Longer – Dan Fogelberg

“Longer” by Dan Fogelberg, an acoustic cover by Mike Mass©.

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Liner Notes:

At the time of this writing, my channel is more popular in the Philippines than anywhere else–by a lot. Hello, Philippines! Salamat sa pakikinig! It’s all because of my cover of “Leader of the Band,” which I *think* you discovered on…a Spotify playlist? If anyone there can explain it, I’d be interested to hear how you found me. Maligayang pagdating! (Really blindly trusting google translate here.)

You should see what all the fuss is about and watch my cover of “Leader of the Band.” You can also read an exclusive interview with Dan’s niece, Kate Fogelberg:

I’ve always loved “Longer.” It’s iconic to me in so many ways, and I have so many memories associated with hearing this song at various points in my life. I remember sitting down to figure out how to play it in college, and that it was one of the first songs I’d ever attempted to play in an open tuning, and one of my first fingerpicking songs of any kind. [It’s in open G, although you don’t need to tune down the 6th string, because you never play it.] It always reminded me a little of the Beatles’ “Here, There, and Everywhere”, the way it ascends the G major scale in steps. But Dan takes it in some cool directions from there, including…flugelhorn! My version, for better or for worse, is sans flugelhorn, but the rest is me doing my Dan-est to recreate this beautiful song, including playing it on the same model of guitar that Dan used to play, a Martin D-41. So, quick side question: we have footsteps, so why can’t we have fingersteps? I’m doing my best to follow in Dan’s fingersteps. It’s a deceptively tricky song to play as expertly as he does. I won’t claim to have gotten there, but it was fun trying. Dan spent some of his life in Denver, Colorado, which is where I presently reside. As he said in “Leader of the Band”:

“And I’m in Colorado, when I’m not in some hotel, living out this life I’ve chose, and come to know so well.”

Thanks to Nathan Mitchell for filming. The video looks great. We shot this the same day as we did the Toto cover, “I Won’t Hold You Back.”

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Love,
-Mike