favorite lyrics ‘n stuff

Dan Fogelberg passed away on December 16th after a courageous battle with cancer. Remembering him and his music brought back a flood of memories from my teens and twenties that instantly brought tears to my eyes. The first album I bought was Souvenirs, from 1974 and I think that I still have Phoenix and The Innocent Age in my old record collection. Now my favorites are on my iPod (but I still can’t part with some albums) - and this is one of them….

Same Old Lang Syne

Met my old lover in the grocery store
The snow was falling Christmas Eve
I stole behind her in the frozen foods
And I touched her on the sleeve
She didn’t recognize the face at first
But then her eyes flew open wide
She went to hug me and she spilled her purse
And we laughed until we cried

We took her groceries to the checkout stand
The food was totalled up and bagged
We stood there lost in our embarrassment
As the conversation dragged
We went to have ourselves a drink or two
But couldn’t find an open bar
We bought a six-pack at the liquor store
And we drank it in her car

We drank a toast to innocence, we drank a toast to now
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness but neither one knew how

She said she’d married her an architect
Who kept her warm and safe and dry
She would have liked to say she loved the man
But she didn’t like to lie
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
She said she saw me in the record stores
And that I must be doing well
I said the audience was heavenly but the traveling was hell

We drank a toast to innocence, we drank a toast to now
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness but neither one knew how
We drank a toast to innocence, we drank a toast to time
Reliving in our eloquence, another ‘auld lang syne’

The beer was empty and our tongues were tired
And running out of things to say
She gave a kiss to me as I got out and I watched her drive away
Just for a moment I was back at school
And felt that old familiar pain
And as I turned to make my way back home
The snow turned in to rain…

Another one of my favorites is Leader Of The Band, written as a tribute to his Dad ….

Leader of the Band

An only child alone and wild, a cabinet maker’s son
His hands were meant for different work
And his heart was known to none
He left his home and went his lone and solitary way
And he gave to me a gift I know I never can repay
A quiet man of music denied a simpler fate
He tried to be a soldier once, but his music wouldn’t wait
He earned his love through discipline– a thundering, velvet hand
His gentle means of sculpting souls took me years to understand
(Chorus)
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

My brothers’ lives were different for they heard another call
One went to Chicago and the other to St Paul
And I’m in Colorado when I’m not in some hotel
Living out this life I’ve chose and have come to know so well

I thank you for the music and your stories of the road
I thank you for the freedom when it came my time to go
I thank you for the kindness and the times when you got tough
And, papa, I don’t think I said ‘I love you’ near enough
(Chorus)
I am a living legacy to the leader of the band

www.danfogelberg.com/

lyrics

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There are many philosophies when it comes to practicing guitar.
Some people don’t practice at all, others practice for 10+ hours
per day! Steve Vai’s legendary 10-hour guitar workout comes to
mind. But consider this…who do you think is the better guitar
player? The person who hardly practices, or the person who
practices on a regular basis? Of course it’s the person who
practices regularly!

I’m a strong advocate of practicing on a regular basis because
with good guitar technique, you can play anything! If you think
about it, it makes perfect sense. If you can alternate pick most
any any lick or picking pattern, then any time you’re trying to
learn something new you’ll be able to pick it up much more
quickly then if you don’t have good technique.

Obviously you want to practice things that you have difficulty
playing, or create your own exercises that are similar to those
things you struggle with. By focusing your practice time on
these things, you will improve much quicker. Then in the future
when you encounter things you previously used to struggle with,
you’ll breeze right through it!

Think about it.if all you practice are power chords, you just
really limit yourself as to what you can potentially play. By
focusing on certain techniques, you’ll be able to do so much
more. But you can still play power chords if you choose. I
don’t know, maybe some people are happy only playing power
chords, but I digress.

Now I’m not saying that you should go out and start practicing
for 10+ hours per day. I never practiced for more then 3-4
hours per day. I think that what you practice is more important
then how long you practice. Of course it’s ultimately up to you.
This is just how I view the guitar.

About The Author: Chris Thomas writes articles and does reviews
of the top online guitar lessons at
www.guitarlessoncomparisons.com

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