Jan 4, 2008 By Paul Sunyak 3 min read

I grew up in the golden age of American music, spanning the late 1960s into the 1970s, when all kinds of genres were at their zenith. One of the soft-rock wizards of that time, Dan Fogelberg, died Dec. 16 in Maine at age 56, after being diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in 2004. Those of you too young to remember Fogelberg should take a listen to at least three of his songs, which made an impact me as a young man: “Heart Hotels,” about recuperating from love lost; “Same Old Lang Syne,” a reflective piece about his real-life chance meeting with a former girlfriend; and my personal favorite, “Leader of the Band,” a moving tribute to his father.

Fogelberg had a way of conveying mood through his matching of words and music, at a level many other good musicians couldn’t quite reach. His emotions showed through in his work, and for that reason I always considered him a deep thinker as an artist.

I always wanted to be a writer, but journalistic writing is a far cry from the type of stuff Fogelberg dished out. A writer I became; an artist like Fogelberg, I’m not. Some snippets of his work:

From “Heart Hotels” :

Gonna pull in the shutters on this heart of mine

Roll up the carpets and pull in the blinds

And retreat to the chambers that I left behind

In hopes there still may be love left to find

From “Same Old Lang Syne”:

I said the years had been a friend to her

And that her eyes were still as blue

But in those eyes I wasn’t sure if I saw doubt or gratitude …

We drank a toast to innocence, we drank a toast to now

And tried to reach beyond the emptiness but neither one knew how.

And from “Leader of the Band”:

The leader of the band is tired and his eyes are growing old

But his blood runs through my instrument and his song is in my soul

My life has been a poor attempt to imitate the man

I’m just a living legacy to the leader of the band

Many times, from when I first heard these songs until now, I’ve wished I could write like that. Great artists like Fogelberg are able to create timeless classics, songs that everyone at some point or another can relate to.

(You can hear samples of the melodies, along with other Fogelberg tunes, at www.danfogelberg.com/verybestof.html)

When it comes to music, I’m one of those folks who believes that nothing being done today can compare to the tunes of my youth. Maybe every generation is like that, but in my case I think the argument has merit.

I wish we had more Dan Fogelbergs today, not fewer. And I’d like to thank my college roommate, Glenn Townsend, for helping turn me into a bigger Fogelberg fan. (Glenn had purchased 1978’s “Twin Sons of Different Mothers” album, as I recall.)

On a different note, Fogelberg’s passing proves once again that fame and fortune are no guarantees of longevity. Another ‘leader of the band” was taken from us at way too young an age.

But we have those songs as part of his legacy. And they’ll always speak to our souls.

Paul Sunyak is editorial page editor of the Herald-Standard. He can be reached at 724-439-7577 or psunyak@heraldstandard.com