23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Sammy Hagar says his new song was made during a dream visit from Eddie Van Halen
Sammy Hagar got some help from beyond the grave when writing his latest single.
The Bay Area rocker claims that 'Encore, Thank You, Goodnight,' came to him in a dream that featured Eddie Van Halen, who died in 2020.
It was written 'as a long overdue thank you to Eddie Van Halen for the music, the good times and the dream that inspired this track,' Hagar declared in an Instagram post about the song on Monday, April 21.
The Mill Valley resident said the track has been in the making for roughly three years.
'About two months ago, I had this dream and Eddie came,' he told Ultimate Classic Rock in 2022. 'He's going, 'Man, let's write some music!' I said, 'Yeah, f— it, man. Here, let's go!'
Hagar went on to describe that during the jam session in his dream, his former Van Halen bandmate 'did this harmonic thing and he slid it up to a chord, like a slide guitar. We wrote a song with that lick.
'I remembered it. I got up in the morning and I wrote the song. I used the f—in' lick that he showed me in the song,' he concluded.
Now, the Red Rocker is finally ready to share the track with the world. The song is set for release on Friday, April 25.
Eddie, who served as the rock band's guitarist, died during the pandemic due to ongoing complications from throat cancer. He and his brother Alex co-founded Van Halen in 1972, and Hagar served as lead singer for more than 10 years. Hagar was booted from the group in 1996 after a public fallout with Eddie, but the two made peace shortly before Eddie's death.
Most of Hagar's Best of All Worlds band — Joe Satriani, Michael Anthony and Kenny Aronoff — have now come together to record the special track in honor of the late rocker.
Last year, Hagar launched the Best of All Worlds tour — a nod to Van Halen's 2004 Best of Both Worlds Tour — to celebrate Van Halen's legacy.
Hagar, who has lived in the Bay Area for nearly 50 years, has a plaque in his honor on San Francisco's Bammies Walk of Fame and owns a recording studio in San Rafael.
