SAMMY HAGAR SAYS EDDIE VAN HALEN, VIA A DREAM, HELPED HIM WRITE A NEW SONG TITLED, “THANK YOU”

Matthew Wilkening of Ultimate Classic Rock reports:

Sammy Hagar says he wrote a new song called Thank You, using a guitar melody that Eddie Van Halen showed him, in a recent dream.

“I shouldn’t be hyping it now,” Hagar tells UCR. “Nobody knows this but Michael Anthony, Jason [Bonham] and Vic [Johnson]. About two months ago, I had this dream and Eddie came. 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. He’s going, ‘Man, let’s write some music!’ I said, ‘Yeah, f–k it, man. Here, let’s go!'”

Hagar says they “went over into a corner, in this room. He had a guitar and he played me this thing. It was like this lick – [just like] the last lick that Eddie Van Halen showed me, when I went back for the [2004] reunion tour and when he was a mess. I said, ‘Eddie, show me your newest s–t,’ because every time I’d be around him I’d say, ‘Show me your newest s–t.’ He’d say, ‘Oh, check this out!'”

In the dream, “he did this harmonic thing and he slid it up to a chord, like a slide guitar. We wrote a song with that lick,” Hagar adds. “I remembered it. I got up in the morning and I wrote the song. It’s called, Thank You. I used the f–kin’ lick that he showed me in the song. I told Jason, ‘I just really don’t know what to say lyrically.’ I’ve got goosebumps, head to toe, [talking about it]. So, I wrote it [about that experience], and we’ll do that song someday.”

“Thank You” came together too late for inclusion on his upcoming Crazy Times album. But when it does arrive, Hagar intends to share the songwriting credit with his former bandmate.

“Now, that’s going to be an Eddie-influenced song, to the point that I’m going to co-write it with him. I’m going to give him credit and then maybe we’ll donate the money to charity, whatever,” Hagar says. “You see, I feel so embarrassed about it because everyone’s going to say, ‘Oh, look at Sammy trying to capitalize on Eddie.’ No, I’m not. You don’t understand. This was a real f–kin’ dream, and I told you exactly what happened in it.”

Crazy Times, Hagar’s second album with the Circle, arrives on Sept. 30. The title tune and a cover of Elvis Costello’s, Pump It Up, have already been released. The band is currently touring the U.S. with support from George Thorogood.

Remaining tour dates are as follows:

Sammy Hagar & The Circle Crazy Times Tour Tour Dates: 8/24/22  Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center 8/26/22 Maryland Heights, MO  Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre 8/27/22  Tinley Park, IL Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre 8/29/22 Greenwood Village, CO Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre 8/30/22 Salt Lake City, UT USANA Amphitheatre 9/1/22 Bend, OR Hayden Homes Amphitheater 9/3/22 Ridgefield, WA RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater 9/4/22 Auburn, WA White River Amphitheatre 9/7/22 Phoenix, AZ Ak-Chin Pavilion 9/9/22 Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amphitheatre 9/10/22 Irvine, CA Five Point Amphitheatre 9/16/22 Woodlands, TX The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion 9/17/22 Irving, TX The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory 10/1/22 Lincoln, CA Thunder Valley Casino

Sammy Hagar’s Annual Birthday Bash In Cabo:  10/9/22 Cabo Wabo Cantina   Cabo San Lucas, Mexico 10/11/22 Cabo Wabo Cantina   Cabo San Lucas, Mexico 10/13/22 Cabo Wabo Cantina  Cabo San Lucas, Mexico – Sammy’s 75th