David Lee Roth Rips Sammy Hagar for Claiming to Have Been Visited by Eddie Van Halen’s Ghost
Nothing is certain, except death, taxes, and some Van Halen drama involving David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar. During his August 13 show in Hampton Beach, NH, Diamond Dave took…
Nothing is certain, except death, taxes, and some Van Halen drama involving David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar.
During his August 13 show in Hampton Beach, NH, Diamond Dave took a moment to mention The Red Rocker, particularly about the song "Encore, Thank You, Goodnight." As previously reported, Hagar said the song was inspired by a dream he once had with Eddie Van Halen in it.
What Did David Lee Roth Say About Sammy Hagar?
In a fan-shot video, Roth addressed the crowd and said, "One of my esteemed colleagues, he's a contemporary, he's got a great voice, he's got a great catalogue. You all know Sammy Hagar, right? He's got a great voice. And Sammy, aloud, he described to the media about six weeks ago that the ghost of Eddie Van Halen visited him and graced him with a song that he memorised and then went home and recorded. It's on the Internet."
Roth continues, "I don't know what the odds are, but last night the ghost of Eddie Van Halen visited me at the f---ing hotel room. I was watching the weather report, and he came in and he was laughing. His f---ing ghost was laughing. I said, 'What did you do now?' He said, 'Dave, Dave… Dave, you know that song I gave Hagar?' I said, 'What now?' He said, 'It's actually 'In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida' backwards. Don't f---ing tell him.'"
More Details About Sammy Hagar's Song
As of publishing, Hagar has yet to respond to Roth. Hagar first talked about this unique song involving the late Van Halen back in August 2022. At that time, Hagar told Ultimate Classic Rock, "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, f--- it, man. Here, let’s go!'"
The Red Rocker says EVH played a riff in the dream. The riff reminded him of one the guitarist played for him around the 2004 Van Halen reunion tour. Then, Sammy and Eddie wrote a song with that riff in the dream. After he woke up, Sammy remembered the song, and then he wrote it down.
