasts to 'innocence and now', and a third toast to 'innocence and time'. After a third toast, the conversation runs its course. They exchange their goodbyes and the woman kisses him before he gets out of the car. As she drives away, the narrator contemplates the good times they'd had long ago, hence the meaning and reference to the song's title: Old Lang Syne. At the song's most bittersweet moment, the narrator experiences yet another "old lang syne," as he is reunited with "that old familiar pain" from their break-up at an earlier time in their lives. The snow that surrounds him then turns to rain, signifying a happy time turned quite melancholy.

The melody is based on the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky and ends with a soprano saxophone solo by Michael Brecker based on the melody from the original "Auld Lang Syne".

After Fogelberg's death from prostate cancer in 2007, the woman about whom he wrote the song came forward with her story. Her name is Jill Greulich, and she confirmed the encounter occurred in 1975.

~Wikipedia

Here's a 2007 article about the encounter from Jill's perspective that ran in the Peoria Journal Star: http://www.pjstar.com/x1101623574/Luc...

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Dan Fogelberg: Piano, bass, electric piano, lead and background vocals
Russ Kunkel: Drums
Michael Brecker: Soprano saxophone

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