Sammy Hagar says he has written a new song with the help of his late former bandmate Eddie Van Halen, who came to him in a dream.
In conversation with Ultimate Classic Rock, the former Van Halen vocalist explains, "I shouldn’t be hyping it now. Nobody knows this but Michael Anthony, Jason [Bonham] and Vic [Johnson].
"About two months ago, I had this dream and Eddie came. We were in a room like this, [with] a bunch of people around. It was just like he’d been gone. It was not like he was passed, but he had just been out of my life and we hadn’t seen each other for a while. He’s going, 'Man, let’s write some music!' I said, 'Yeah, fuck it, man. Here, let’s go!'"
Of how the dream-written tune came together, Hagar reveals that it was based upon a riff that the guitarist showed him in real life, when he was alive.
According to Hagar, the pair then "went over into a corner, in this room. He had a guitar and he played me this thing. It was like this lick – [just like] the last lick that Eddie Van Halen showed me, when I went back for the [2004] reunion tour and when he was a mess.
"I said, 'Eddie, show me your newest shit,' because every time I’d be around him I’d say, 'Show me your newest shit.' He’d say, 'Oh, check this out!'
Elaborating a little on what the song sounds like, the musician adds: "He did this harmonic thing and he slid it up to a chord, like a slide guitar. We wrote a song with that lick.
"I remembered it. I got up in the morning and I wrote the song. It’s called, Thank You. I used the fuckin’ lick that he showed me in the song. I told Jason, 'I just really don’t know what to say lyrically.' I’ve got goosebumps, head to toe, [talking about it]. So I wrote it [about that experience], and we’ll do that song someday."
Luckily for the ex-Van Halen frontman, the song didn't fade away from his mind like most dreams; he aims to release it in the future and intends to credit Eddie on the track.
"Now, that’s going to be an Eddie-influenced song, to the point that I’m going to co-write it with him. I’m going to give him credit and then maybe we’ll donate the money to charity, whatever," Hagar says.
"You see, I feel so embarrassed about it because everyone’s going to say, 'Oh, look at Sammy trying to capitalize on Eddie.' No, I’m not. You don’t understand. This was a real fuckin’ dream, and I told you exactly what happened in it."
Sammy Hagar's second album with the Circle, titled Crazy Times, is due for release on September 30.
