Chords for Interview Anyone In History? Dan Fogelberg | 3 Songs | The Professor of Rock

_ Hundreds of bands and artists have fashioned songs that win our hearts and minds for the moment. _
But every now and again, someone comes along that captures our souls for the long haul.
This week, we drop the [G] needle on three songs from one of the most sincere [D] voices of any [G] generation. _ _
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[C] Hey Music Junkies, Professor of Rock here with our latest Three Songs,
where we talk about three distinct songs that have had some kind of an impact on us.
Now, I'll share my three with some commentary, and I ask you to share yours as well.
In the process, we'll not only learn something from each other, but we'll also hear some amazing music.
This week, I want to focus on three songs from one of my favorite singer-songwriters ever.
So as an interviewer, quite often I'm asked by people,
if you could interview anybody who has passed on or somebody who's passed on from this life, who would you choose?
I guess, you know, most of the time I think they're expecting me to say John Lennon or Jim [G] Morrison or Elvis, maybe Freddie [D] Mercury. _ _
[G] Honestly, it would be Dan Fogelberg.
Dan [C] might have been the [G] purest voice [Am] of all time.
[G] In my view, he [C] was.
This week, I want to [Bb] talk about three songs that for [Am] me [G] prove this to be the truth.
[D] Number three, [G] Longer. _
[Am] Longer than [G] there have been fishes in [C] the ocean, _ [G] _ _ [Am] higher than _
[G] any bird.
OK, so this song gets me every single time.
I don't think you really get it unless you've [C] truly been in love.
Dan joked about this in the liner notes to his box set that this is the one that put [G] him on the elevators.
It's pretty funny, but [Am] the truth is [G] this song is as much an American pop standard as any love song written by Cole Porter or George and Ira Gershwin.
So Dan said about this song, and I quote, I was lounging in a hammock one night looking up at the stars.
It just seems that this song [Am] was drifting around.
The universe saw me and [G] decided I'd give it a good home.
Now, he was being [F] very [C] humble when he [Bb] said this, because [Bb] there is no way that [F] any other artist in this [C] universe could perfectly [Eb] capture the heartfelt sincerity,
the [Dm] intense [C] rapture and the [Eb] breathtaking emotion that this [Bb] song's poetry [Gm]
required.
_ _ [D] Dan's voice [Dm] was one of a [D] kind.
It was [G] incomparable when the song [Am] called for [G] deeply intense emotion, and that was one of his true gifts.
I [Am] mean, sincerity.
There's [G] never been a more sincere voice.
I mean [C] that.
[G] I'll put it this way.
If [A] you ever think [G] that you've found the perfect [Am] companion and you're going to propose,
_ play this song and make sure that the [A] object of your affection [D] fits the mold of this [C] number two hit.
[G] If you have any hesitation, _ take the [C] ring back.
_ _ [C] So I had [Bb] a chance to talk to highly respected session player Jerry Hay [Fm] from [C] Q's crew about his Flugelhorn solo on this [Bb] song.
Here's what he said.
I [F] got the call _ [C] from _ a friend and [Bb] said, you know, this guy wants you.
I [G] didn't know who Dan [D] Fogelberg was.
Yeah.
[Dm] Guy wants you to play on his record.
[D] OK.
They think it [G] might be piccolo trumpet. _
OK, I'll bring my piccolo trumpet, which sounds an octave higher than what ended up on the record.
And I played it.
I played about two or three [Am] measures on piccolo trumpet, which is really high on piccolo trumpet.
And they go, oh, no, no, that's not right.
And they said, what about regular trumpet?
[G] So I played it on regular trumpet.
_ _ And [C] I said, well, what about flugelhorn?
You know, it's kind of [G] softer, you know, _ maybe it'd be OK on flugelhorn.
_ _ [E] _ _
So I just [F] played it one time on flugelhorn. _
[C] _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ [Bb] _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
[Eb] _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ OK, [F] see you later.
You [Bb] know, once again, I didn't know anything.
Yeah.
You know, it was.
Did you meet Dan at [D] all?
Yeah, I played on another a couple other records.
Yeah.
[Dm] _ Nice guy.
Super, [G] super nice guy.
_ You know, again, sad with him.
Yeah.
[C] But yeah, very nice, very [Am] _
_ _ _ [G] _ kind, humble [F] guy in the studio.
Number two, _ [G] same old [Am] Lingsine.
We drink a toast [F] to innocence.
