"Longer" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter

Dan Fogelberg Daniel Grayling Fogelberg (August 13, 1951 – December 16, 2007) was an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist widely known for his 1970s and 1980s soft rock hits, including " Longer" (1979), " Same Old Lang Syne" (1981), and " ...

and released in 1979 by

Full Moon Records Full Moon Records was an American record label existing from 1974 to 1992. Prominent signed acts included Chicago, Joe Walsh, and Dan Fogelberg. Beginning in 1974 with Fogelberg, Full Moon Records was originally a subsidiary "spin-off" label ...

and

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

. The song can be found on Fogelberg's 1979 album '' Phoenix''. It was also included on his 1982

greatest hits album A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...

as well as various other retrospective and compilation recordings. Fogelberg, who had released more rock oriented songs throughout the 1970s, jokingly described "Longer" in the liner notes to one of his retrospective albums as "the song that put me on the elevators."Hyatt, Wesley (1999). ''The Billboard Book of #1 Adult Contemporary Hits'' (Billboard Publications) He wrote the song while vacationing in

Maui Maui (; Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ) is the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2). It is the List of islands of the United States by area, 17th-largest in the United States. Maui is one of ...

, "lounging in a hammock one night and looking up at the stars. It just seems this song was drifting around the universe, saw me, and decided I'd give it a good home." Accompanying Fogelberg's vocals is an

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

(played by the singer) as well as a

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet, but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B♭, though ...

solo by

Jerry Hey Jerry Hey (born 1950) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Michael Jackson's '' Thriller'', '' Rock with Y ...

. Lyrically, the song compares various events ("Longer than there've been stars up in the heavens") with his emotional attachment to the one he loves ("I've been in love with you").

Personnel

* Dan Fogelberg – lead

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

, acoustic guitar *

–

* Gayle Levant –

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

Chart performance

"Longer" was released as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

in late 1979, prior to the release of the album ''Phoenix''. It became Fogelberg's highest-charting hit song of his career, spending two weeks at No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in March 1980. Whitburn, Joel (1996). ''The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits'', 6th Edition (Billboard Publications) It was kept from the summit the first week by "

Crazy Little Thing Called Love "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" is a song by the British rock band Queen. Written by Freddie Mercury in 1979, the track is included on their 1980 album '' The Game'', and also appears on the band's compilation album '' Greatest Hits'' in 198 ...

" by

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

, and remained in the runner-up spot the next week behind "

Another Brick in the Wall "Another Brick in the Wall" is a three-part composition on Pink Floyd's 1979 album '' The Wall'', written by the bassist, Roger Waters. "Part 2", a protest song against corporal punishment and rigid and abusive schooling, features a children ...

" by

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

. In addition, "Longer" became the first of the singer's four No. 1 songs on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Adult Contemporary chart The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by stati ...

between 1980 and 1984. The song reached No. 85 on the ''Billboard'' Country chart. In the United Kingdom, "Longer" was Fogelberg's only song to reach the UK Singles Chart, where it peaked at No. 59.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

In popular culture

*The song appears on Nissan Gloria Y30 and Y31 commercial advertisements. The song also appears in a

Toyota Tercel The is a subcompact car manufactured by Toyota from 1978 until 1999 across five generations, in five body configurations sized between the Toyota Corolla, Corolla and the Toyota Starlet, Starlet. Manufactured at the Takaoka plant in Toyota City ...

2001 commercial in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. *The song appears in the wedding scene in the film ''

About Schmidt ''About Schmidt'' is a 2002 American comedy drama film co-written and directed by Alexander Payne and starring Jack Nicholson in the title role. The film also stars Hope Davis, Dermot Mulroney, and Kathy Bates. It is loosely based on the 1996 no ...

'', with lead vocals performed by Beth Heimann.

References

External links

* {{authority control 1979 songs 1979 singles 1980 singles Dan Fogelberg songs Cashbox number-one singles Songs written by Dan Fogelberg Epic Records singles Folk ballads Full Moon Records singles 1970s ballads