This song was based on his encounter with his old girlfriend in 1975. He wrote about it 5 years later.
Its been playing on the radio as part of the Christmas songs.
There have been a couple of special women in my life but I think most about opportunities wasted.
Anyhow what about you all?
I can’t think of any old girlfriends I’d take out for a drink if we met spontaneously like that. I might fancy it with some old crushes, though.
What comes to mind is being in 6th grade, and what a horrible time it was. Thanks a lot!
It always struck me as a ridiculous encounter put to song in an attempt at “feels.” I honestly can’t imagine that scenario actually happening as described in that song, and it surprises me he based it on an actual encounter with an ex.
In real life, it was a high school girlfriend he had broken up with when they went to different colleges. In that context, I can see it. By the time most of my breakups went down, we’d pretty much exhausted any chance of continuing. In this case, they’d broken up because of circumstance, so the situation was different from most old relationships. Like I said above, I’d be more likely to react this way with an old crush than with an old girlfriend.
What comes to my mind is that it’s one of the songs that radio stations have put into their “holiday music” mix, but which has no business being on that sort of playlist, as it has nothing to do with the holidays. (Also see: Wham!'s “Last Christmas.”)
The first thing I always think about is envisioning the singer surreptitiously slipping a plastic-wrapped tray of some frozen food item called “behinder” under his coat.
Judi L. (sigh)
As for it being a holiday song, the second line in the song speaks of snow falling on Christmas Eve, “The snow was falling Christmas Eve.” So, yeah, Christmas.
I like the song. It is a pretty tune. It is wistful. And I like Dan Fogelberg. He died 10 years ago at the young age of 56.
It’s not a good song for me to listen to.
Sounds like me and the movie Swingers. Saw that at precisely the wrong time 
How does “Last Christmas” have nothing to do with the holidays?
First, it makes me think of women from the past, including High School, that, were I not happily married (hey the song is older than my marriage) I would imagine meeting in a similar situation. Sometimes I imagine the theoretical conversations. I don’t picture drinking cheap beer in a car, though.
Second, I cringe at the forced lyrics. Some of those verses are very awkward.
Third, my inner 14 year old laughs at “our tongues were tired”. What exactly was going on in that car? Wink wink nudge nudge
I’m very familiar with the song but had to look it up to see what year it came out. I would never have guessed 1981! I would have thought mid '70’s. When I hear it that’s the time I think of - drama of boys, etc in high school. Kind of gives me a yucky feeling.
The song came out in 1980. From Wikipedia:
It was Dec 80 or Jan 81 when this was getting serious airplay.
My Mom and I had stopped into our local hardware store one night, and it was starting to snow. I stayed in the car, listening to the radio, when this came on, and it was the first time I really listened to it. Kind of made me sad.
So now, whenever I hear it (and it’s been a good long while since I’ve heard it), I think of cold, dark, snowy winter nights, stores, parking lots.
I think, "what happened to the Dan Fogelberg who wrote stuff like this?
Imagine being the woman whom this was based on! I read how when she heard the song she instantly recognized when and what it was about and was deeply affected. I guess she had divorced by then but still didnt go public until after Dan died. Dan had refused to tell who the woman was.
In real life she had green eyes and was married to a PE teacher, not an architect.
(Without reading thread)
What comes to my mind is, “Uh oh, it’s glurge, let’s change the station…okay. Lessee, that was Dan Fogelberg; if I remember right, it’s not awful. Certainly better than that “Cat’s In The Cradle” song.”
Tastes vary. I wouldn’t actually want to make someone feel self-conscious about liking a song.
It’s not about the holidays at all. It’s a song about love gone wrong.
The theme of it is, “a year ago, I gave you my heart, and you broke it immediately. I’m bitter about it, and I’m going to learn from it…but if you were to smile at me again, I’d probably fall for you again.”
But, it’s wrapped up in the thin veneer of “I gave you my heart as a Christmas gift,” and because of that, it’s been lodged in holiday playlists ever since.
Same thing with “Same Old Lang Syne.” Yes, the lyrics mention that it occurs on Christmas Eve. That’s the only connection it has to the holiday.
Never heard the song before but just read the lyrics…
Brings back some difficult memories. And I can imagine something somewhat similar but it would be too much to deal with.