The Last Nail ~ Dan Fogelberg [ CC ]

[KP11520]

A MASTERpiece!

[craig8754]

Another sweet gentle soul taken from us way too soon. Miss you Dan and Dan ( Peek )

[SoothesMySoul]

Is there anyone else that relates this song of Dan's to other songs of Dan's??? ..... just listen.... it's there.....always, it's there... only Dan....

As always, Bill, thank you! Ever On!

Dan will...

"Let It Shine!"

[ottorason]

I can't get enough of this song... I play it over and over

[HiVybe]

...such an explorer of love was this remarkable Dan Fogelberg. Thanks ...101 in your travels that bring us all along on this musical-pictorial-microcosm of one of Dan's special moments (you "nailed it")...

[grantswede]

I agree! Good love-lost song, Like it was written for me!

[acefiddle]

@grantswede It was written for you !

[mrgreensound]

Dan Folgelbergs songs will live for a long long time and continue to set the bar for songwriters

[11xzxzxz]

A moving song and yeah sounds like Steve Stills playing guitar.

[915buck]

I met Dan at Caribou when he was doing the Netherland album in 76, because of circumstance I've have been around other worldly musicians but none as poetic in stature and presence......oh the stories...

[SoothesMySoul]

"But if you ever should need a man, well, the offer still stands..." To think that Dan wrote this after 'letting go' of his first true love... But then, all Dan wrote, sang, meant something to him. Thank you, Dan, for sharing you with us. Gone, but never, ever, ever forgotten. There will never be another musician like him.....never, ever....

[acefiddle]

Fly away my sweetbird over the land, take life for all the freedom you can........ Dan Fogelberg left us all a message forever written in time.

[makwabid69]

This is the song that, in addition to CSNY's "The Country Girl", made me take up an accoustic guitar in college and become a singer/songwriter...it saved me from being a total axe murderer on electric, and even got me laid on more than a few occasions...thanks, Dan...requiescat im pace!

[50marcy]

Dan left us with so many great songs,,to keep his memory going for life~

[conrad1991ful]

I am responding on the message board like you ask. You've done a beautiful job on these videos. Wish someone would teach me how to do it. This song was one of the first songs i ever played on guitar but I only strum and sing it the only way I can. His family and friends would stone me to death.

[conrad1991ful]

Even tho' Dan Fogelburg has been gone for close to four years now, for me it has just happened because i didn't even know it So right now, i'm completely tore up inside like I just lost my only true soul-mate, my best friend. I'll grieve over him forever. I wish I was dreaming.

[TheRaini1]

@conrad1991ful I am feeling the same this morning .....John Denver as well...The poets we grew upwith are gone

[bobby7771117]

The three Dan Fogelberg songs I tried to teach myself on guitar was "The Last Nail","Song From Half Mountain",and"There's a Place in The World For A Gambler", but not being blessed with those long, skinny fingers Dan was born with, there were always chords I could't play, so I gave up guitar forever! But it's ok! Peace and Love, BobbyK Dan, those 5 or 6 fret chords were esp' brutal! LOL

[windstruckladyc]

Oh my.... kind of over whelming its so beautiful

[w1steria62]

i was broken hearted when this talented man died,one of my dreams in life was to meet this wonderful artist,and when he passed i cried ..and theres times i still do,i just thank God above his haunting soul grabbing music lives on.i will always admire and love this man.

[gordonnash]

what did you edit this in? nice job!

[rickyleepilfer]

Dan had a real talent for searing guitar solos.

[bobby7771117]

I remember pedaling many miles to the store to get this album when I was like 13 years old! I was so excited to hear every song after I got home! Dan's songs help transform me into a better, caring, more mature person! I always had a song that could speak in someway to my present situation! Love, and miss you, Dan, BobbyK

[TheWoulfecub]

Beautiful music

[wildtill9]

Listening to this I have sweet memories washing over me. Wondering if the choices I made were the right ones. For I still long for a lost lover, a soulmate who perhaps only exist in my imagination

[rystlm]

@wildtill9 i feel for you dear. i still long for my lost lover and soulmate as well. i miss him dearly daily and nightly. i will love him forever. at times i ask myself too, were the choices the right ones and at times, i find myself saying no that he and i should be together. it is rough losing the one we know we belong with.

[rystlm]

@wildtill9 i feel you wildtill9. i ask myself daily and nightly, were the choices the right ones. i still long for a lost for my lover who i know is my soulmate. he and i might talk everyday but there isn't a second of the day or night, i don't find myself think of him. i love this man very dearly so i know how you must feel.

[dugo722]

@wildtill9 I can completely relate to your comment- Some memories of perfect complete love may have been imagined or a magical illusion

[herd63]

Thanks for the images! They do Dan's music justice.

