Once upon a time, I was invested in the music of Dan Fogelberg. I listened to it daily. I studied it, in fact. To the extent that my limited abilities allowed, I learned to play many of his songs and did a few at college coffeehouses.
The last song I performed on-stage was “There’s a Place in the World for a Gambler” back in 2015.
Fogelberg’s first album, Home Free, tends to be passed over by his more discerning fans. The product wasn’t very good, honestly. Only when Joe Walsh got ahold of him and produced 1974’s follow-up LP, Souvenirs, was his promise revealed.
A lot of credit for that would go to an all-star lineup assembled to give the sophomore album every chance to succeed. Personnel included Walsh, Graham Nash, Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner, Gerry Beckley (America), Kenny Passarelli (Barnstorm, et al) and a bunch more.
About a year ago, Souvenirs was re-issued to mark its 50th anniversary. (That it’s been a half-century already is hard for me to reckon with, I’ll confess.) The album’s digital version featured four “bonus tracks” tacked onto the end — three demos and one previously unreleased song entitled, “I Know a Thief.”
Reportedly, this “new” track was one that the public had never heard before. Fogelberg didn’t play it in his live shows. Still, it was up for inclusion on Souvenirs.
It didn’t make the cut.
Listening to it now, “I Know a Thief” sounds more like it belongs on Home Free. It’s flat, sparse and anguished. Check out the lyrics of the chorus:
There’s a time in your life
when you start feeling old
And you want to buy back
all the dreams you sold
Then you start understanding
the value of gold
And the lies you told
And the lies you told
I’m guessing that Fogelberg was a pretty gloomy child. He would’ve been 22 years old (at most) when he waxed poetic on the wages of selling out. Kids, right?
A few years later, a single from Twin Sons of Different Mothers brought us this chorus:
Balance the cost of the soul you lost
With the dreams you lightly sold
Are you under the power of gold?
Is there an echo in here, or is it just me?
As for “feeling old,” unfortunately he didn’t have the good fortune to experience the perspective of age. Cancer took him at 56.
Dan Fogelberg’s music holds a place as part of my life’s soundtrack, but I don’t listen to it much anymore. It doesn’t appeal to me now the way it did long ago.
Souvenirs, though… I’ll hang onto that one.
. . .
Scenes from the last couple of days…
. . .
Scheming to keep the cabin comfortable on another sunny, hot day began early this morning. Generally, I’ll either switch the AC off or turn the thermostat up overnight to save on electricity, but it was still 77°F indoors at wakeup time.
Miss Smudge had it figured out, splaying on the cool hearth.
There’s a lot to do right now. Weeds need whacking, big-time. Chainsaws and generators need attention. Hell, I’d like to get out to the range and do a little plinking. Doing any of that in this oppressive heat, though, just ain’t gonna happen.
And so I settled today for chores indoors. Laundry. A bit of housecleaning. I set up shop at my kitchen table and tended to three long guns — field-stripped, cleaned and lubed.
Of necessity, I don’t own the wide selection of firearms that I had a few years ago. These rifles remain because each has a purpose — .22LR for small varmints and cheap practice, .223 Rem for coyotes, .30-06 for deer and hogs.
I’m especially fond of the heavily modified 10/22, one of two I built-out in my basement workshop a number of years ago. It began life as a plain-Jane poly-stock model. The only original parts on this rig now are the receiver and the bolt.
The thing’s a mother-lovin’ tack driver. I’m glad I put it together when I could.
Anyway, as long as I’d sentenced myself to home confinement, it was good to be productive.
. . .
By the way, when I told a friend this morning that I’d be writing about Dan Fogelberg in today’s post, she made a sharp observation:
“Y’know, if Danny were alive today, he’d be all over the place doin’ benefit concerts for Crazy Bernie, Pocahontas, [Chuckles] and every other liberal in sight.”
I believe she’s absolutely right about that.
. . .
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath #Ungovernable