The Leader of the Band

Published on December 16 2007

Sunday, December 16 Dear friends, Dan left us this morning at 6:00am. He fought a brave battle with cancer and died peacefully at home in Maine with his wife Jean at his side. His strength, dignity, and grace in the face of the daunting challenges of this disease were an inspiration to all who knew him.

I had read awhile back that Fogelberg was ill with prostate cancer, facing a poor prognosis. Still, it was hard to read this news on his website. Although a friend of mine once joked that "the wussification of America began with Dan Fogelberg", I always loved the guy's music after I discovered him in college. I loved the songs of the Midwestern boy who sang so well of the places he'd gone and the people he'd met. I even remember playing "Face the Fire" at our wedding kegger and seeing 20 or 30 hard-core party animals fall silent to listen to the song-- and seeing the shock on their faces to find out who the singer was. This was the song that always got me, though:

If I could ever say it right And reach your hostage heart Despite the doubts you harbor then you might Come to believe in me The life I lead is not the kind That gives a woman peace of mind I only hope someday you'll find That you can believe in me Those other loves that came before Mean nothing to me anymore But you can never be quite sure And will not believe in me Too many hearts have been broken Failing to trust what they feel But trust isn't something that's spoken And love's never wrong when it's real If I could only do one thing Then I would try to write and sing A song that ends your questioning And makes you believe in me Too many hearts have been broken Failing to trust what they feel But trust isn't something that's spoken And love's never wrong when it's real If I could do one thing Then I would try to write and sing A song that ends your questioning And makes you believe in me And makes you believe in me oh, you can believe in me

May we all find someone to believe in.