Sammy Hagar Reacts To David Lee Roth Mocking Eddie Van Halen Ghost Story

08-20-2025

Sammy Hagar took to social media to share his view that fans misunderstood David Lee Roth's recent comments that many perceived as mocking Sammy's story about Eddie Van Halen inspiring a song in a dream.

The former Van Halen frontman, who replaced Roth in the band, shared on Instagram, "I can't believe social media is trying to make something out of this.

"This is the first compliment and real 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."

Hagar was responding to comments Roth made during a recent concert over Sammy's story that a visit from Eddie Van Halen in a dream inspired the song "Encore, Thank You, Goodnight".

The Red Rocker said at the time, "I had this dream and Eddie [Van Halen] came. 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!'"

Roth poked fun at that story during his August 13th concert at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom. He told the audience, "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 about six weeks ago 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.

"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...' Actually, you want me to do his accent? 'Hey, Dave.' He said, '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.'

"This all stays in this room, right? I laughed. We shared a ghost cigarette, a ghost Marlboro. Not one of those pussy-ass white ones, but the [Marlboro Reds]. And I hugged my brother Ed, and I said, 'Man, do I f***ing miss you.' And he said, 'I miss you too, Dave.' He said, 'But you know what? You should still go to hell.' And I said, 'Save me a seat.'"