Sammy Hagar says he prefers his acoustic version of the Van Halen classic, “Dreams”, as featured on his new album, “Lite Roast”, to the 1986 original.
“The reason that I’m so into the version on this record is that when you do something as great as ‘Dreams,’ a song like that, it’s hard to f–k with that. People don’t accept it,” Hagar tells Ultimate Classic Rock. “People have tried it again and again and again and the fans get pissy when you f–k with a classic, usually. You know, like Robert Plant, who I love, when he goes out and does the Zeppelin tunes and he messes with them, you know, the Plant fans love it, [but] the hardcore Zep fans are pissy. [Laughs] They’re like, ‘We want to hear it the way we grew up with it and the way we loved it.’”
“I think what I’ve done with that song, it’s a better song this way,” adds Hagar. “The lyric has more meaning, you get it and it touches your heart closer and better. The other one is [such] a physical and emotional performance that the lyrics don’t mean almost anything — you can say anything you want. But when I stripped it down, I finally sing it now, like the way I wrote those lyrics, I know what I’m talking about now. I think the fans, it touches them — people cry and sh-t when I sing this acoustically. So this song works.”
“Lite Roast” sees Hagar joined by Waboritas guitarist Vic Johnson to present stripped-down versions of tunes from his lengthy career.
“Dreams” was the second single released from “5150”, Van Halen’s first album with Hagar; the tune reached No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100.
See also:
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