R.I.P.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Dan Fogelberg, the singer and songwriter whose hits "Leader of the Band" and "Same Old Lang Syne" helped define the soft-rock era, died Sunday at his home in Maine after battling prostate cancer. He was 56.

His death was announced in a statement released by his family through the firm Scoop Marketing, and it was also posted on the singer's website.

"Dan left us this morning at 6:00 a.m. He fought a brave battle with cancer and died peacefully at home in Maine with his wife Jean at his side," it read. "His strength, dignity and grace in the face of the daunting challenges of this disease were an inspiration to all who knew him."

Fogelberg discovered he had advanced prostate cancer in 2004. In a statement then, he thanked fans for their support.

"It is truly overwhelming and humbling to realize how many lives my music has touched so deeply all these years," he said.

Some people might have thought he wrote sap, but give me sap like this over ugliness any day:

An only child alone and wild,
a cabinet maker's son.
His hands were meant for different work,
and his heart was known to none.
He left his home and went his lone and solitary way.
And he gave to me a gift
I know, I never can repay.

A quiet man of music,
denied a simpler fate.
He tried to be a soldier once...
but his music wouldn't wait.
He earned his love through discipline:
A thundering velvet hand.
His gentle means of sculpting souls
took me years to understand.

The leader of the band
is tired and his eyes are growing old.
But his blood runs through my instrument
and his song is in my soul.
My life has been a poor attempt to imitate the man...
I'm just a living legacy
to the leader of the band.

My brothers' lives were different
for they heard another call.
One went to Chicago and the other to St. Paul...
And I'm in Colorado
when I'm not in some hotel,
Living out this life I've chose
and come to know so well.

I thank you for the music
and your stories of the road.
I thank you for the freedom
when it came my time to go...
I thank you for the kindness,
and the times when you got tough.
And papa I don't think I said
"I love you" near enough.

The leader of the band is tired,
and his eyes are growing old.
But his blood runs through my instrument
and his song is in my soul.
My life has been a poor attempt to imitate the man...
I'm just a living legacy
to the leader of the band.
I am the living legacy
to the leader of the band.

Met my old lover in the grocery store
The snow was falling Christmas Eve
I stole behind her in the frozen foods
and I touched her on the sleeve.
She didn't recognize the face at first
but then her eyes flew open wide
She went to hug me and she spilled her purse
and we laughed until we cried.
We took her groceries to the checkout stand;
The food was totaled up and bagged.
We stood there lost in our embarrassment
as the conversation dragged...
Went to have ourselves a drink or two
but couldn't find an open bar.
Bought a six-pack at the liquor store
and we drank it in her car.

We drank a toast to innocence, we drank a toast to now
Tried to reach beyond the emptiness
but neither one knew how.
She said she'd married her an architect
Kept her warm and safe and dry.
She would have liked to say she loved the man
but she didn't like to lie.
I said the years had been a friend to her
and that her eyes were still as blue.
But in those eyes I wasn't sure if
I saw doubt or gratitude.
She said she saw me in the record store
and that I must be doing well...
I said the audience was heavenly
but the traveling was hell.

We drank a toast to innocence, we drank a toast to now
Tried to reach beyond the emptiness but neither one knew how
We drank a toast to innocence, we drank a toast to time.
We're living in our eloquence, another old lang syne

The beer was empty and our tongues were tired,
and running out of things to say.
She gave a kiss to me as I got out
and I watched her drive away.
Just for a moment I was back at school
and felt that old familiar pain
And as I turned to make my way back home...
the snow turned into rain.