A Different Old Lang Syne

On Friday night, I volunteered at the Old Town School's 9th annual "Songs of Good Cheer" concert, a fundraiser for the Chicago Tribune Holiday Giving program. It was good old fashion fun. Until they made me bawl like a baby.

Eric Zorn and Mary Schmich, both writers for the Tribune, host the event every year, and lead a happy and talented crew of Old Town teachers and a couple other random musicians. The audience gets songbooks and it's one giant holiday sing-along. I'm a sucker for crap like that so I had a grand 'ol time. Then Eric told the story of Kevin Lambeck, a soldier who died in Iraq at age 26. His father wrote a letter to President Bush and Bush never responded, so last March, Eric posted the letter in his column.

Eric gave a really nice, sincere tribute to Kevin, talking about him as a soldier, son, brother, husband, and friend. I was already getting choked up at this point. Then he brings Kevin's parents and sister on stage. We toast to Kevin. And then we all sing Auld Lang Syne. Wow. Just when I got myself together, I looked at the 70-something man next to me, and saw that he was crying. I devised an immediate backstory about the friends this kind looking gentleman lost when he served in the Korean war. That put me over the edge.

The next day, I googled the letter that Kevin Lambeck's dad wrote to President Bush. Reading the letter broke my heart even more.

My obvious response was to learn how to play "Same Old Lang Syne" by Dan Fogelberg on guitar. Auld Lang Syne made me think, "Same Old Lang Syne"....now THAT is a treasure of the 70s. I learned the song in the way that I learn songs (I gloss over those tricky bar chords and just sing louder during those parts) and thought, "That Dan Fogelberg...what a gem." I mean, really. These lyrics?

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.

Seriously, Fogelberg. That is GOOD.

That was definitely the most I'd ever thought about Dan Fogelberg in my entire life. All in one sitting. I listened to bits of his other songs on itunes. It was at least an hour of DF and nothing but DF.

Then, this morning, I found out that he died yesterday. He was only 56. It's so sad...just when we were getting to know each other. And now it seems like "Same Old Lang Syne" is my new signature holiday song because Dan just died. But Dan died on Sunday and he and I go way back to Saturday.

Either way, it's a bummer. Here's to you, Mr. Fogelberg. You totally get me.