Sammy Hagar says David Lee Roth’s recent comments about him were an “olive branch moment.” After Roth seemingly poked fun at a story about Hagar claiming to have written a song with the ghost of late Van Halen guitarist Eddie Van Halen, Hagar commented on Instagram.
“I can’t believe social media is trying to make something out of this,” Hagar, 77, wrote. “This is the first compliment and reel [sic] olive branch moment Dave and I have had in 100 years. Listen closely and you will see that this is not negative whatsoever. And I believe Dave had the dream as well. Dave’s a good storyteller, but there’s some truth in between the showmanship. All good with me. Keep it up, Dave, these songs we both wrote with Eddie need to be carried on forever.”
Eddie Van Halen died in October 2020 at age 65.
In a 2022 interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, Hagar said Van Halen appeared to him in a dream and showed him a guitar lick. “About two months ago, I had this dream and Eddie came,” Hagar said. “He had a guitar, and he played me this thing. It was like this lick…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.”
Hagar added that he planned to give Van Halen a co-writer credit for the song, which was titled “Encore, Thank You, Good Night.”
“I feel so embarrassed about it because everyone’s going to say, ‘Oh, look at Sammy trying to capitalize on Eddie,’” he said at the time. “No, I’m not. You don’t understand. This was a real f—in’ dream, and I told you exactly what happened in it.”
David Lee Roth Talked About Sammy Hagar During a Show in New Hampshire
During an August 13 solo show at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, Roth, 70, referenced his longtime rival’s ghost story.
In a YouTube video taken at the show, Roth said, “One of my esteemed colleagues — he’s a contemporary, he’s got a great voice, he’s got a great catalog. You all know Sammy Hagar, right? He’s got a great voice. And Sammy aloud, he described to the media…that the ghost of Eddie Van Halen visited him and graced him with a song that he memorized and then went home and recorded. It’s on the Internet.”
Roth then jokingly claimed that Van Halen’s ghost visited him, too.
“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,” Roth cracked. “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, you know that song I gave Hagar?’ I said, ‘What now?’ He said, ‘It’s actually [Iron Butterfly’s] ‘In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida’ backwards. Don’t f—ng tell him.’”
Roth also said he shared a ghost Marlboro cigarette with Van Halen before telling him how much he missed him.
