By Lee Habeeb, Newsweek | “My father? I never knew him,” Eminem once lamented. “Never seen a picture of him.” His father’s absence drove much of the Detroit rapper’s work and life. Singer-songwriter Dan Folgelberg’s experience was the polar opposite: He not only knew his father but experienced the love—and example—of a good father.
For the privileged men and women . . . having a good father is indeed a privilege—few songs elicit more emotion than Fogelberg’s tribute to his dad, “Leader of the Band.” It may be the best song ever written about a son’s love for the man who raised him.
“If I could’ve written only one song in my life, it would’ve been ‘Leader of the Band’ because of what it meant to my father and to me,” Fogelberg once told a reporter. “There’s no way I could quantify that or even explain it.”
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Few songs stand out as extraordinary through lyrics alone, let alone tell a story as specific and universal at the same time. “Leader of the Band” is one of them.
Here are the lyrics, which are well worth reading—and singing:
An only child alone and wild, a cabinet maker’s son
His hands were meant for different work
And his heart was known to none
He left his home and went his lone and solitary way
And he gave to me a gift I know I never can repay
A quiet man of music denied a simpler fate
He tried to be a soldier once, but his music wouldn’t wait
He earned his love through discipline, a thundering velvet hand
His gentle means of sculpting souls took me years to understand
The leader of the band is tired and his eyes are growing old
But his blood runs through my instrument and his song is in my soul
My life has been a poor attempt to imitate the man
I’m just a living legacy to the leader of the band
My brother’s lives were different for they heard another call
One went to Chicago and the other to St Paul
And I’m in Colorado when I’m not in some hotel
Living out this life I’ve chose and come to know so well
. . . . .
I thank you for the music and your stories of the road
I thank you for the freedom when it came my time to go
I thank you for the kindness and the times when you got tough
And Papa, I don’t think I said I love you near enough
The leader of the band is tired and his eyes are growing old
But his blood runs through my instrument and his song is in my soul
My life has been a poor attempt to imitate the man
I’m just a living legacy to the leader of the band
I am a living legacy to the leader of the band
For those of us who had or have fathers who did their best to raise and love us, who were themselves leaders of their own band—their own family—thank you. Thank you for the encouragement. For the freedom, the discipline, the patience. And the kindness. And thank you most of all for your love.
Not enough is written about you, the men taking on the responsibilities, pleasures and disappointments of fatherhood. Your steadiness and steadfastness may not make for good fiction, but it makes for a good life. Good communities. And a good world.
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Go here to read the full, very inspirational story:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/a-song-for-the-ages-how-dan-fogelberg-s-leader-of-the-band-came-to-be/
Dedicated to my dads Vearl Froman and Owen Koller. B.Dye