Sammy Hagar’s upcoming single, Encore. Thank You. Goodnight., draws its inspiration from an unexpected source — a dream he had about his late friend and former Van Halen bandmate, Eddie Van Halen.
In a conversation with Ultimate Classic Rock back in 2022, Hagar recounted the vivid dream that led to the creation of the new song. “About two months ago, I had this dream and Eddie came,” Hagar said. “We were in a room like this, [with] a bunch of people around. It was just like he’d been gone. It was not like he was passed, but he had just been out of my life and we hadn’t seen each other for a while.”
According to Hagar, in the dream, Van Halen — who died in October 2020 at age 65 from complications related to throat cancer — enthusiastically suggested they write music together. “He’s going, ‘Man, let’s write some music!’ I said, ‘Yeah, f–k it, man. Here, let’s go!’” Hagar recalled.
The two then retreated to a corner, where Van Halen began playing him a guitar lick. Hagar recognized it as reminiscent of something Eddie had shown him years earlier, during Van Halen’s 2004 reunion tour. “It sounded just like the last lick that Eddie showed me when he was kind of a mess,” Hagar said. “I’d always say, ‘Show me your newest s–t.’ And he’d say, ‘Oh, check this out!’”
In the dream, Eddie played a harmonic slide technique — “this harmonic thing… he slid up to a chord, like a slide guitar.” Hagar said the two wrote a song around that riff right then and there. Inspired by the experience, he immediately got up the next morning and wrote the actual song, naming it Thank You in part because it featured “the f–kin’ lick that he showed me in the song.”
Although the track didn’t make it onto Hagar’s 2022 Crazy Times album with his band The Circle, the singer announced on Instagram earlier this week that he’s finally ready to share it. “I can’t wait for the world to hear this very special song Joe [Satriani] and I wrote as a long overdue thank you to Eddie Van Halen for the music, the good times, and the dream that inspired this track, Encore, Thank You, Goodnight,” Hagar wrote.
The song features guitarist Joe Satriani, drummer Kenny Aronoff, and former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony. The track is described as “inspired by a dream and brought to reality through introspective lyrics, powerful chords and rhythmic guitar and drums.”
Hagar fronted Van Halen from 1985 to 1996 and again from 2003 to 2005. Despite a turbulent relationship with Eddie Van Halen over the years — not unlike that of original VH singer David Lee Roth — this new release serves as a heartfelt musical tribute, combining nostalgia, gratitude, and the deep creative bond they once shared.
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