There are some losses you simply cannot get past. Most of them are “friends” I’ve never known but have been part of my life for a very long time.

Dan Fogelberg, who today, would have turned 70 is one of those people. I never met him, but his music has been and still is, an integral part of my life. I think the fact that we would have been basically the same age (he was born a year and a day earlier than I was) has something to do with that. His legacy is one that will continue long past his passing (in 2007) and as mortality continues to haunt me for many reasons [Silvio, Sue’s Dad among others in the recent past] today is simply hollow.

As I was feeling sad about that, I read a quick blurb that Nanci Griffith passed today at 68, one year younger than I will be tomorrow. Her music, specifically her Flyer album, helped me through many, many uncomfortable nights during a very painful time in my life. She was not very widely known on FM radio (though it was thanks to Vin Scelsa that I heard her the first time on his NEW-FM show) but to listen to her is to love her.

One of my favorites from that album will be my memory of her tonight if you get a chance give it a listen, the song is Southbound Train here is an appropriate close to this evening’s piece

“Some things I know
Some things I guess
Some things I wish that I could learn
To express
Like the way that I feel
As I stare at the sky
And I remember your voice
And the sound, of goodbye“

And I do remember your voice and it pains me to say goodbye…rest well Ms. Griffith, perhaps you are now singing with Dan, John Prine, Warren Zevon and with accompaniment from Clarence.

My heart is on the baggage rack
It’s heavy as can be, I wish that I could find someone
Who would carry it for me
Just to pay it some attention
And to handle it with care
Because it has been dropped
And is in need of some repair

Nanci Griffith: July 16, 1953-August 13 2021

Dan Fogelberg: August 13 1951- Dec 16 2007 “and where do you go when you get to the end of your dream”