[msbevins101]

Thanks Alot! I'm listening!

[jUnicHie22]

macabre songs of dan fogelberg;; specialy [ to the morning] i loved it.......i

[mikenwuf5753]

JMEagle, you've done a magnificent job on all of Dan's songs, I can't tell you the emotions it brings to me. My sister and I both love his music. I had the pleasure of meeting him one on one once in Aspen when I worked there in the 70's and 80's. My sister and I saw him play in Tahoe once together before she dies 18 years ago and his music was all we played at her funeral so you can imagine how this makes me feel. Thanks so much.

[ozarkful]

he was the greatest, he has no equal. he will forever be the man. 

[TheLastNail]

I'm taken back every time I see this. So many times this song was relevant during times of great angst and despair, through the stages of acceptance and the need to carry on despite loss and sorrow. The pictures amplify the emotions--so much in just one song. Whereas so much popular music had just a few thoughts with repetition, Dan always had so much to say only limited by the confines of the media--no wasted words or pointless repetition, just an amazing way to make you feel a story.

[myryckyz]

Beautiful song and pictures,,great posting Bill !,,THANK YOU!!

[sandinmyears1]

The intro to this song reminds me of "Rocky Mountain High."

[vickiehill1]

Amazing video! Amazing song! Amazing talented, beautiful man/musician. There will NEVER be another Dan Fogelberg. Ever.

[westrokker]

joe walsh on lead guitar, ??

[4to88strings]

@westrokker oh yeah, thay were Buds. Did a lot of work with each other over the years. Look at the credits on this album. Eagles, Stills& Nash, etc. loads of talent.

Although Dan could have done it all himself. Vocals, keyboards, guitars, bass you name it.

A well rounded musician, one helluva songwriter, and another person that cancer took out way too early in life, like my father. RIP Dad and Dan.

[westrokker]

@4to88strings amen brother ..

[westrokker]

one of the best song writer/musicians ever!

[iluvsantafe]

I love this so much, Bill!

[conway668]

One from the GUT....!~ No doubt this is a TRUE story... and and amazingly a story that parallels my life in a very haunting way. I have never recovered from that loss...

[BobbieDeeT]

Bill...Your videos are beautifully done..your heart and love for Dan's music shines through to touch us all. The winter that my friend, Dee and I both turned 19 we had a nice fondue dinner in our college apt. and then sat with a bottle of wine reminiscing over high school days and our futures, and we played The Last Nail 19 tines on our stereo's turntable. Such great memories. Thank You for honoring them and keeping them close to our hearts. Much Gratitude.

[BobbieDeeT]

Awesome....I love the images you chose for this. :) 

[jflinn210]

One of Dan's best, obviously underplayed, underappreciated by anyone outside of Dan's fandom. But WE KNOW ... WE KNEW ... WE APPRECIATED. And I hope, to this day, he realized what he meant in all of our lives. His music framed my teens, 1972-1978; we even played "Gambler" at my brother's funeral. I watch these pics, and listen to the music, and it's as fresh as the first day I heard it. "The Last Nail" and Captured Angel, what artistic freedom, created for all of us to enjoy.

[qualityresalerights]

Great video. Dan was recording this album when I first met him. He wrote so many great songs and lyrics. It was a priviledge to have known him. I didn't know him well, but talked to him quite a bit when he was recording at Caribou Ranch. Everyone from that time has a favorite Fogelberg song.

[EJBUFF]

this song brings me back to my high school sweet heart...who after 30 years she is now my love once again

[SoothesMySoul]

..Your video here & there, our Dan's sweet voice and oh so moving lyrics, (unbelievably yet truly! made even more! moving w/your videos)~as soon as I heard "...why did I let you.." here came the tears. You always thank us for watching. I say "Thank you! for creating such beauty to the beauty of Dan's music!" Try as I do, I cannot express with my words what I'm trying to convey. But, Dan's beautiful voice in these two, along w/ your beautiful videos, do. Again, I thank you~& again, "Beautiful"...

[SoothesMySoul]

Bill, after watching & listening to "Old Tennessee" five times (which moved me even more with your amazing video), I took your advice & listened to "The Last Nail". I understand exactly! what you meant. Do you have any idea of how unsurpassed your compliations of his songs together with your video creations are, how moving? Cried watching & listening to "Old Tennessee", had to come here after your comment on the two, heard the "connection" immediately. ...

[wordphoole]

Yah, I know. 17,000+ views in, it's all getting a bit repetitive, but I have to do this anyway. There is no doubt that DF is my all time/always favorite lyricist, singer/songwriter/musician, but this is just so far above any song that ever rode the radio waves before or after, that all I can do is shake my head as it ends.

