Same Old Lang Syne—Murfin Winter Holidays Music Festival 2023-‘24

                                                        Dan Fogelberg's autobiographical Same Old Lang Syne.

Note—A holiday two-fer today for New Year’s Eve.

                                 Illinois singer/songwriter Dan Fogelberg.

Dan Fogelberg’s 1980 masterpiece Same Old Lang Syne is set on a dismal Christmas Eve but it repeated riff on Old Lang Syne make it feel like a New Year’s song as well.  The Peoria, Illinois native based the song on his own experience running into a high school sweetheart at a liquor store on a slushy Christmas Eve during a visit home. Whichever rainy holiday eve it is, the song struck a deep chord with many.  Fogelberg noted that many fans at personal appearances told him that the song could have been about them.  

High school yearbook photos of Fogelberg and the old sweetheart in the song.

Here is Fogelberg’s performance of the poignant, melancholy, and wistful classic.