Sammy Hagar recently surprised fans with his response to comments made by David Lee Roth. During a show on August 13 in Hampton Beach, NH, Roth took a moment to mention Hagar and his song “Encore, Thank You, Goodnight.” Hagar had previously shared that the song was inspired by a dream he had featuring Eddie Van Halen.
Roth addressed the audience, saying, “One of my esteemed colleagues, he’s a contemporary, he’s got a great voice, he’s got a great catalogue. You all know Sammy Hagar, right? He’s got a great voice. And Sammy, aloud, he described to the media about six weeks ago that the ghost of Eddie Van Halen visited him and graced him with a song that he memorized and then went home and recorded. It’s on the Internet.”
Roth then added a humorous twist, claiming that the ghost of Eddie Van Halen visited him too. He joked, “I was watching the weather report, and he came in and he was laughing. His f—ing ghost was laughing. I said, ‘What did you do now?’ He said, ‘Dave, you know that song I gave Hagar? It’s actually ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’ backwards. Don’t f—ing tell him.’”
Hagar responded to Roth’s comments in the comment section of a post that shared a photo with the caption, “David Lee Roth Takes a Jab at Sammy Hagar Over Eddie Van Halen ‘Ghost’ Story.” Hagar didn’t see it as a jab at all. He wrote, “I can’t believe social media is trying to make something out of this. This is the first compliment and real Olive Branch moment Dave and I have had in 100 years. Listen closely, and you will see that this is not negative whatsoever.”
Hagar also expressed his belief that Roth had a dream too, saying, “Dave’s a good storyteller, but there’s some truth in between the showmanship. All good with me. Keep it up, Dave. These songs we both wrote with Eddie need to be carried on forever.”