Simply magnificent. Simply, as good as it gets.

[winggoddess]

i like the colorful pix.

[xltrt]

Just Great!

[Joannemck1]

for Danny

[chrisbannisterone]

Dan wrote such beautiful lyrics, his words echoed the work of Robert Frost at times, incredible talent

[jonpaulmoen]

Why oh why can't Top 40 still be like this? Miss ya Dan.

[AfsAnehAfairytale]

Love this song,love all the songs that you have uploaded here, great job!!!

Rita

[JMEagle101]

"I left a trail of footprints deep in the snow

I swore one day I would retrace them

But when I turned around I found that the wind had erased them

Now I'll never replace them"

Dan share with us his true story so poetically and many of us feel the same way it is happening to us in our real life...

[JEN122076]

@JMEagle101

A very nice tritube to the "man."

[SoothesMySoul]

@JMEagle101 Indeed he did, Bill, and yes, I think that's one reason we loved him so; he wrote of his life, his feelings, which often intertwine with ours. This is so beautiful....

[field231055]

just this song  goes out to linda and 40 years on i love you

[cajuntigger54]

It is amazing how a song can initiate the process of 'active imagination.' I first heard this song over 30 years ago, shortly after my heart was broken by the only girl to ever do so. Hearing this song again, opens up so many of the memories form those days. Time and love do heal old wounds. Of course, the wonderful music of Dan Fogelberg doesn't hurt the healing process at all.

[jstraw4]

Funny you should say that. A few weeks ago my first real love who broke my heart 30 years ago came back to me through some online correspondence.  The rush of memories washing over me, where do I turn for solace and remembrance? Dan--especially this song.

[cajuntigger54]

Sorry to see that someone else has endured romantic meltdown. But, the experience from that relationship opened my heart to a more menaingful relationship. Good luck as you re-explore the boundaries of your reconnection with your past. Dan Fogelberg has had such profound effects on the lives of so many of those fortunate enough to have been touched by the genius of his music. His music has formed a basis of reconnection for you and your ex. Thank you for sharing your story with me.

[narutorasengan100]

Beautiful - thank you..... love his music.  He was a beautiful soul.

[SoothesMySoul]

Bill, a moment in time when I had to return to this amazing video & hear Dan sing "The Last Nail". Of course tears appear ~"let the ashes fall & lay where they will, just say that once you used to know me.."~ Dan says it all here. His music speaks for me when I cannot find the appropriate words. Thanks for all of your "Ever On" creations. Just when I think I've found a new favorite, I return, as I did here, to this song that Dan had to experience to write. Still, as he also sang, "Let It Shine"!

[thatsjustgr8]

Oh my God this still brings tears to my eyes after all these years--how many times I have listened to this song/album? The older I get the more I believe he was a gift, brought to us by the angels. Composer, musician,husband,son, etc...he was a cut above the rest. RIP dear friend.

Blessings to Jean!

Ever on Dan, ever on!

[woodchuk123]

One of my favorite songs of Dan's, from one of his most overlooked albums. He had such a way with words, and he could come up with music that fit them perfectly. His chord progressions were always rich and full of pathos, simple on the surface but with many layers of complexity. For example, note now he goes from the 5th (G) to the 6th (A) as a hammer-on over the beginning C chord here as part of the melody, which gives an open, moody feel. Fits the song perfectly. Rest in peace, Dan.

[TheReach1]

Dan Fogelberg was the minstrel for all the hearts that loved him.He is still singing up in that higher place where he resides...can you still hear him...just listen..... with your heart.

[SoothesMySoul]

@TheReach1, your comment..."can you still hear him...just listen...with your heart..." How beautiful, and, oh, yes ~ how true.

Ever On, Always!, he is heard in my heart.... all I have to do is ~ just listen.....

[starwoodstudios1]

Wow, I love the way you put this together. Great job and thank you so much. I will be here on this site for a long time....

[archivist26]

I miss him so much....

What an incredible artist.

Love to Jean F.  Playiing Portrait over and over and over again....

[HighColorado]

This was a tremendous video, thank you!

[Pootwilly]

@HighColorado I had never seen this one before. You're right. It's tremendous.

[FairHenna]

Dan Fogelberg is definately the most articulate musician I know of. I appreciate his words even more than his sound.

And I have to add, it's nice to see so many articulate comments on a Youtube page!

Thanks for posting this song. I wouldn't have ever known it existed otherwise.

[MajestyofMaddie1984]

I left a trail of footprints deep in the snow,I swore one day I would retrace them,but when I turned around I found that the wind had erased them..Now Ill never replace them.~~goshy how beautifully written,and I love the opening and ending guitar solos-One of my favorite Dan songs

Thanks !

