“I have these moments all steady and strong
I’m feeling so holy and humble
The next thing I know I’m all worried and weak
And I feel myself starting to crumble
The meanings get lost and the teachings get tossed
And you don’t know what you’re going to do next
You wait for the sun but it never quite comes
Some kind of message comes through
And it says to you…
Love when you can
Cry when you have to
Be who you must
That’s a part of the plan
Await your arrival with simple survival
And one day we’ll all understand
One day we’ll all understand
One day we’ll all understand”
— Part Of The Plan, Souvenirs

When we learned of Dan Fogelberg’s death yesterday from prostate cancer there was a small, silent sob from way back when.
Fogelberg was a true poet of the soul, at least on his early albums, a soft, warm voice that reached way down past the anixiety, the loneliness and the chaos of growing beyond the means.

The first three albums — Home Free (1972), Souvenirs (1974) and Captured Angel (1975) — were written just for us, a yearning for things not understood and love not found.
Although the music was still good, by the time Fogelberg recorded Twin Sons of Different Mothers (1978) with flute-great Tim Weisberg, the personal touch was gone.
Maybe it was us who had already departed that lonely stretch of road and entered a more-widespread, more-peopled avenue.

We hate to admit it, but some here at Compatible Creatures spent long hours crying to the sound of Fogelberg’s gentle, understanding voice, trying to make sense of a twisted, strange story that is life.
And feeling good about feeling bad.

“And my feelings have grown rigid like a wooden post
And my love is like a curtain that has been drawn closed
And my life just isn’t going the way I thought it was supposed to
And I’m crying and I find myself
Looking for a lady
I’m looking for a lady to change my night to day”
— Looking For A Lady, Home Free