FOGHAT fan Phil Dessinger has won a contest to write lyrics for the band’s all-instrumental tune 495 Boogie.

The song has now been retitled The Word Of Rock’N'Roll and is being issued via FOGHAT’s own label, Foghat Records.

The band say: “Thank you to all of you who entered the 495 Boogie contest. It was an extremely difficult choice. The votes are in and it was very, very close.”

495 Boogie (the most downloaded track on Foghat’s 2010 CD Last Train Home) was recorded in two takes.

It came out of a jam with FOGHAT drummer Roger Earl’s brother, Colin, who came up with the song, Jeff Howell on bass and Lefty Lefkowitz on harmonica.

Eventually, just for fun, Alabama-based classic rock DJ Charlie Ocean added lyrics to 495 Boogie, renaming it Big American Blonde.

Seizing on the idea, FOGHAT decided to run a contest and invite fans to add their own lyrics to the tune.

Sadly, Ocean passed away in July 2011, which led to the project being put on hold. But eventually, the group felt it would be a fine way to pay tribute to their fallen friend, resulting in the contest running from October 2012 through February 2013.

FOGHAT offered their congratulations to winner Dessinger: “Nice job! Great lyrics… great story. Great, positive song: ‘Love my life, come on / May be a grind, but I’m strong.’”

Besides Roger Earl, the current line-up of FOGHAT is made up of Craig MacGregor (bass), Bryan Bassett (lead/slide guitar) and Charlie Huhn (guitar/lead vocals).



 </p>