[fromthispoint]

Thank you so much who ever did this video The music Of Dan Fogelberg was amazing and these images Dan Never made many videos I dont know why he advoided the CMT MTV movement and the video thing but his music is so much more then them cheerleaders of MTV watching these videos to his songs now is so wonderful to watch but I watched them many years ago in my mind and heart seeing them now is rewarding all over again thanks.

[hbofbyu]

The piano and the guitar were meant to be together. The pain of "trying to reach beyond the emptyness" is captured in the words of Same Auld Lang Syne but The Last Nail captures it with its music. Wow.

[ilovedgf]

For Jonathan and his Melissa

[SoothesMySoul]

Can't sleep. Where better to come back to yet again than Dan's The Last Nail at 1:25 A.M. And, Bill, you know I'll be back to this one again and again. Simply Beautiful....

[SoothesMySoul]

(Continued..) Dan's lyrics to The Last Nail express a lost love, a broken heart, which we all have had happen to us in our lives. I'm so glad you chose this song. Thank you so much for the feeling you put into this. There is no doubt in my mind but that Dan would totally approve of your creation to The Last Nail. What a wonderful tribute to him. As always, "Let It Shine!" Simply beautiful.....

[benjaminlhaines]

This progression is unconventional; yet very rich.

And, he's doing that descending bass-line thing off the top of the verse:

C [G/B] Amin, Amin/G, F - again, adding to the pathos.

Then there are a couple of classic couplets:

"We ...[how's it go?..], but never once saw the stage"

"We wrote our share of love's lore, but never quite filled the page"

"We loved as strong as we could, but love only got in our way"

We try our best to be free. There's nothing much more to say, but be on your way."

[SoothesMySoul]

Thank you again Bill for a beautiful video to go along wth The Last Nail. The lyrics to this song - Dan's voice singing it - the music is absolutely beautiful - no one could ever sing this song as Dan does. "I left a trail of footprints deep in the snow.." "So let the ashes fall & lay where they will, just say that once you used to know me.." This to me is something one fully understands or totally misses. It says it all, & of course I cry every time I hear it, just as I do w/ "Be On Your Way".

[benjaminlhaines]

Hi SoothesMySoul,

'Be On Your Way' - as much as I love it, really is rather dismissive. Things I love about it that transcend this potential touch of arrogance include:

That incredible way Dan had with choosing, establishing and holding extraordinarily slow tempos. That adds to the melancholy, bigtime,

Of course, that amazing voice.

Some of the chords: for example, in with phrases like 'meet again', there's a chord for each syllable: F, D/F#, Emin7.

This progression is unconventional.

Ben

[Equalizer58]

Wow! What else to say. Always one of my favorite Fogelberg songs. Many Thanks for posting it here.

[jellyjukebox]

I don't know how I've never viewed this before. Wonderful images to such a classic song by Dan. Thank you for this.

[59mjm77]

I agree!!!!

[mikaylanewf]

This has long been a favorite of mine. I have found live versions here, but unfortunately they lack the piano that I love with the original recording. And the video is terrific! Thanks for sharing.

[DANSFANFOREVER]

Bill, this has long been one of my favorite songs. Danny captured that wistful moment when we regret a certain choice and wish things could have been differently...and once again, you've done justice to his song. Thank you.

[pbrud]

Bill, this was superb! It brought the tears, but in a good way.... You always let it shine! Thanks for your hard work and labor of love, Paula B

[beggarsgame]

Perfection! Thanks Bill for all you do to help carry the torch into the Ever On!

[billp1955]

Well done Well done!!! Sure miss Dan so much.....have mixed emotions about the final chapter of his music coming out in August. I really enjoyed this video! Thanks

[Mariaglenn]

Great job partner...loved it, you captured it perfectly...thanks for the credit..though it was really not much..smiling at cha Bill..

River..

[ilovedgf]

Bill, that was fabulous!!! Great images, and a few pics of Dan I've never seen, always a treat to see something new!!!

It warms my heart to see the work of my kindred spirits in tribute to our artist. Dan would be delighted with this.

Michelle

[headcaseworker]

Oh, thank you, Bill! Love this song, too! Wonderful video!

Thank you, Dan!

We miss you!

[asquare176]

Bill, that was great! 5 star ovation for sure!! *****

I love this song and the album! You have definitely put a tear in my eye and a ache in my heart with this post. Many photo's that I haven't seen! The last photo will always be one that I will always remember him by. Very lovely done!

[iluvsantafe]

Bill...Beautifully done...LOVE IT!

Thanks, Andfrea