Sammy Hagar's New Song "Encore. Thank You. Goodnight." Was Inspired by a Dream About Eddie Van Halen (2025)

Sammy Hagar has been dreaming about his new single.

The new song "Encore. Thank You. Goodnight." released on Friday, April 25, was inspired by a dream the legendary rocker had involving his Van Halen bandmate, the late Eddie Van Halen.

"I can't wait for the world to hear this very special song Joe and I wrote as a long overdue thank you to Eddie Van Halen for the music, the good times, and the dream that inspired this track, 'Encore, Thank You, Goodnight,' " Hagar, 77, wrote on Instagram on Tuesday, April 22 — just days before the single's debut.

Hagar toldUltimate Classic Rock in 2022 about the dream which prompted the new song about Van Halen, who died in 2020 at 65 after a cancer diagnosis.

“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," Hagar said at the time.

"He’s going, ‘Man, let’s write some music!’ I said, ‘Yeah, f–-- it, man. Here, let’s go!' " he continued.

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Hagar told the publication that in his dream, Van Halen showed him a guitar "lick" that he had last heard during the 2004 reunion tour. "He did this harmonic thing and he slid it up to a chord, like a slide guitar. We wrote a song with that lick," Hagar recalled.

"I remembered it. I got up in the morning and I wrote the song. It’s called, 'Thank You.' I used the f-----’ lick that he showed me in the song. I told Jason [Bonham], 'I just really don’t know what to say lyrically,' " he continued.

At the time, Hagar had "goosebumps, head to toe," recalling the dream. "So I wrote it [about that experience], and we’ll do that song someday."

Fast-forward to 2025, and the song is here.

The musician called this song "my final bow to that part of my life" in a press release. He added, "It’s not meant to be anything more than a thank-you — with love, with respect, and with one hell of a guitar solo. Joe brought in that big, emotional, guitar-driven energy that feels like Eddie’s spirit but is entirely of Joe’s creation."

"With Michael Anthony’s thundering bass and stellar Van Halen-esque background vocals and Kenny Aronoff’s relentlessly powerful driving rhythms, the song really came together on all levels," Hagar continued.

The new song, with its accompanying music video dropping on Sunday, April 27, comes days before Hagar kicks off his Best of All Worlds Las Vegas residency on April 30.

"Encore. Thank You. Goodnight." is available to stream.