Just for a moment, I was back at school/
And felt that old familiar pain…

Dan Fogelburg’s “Same Old Lang Syne”, is a play on the new year’s eve song Auld Lang Syne which translates roughly to “a long time ago”. The narrator stumbles into a girlfriend from a long time ago at the grocery store—we can tell he once loved her.

They don’t recognize each other at first but soon they are sharing drinks in her car and reminiscing. But there is a sadness behind their stories. They have changed. Maybe not for the better. They were everything to each other at one point in each other’s lives and now…this.

They want to bond like they used to. But they are no longer young and innocent. There is a vastness of years and pain between them that prevents them from truly connecting like before. Their communication is disjointed; they are essentially strangers—but not quite. Their shared history creates a unique, powerful, bittersweet dynamic. Conversation alternates between being vapid and oversharing. He loves his fans and hates the road; she married a rich architect who she is not in love with.

The storytelling is straightforward, and easy to understand in real-time—as you’re listening to the song. The music is complementary to the themes of nostalgia, regret and wondering what could have been. The saxophone outro drives home the mood. It sounds bluesy. Sad.

It is preceded by his description of her walking away and the snow turning to rain. A potential picturesque scene quickly brought back to reality as he realizes that his old love is no more, and this might be the last time they see each other. Where did the years go?

I first heard Dan Fogelburg’s Same Old Lang Syne when I was about fifteen—a few years into my discovery of music. Though I had never experienced love before, I immediately recognized the pain and angst in this tale. There is a sadness in the story and music—but also behind the lyrics—that is difficult to articulate. Why was I able to empathize with the narrator so well even though it was so foreign to anything I had experienced at the time?

Because the ability to communicate your experience and emotions to a stranger who didn’t live your experience is what makes great music. And Fogelburg’s Same Old Lang Syne is a great song. Great art can communicate an artist’s experience and mindset more closely than other forms of language.

That is why we cry more often when we hear a song or watch a movie than when we watch the news. Art hits us on a deeper level as it grabs you and takes you to the place the artist was when they composed it. Fogelburg’s Same Old Lang Syne has always hit like a ton of bricks.

Same Old Lang Syne Lyrics

Met my old lover in the grocery store
The snow was falling Christmas Eve
I stole behind her in the frozen foods
And I touched her on the sleeve

She didn’t recognize the face at first
But then her eyes flew open wide
She went to hug me, and she spilled her purse
And we laughed until we cried

We took her groceries to the checkout stand
The food was totaled up and bagged
We stood there lost in our embarrassment
As the conversation dragged

Went to have ourselves a drink or two
But couldn’t find an open bar
We bought a six-pack at the liquor store
And we drank it in her car

We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to now
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness
But neither one knew how

She said she’d married her an architect
Who kept her warm and safe and dry
She would’ve liked to say she loved the man
But she didn’t like to lie

I said the years had been a friend to her
And that her eyes were still as blue
But in those eyes, I wasn’t sure if I
Saw doubt or gratitude

She said she saw me in the record stores
And that I must be doing well
I said, “The audience was heavenly
But the traveling was hell”

We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to now
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness
But neither one knew how

We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to time
Reliving in our eloquence
Another auld lang syne

The beer was empty, and our tongues were tired
And running out of things to say
She gave a kiss to me as I got out
And I watched her drive away

Just for a moment, I was back at school
And felt that old familiar pain
And as I turned to make my way back home
The snow turned into rain
Source: thegreatestsongs
Songwriters: Dan Fogelberg