Talk:Same Old Lang Syne

Dan Fogleberg said that this happened in either 1975 or 1976. I checked the weather history in the Old Farmer's Almanac website, and in Peroia, IL, it shows that it snowed on Dec. 24, 1975, but not on Dec. 24, 1976, meaning that this incident most likely took place in 1975 (which makes sense, since it was late 1975, it's understandable that he'd be confused as to whether it was 1975 or 1976). However, the end of the song said "The snow turned into rain". I don't know if that actually happened, or if it was metaphorical. The history for Dec. 24, 1975 shows snow only. However, for Dec. 24, 1974, it shows both snow and rain. So it is possible that maybe he was a year off, and this took place in 1974 (again, maybe he confused late 1974 with 1975, perhaps combined with his memory of snow on Christmas Eve in 1975). What does everyone think?

Regarding the summary--oy! Can it be rewritten so that it doesn't feel like such an awkward rehash of the lyrics? I mean, any summary of this song has got to rehash the lyrics, but this one does so so artlessly that we'd be better off just repeating them verbatim.Epenthesis (talk) 02:13, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

In the reference I added (#2, regarding the identity of the female) she claims that it was 1975. Waxlion (talk) 22:46, 27 December 2007 (UTC)

That makes sense. So (assuming the Old Farmer's Almanac weather history is accurate), the snow turning into rain was just metaphorical, while the actual snow was literal. Plus, as I said, it makes sense for "either 1975 or 1976" to mean late 1975. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.184.64.197 (talk) 23:54, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Description of the song text

I agree the text should be rewritten in a way where it is not so close to the original lyrics as it is now. It could be much shorter, too. Also, the text says that the lover said she saw the narrator in a record store. I think this doesn't mean that she saw him in person (otherwise, the whole song would'nt make much sense, because she could have spoken to him then), but that she saw a record by him in a store. That's quite important because it states explicitly that the narrator is a musician which makes the song even more personal. Bernie —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.217.65.27 (talk) 16:44, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

question about lyrics/composition

Re: Dan Fogelberg Same Old Lang Syne - seems to me over the years I read that he had written the lyrics in jest and then quite by accident the song became a hit. It is a wonderful song. I'm curious if the composition and success of it was just an accident? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Snowyface (talk • contribs) 00:40, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

If you have some quotes concerning that, let us know (though its been almost two years since the posting). But the links at the bottom of the article say that the incident was real. Even then, could he have started writing the song in a lighthearted manner. Some hit songs have started out that way. But I wouldn't bet on this one.John ISEM (talk) 21:48, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

Someone posted an interview where he talked about this issue.

Snow?

Took out the line describing snow as an occurance in the upper latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, located in the last section of the article. Its a bit overencyclopedical (is this a word?) for an article not titled "Snow", not to mention snow falls other places besides that, and as much as it was overkill, it should've made the connection between snow and Christmas/the holiday season. I replaced it with a line making that connection.John ISEM (talk) 21:42, 7 December 2009 (UTC)