Sammy Hagar has unleashed “Encore, Thank You, Goodnight,” the song he wrote inspired by a dream he had that featured Eddie Van Halen.
In a statement on the track, Hagar said, “This song is my final bow to that part of my life. It’s not meant to be anything more than a ‘thank you’ — with love, with respect, and with one hell of a guitar solo.”
Indeed, the song does kick off with a guitar solo and features another guitar solo in the middle from Joe Satriani, who emulates EVH’s style of guitar playing. More than anything, “Encore, Thank You, Goodnight” serves as a tribute to the late Van Halen, particularly its chorus:
“Thank you for the music
Thank you for the song
Thank you for the visit
What took so long
Thank you
All of them good time
Fortune and the fame
Since you’ve been gone,
Things don’t feel the same”
“Encore, Thank You, Goodnight” can be heard below and is available for streaming and download here.
Hagar first talked about this unique song involving the late Van Halen back in August 2022. At that time, Hagar told Ultimate Classic Rock, “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— it, man. Here, let’s go!’”
The Red Rocker says EVH played a riff in the dream that reminded him of one the guitarist played for him around the 2004 Van Halen reunion tour. Then, Sammy and Eddie wrote a song with that riff in the dream. After he woke up, Sammy remembered the song, and then he wrote it down.u, Goodnight.’”