We [G] drink a toast [Am] to love.
Now, the thing about [C] Dan Fogelberg [Am] is that he could write and [F] sing about love from so many [G] different angles.
And he was almost [C] peerless in this [G] fashion.
As perfectly [C] as he captured the feeling of true and undying [Am] love and in a song like Longer,
he could [A] also capture that feeling of being trapped in a [C] relationship as he did in Lonely in Love,
which is another one of my favorites, or [D] the feeling of love from the standpoint of [F] running into [C] an old flame
and finding that there are still deep [Am] feelings [G] there.
[C] Now, same old Lingsine is about [A] as literal as a love [G] song can get.
It literally tells the story of [Am] Dan running into an old lover [D] in a grocery store on Christmas Eve.
But it covers the [F] awkwardness and the innocence [C] and the doubt and that [Am] wonder of such an [Em] experience.
[C] _
So amazingly.
[A] I mean, we've all been there.
[C] We've all been in that exact situation.
But [A] to this day, [Am]
I have [D] never heard a pop song _ [F] detail [Am] the emotion and the intense feelings
that I'm talking about as poignantly as same old Lingsine, especially in the ending,
when he talks about [C] that old familiar pain.
_ _ _ [A] _ _
_ [Am] _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
It's the pain of nostalgia that entire [Em]
films and TV [Am] series have tried to define.
[D] I mean, think about Mad Men or Eternal Sunshine of the [C] Spotless Mind.
But the difference is [G]
Dan Fogelberg [G] defined it in about five minutes.
[Ab] Number one, leader of the band.
[Db] _ _ _
_ [Ab] _ _ _ _ [Db] _ _ [Ab]
Now, all three of my top picks are the ones that I've been listening to.
And the three choices have been ballads.
I [Fm] realize that.
I'd like to [F] point out, though, that while Dan [Abm] was one of the foremost [F] balladeers of his [Db] day,
he could write a scorching rocker just as well as the [Db] language of love and [Ab] the power of gold
and Phoenix can [Bbm] all attest to.
But the [Fm] song that I feel sums [Ab] up the brilliant songwriting craft and the unparalleled sincerity
[Db] and intelligence, emotional intelligence of [Ab] Dan _ Fogelberg is the leader of the band.
The [Ab] song was a heartfelt tribute to his father, Lawrence Fogelberg,
who was actually still alive when the [Bbm] song was released and he got to hear [Fm] it.
[F] And what a beautiful tribute [Fm] that it was.
I mean, this song [Ab] includes some of the best lyrical gems _ dedicated to the memories of his father
that he probably ever put [Db] down.
[Bbm] Part where he says he earned his [F] love through discipline, a thundering velvet hand.
His gentle [Ab] means of sculpting souls took me years to understand.
And then later when he says thank you for the music.
[Db] Thank you for the [Ab] music and your [Cm] stories [Db] of the road.
We've all felt that.
[Bbm] _ And of course, the chorus is [Ab] second to none.
The leader [Bbm] of the band is tired and his [F] eyes are growing old, but his blood runs through my instrument
and his song is in my soul.
I think I could only have written one song in my [Ab] life.
It would have been leader of the [Ab] band.
_ _ Because what that meant to my [Db] father and to me, _ there's [Bbm] no way I could quantify that [Fm] or even explain it.
And [Eb] ironically, _ with that [Ab] part from that chorus that he wrote for his father,
Dan Fogelberg has perfectly captured [C] how we all feel as the listener to [Am] his transcendent [Em] music.
His songs [Am] are forever [D] in our soul.
[G] _
So we honor his legacy in the memory of Dan Fogelberg, the leader of the band.
God bless you, sir.
[C] In tribute to Dan Fogelberg, please leave a comment about your [Em] favorite song or what his [Am] music has meant to you.
[Em] Click on the link below to [D] stream by some of his music.
Celebrate his [G] life by listening to his amazing music.
[C] Especially this [G] tribute album [C] that was put together that [G] has everybody from [Fm] Garth Brooks to Donna Summer
[Ab] to Zac Brown singing some of his greatest songs.
If you love music, [Db] you're passionate about music, [Cm] subscribe below.
Help [Eb] us build this [Ab] community.
Help us talk about the greatest [Bbm] songs of all time.
[Ab] Help us keep the music [Bbm] alive.
Until next [Ab] time, three [G] chords and the truth, my brothers and my sisters. _ _ _ _ _
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