Dave Grohl shared a very special solo acoustic performance of Foo Fighters’ hit “Everlong” on the band’s YouTube channel. The rock legend also revealed how a Christmas heartbreak with his now ex-girlfriend led to him writing the song. Grohl said that he began writing “Everlong” in the winter of 1996 while Foo Fighters were making their second studio album, The Colour and the Shape, which the song was subsequently included on.
Grohl said that he wrote the guitar part to “Everlong” while recording tracks for the album at Bear Creek Studios outside of Seattle. During downtime at the studio, the frontman began playing around with the opening guitar chord from the song and thought that the chord sounded like one of his favorite bands, Sonic Youth. He subsequently developed the chord progression. You can see Grohl outline the creation of the song and perform it as a solo acoustic number in the studio below.
After explaining how he came up with the chords, Grohl said, “At the time I was breaking up with a girl that I had been with for a while. So I was sort of in the middle of this intense emotional period. For whatever reason, the feeling I got when I would play these chords touched on whatever that emotion was.”
Grohl said his relationship with his girlfriend subsequently ended and explained that “I was in a very difficult place. I remember it was right around Christmas – I went back to Virginia where I grew up.” He then wrote the lyrics to “Everlong” to express his feelings in the wake of the breakup. The frontman also revealed that it was radio host Howard Stern who pushed him to perform the song in an acoustic format, and you can see him perform it on Stern’s show below for the first time solo.
Another fact that The Music Man readers might be interested to hear is that Grohl said that he had never considered doing “Everlong” acoustically, as he considered it to be a rock song. The singer said that Howard Stern loved “Everlong” and had later asked him to play it acoustically on Stern’s radio show. Grohl admitted that Stern was on the money, saying the solo acoustic arrangement gave the song a whole new life. “I think sometimes when I do it [acoustically] it peels back a lot of the bells and whistles and other noise, and it’s just the lyric, the guitar and my voice,” the rocker said. “It makes the song feel the way I had always wished it felt.”
Dave Grohl shared a very special solo acoustic performance of Foo Fighters hit “Everlong” on the band’s YouTube channel. The rock legend also revealed how a Christmas heartbreak with his now ex-girlfriend led to him writing the song. Grohl said that he began writing “Everlong” in the winter of 1996 while Foo Fighters were making their second studio album The Colour and the Shape, which the song was subsequently included on.
Grohl said that he wrote the guitar part to “Everlong” while recording tracks for the album at Bear Creek Studios outside of Seattle. During downtime at the studio, the frontman began playing around with the opening guitar chord from the song, and thought that the chord sounded like one of his favourite bands Sonic Youth. He subsequently developed the chord progression. You can see Grohl outline the creation of the song and perform it as a solo acoustic number in the studio below.
After explaining how he came up with the chords, Grohl said “At the time I was breaking up with a girl that I had been with for a while. So I was sort of in the middle of this intense emotional period. For whatever reason, the feeling I got when I would play these chords, touched on whatever that emotion was.”
If you would like to hear more from this talented band you can subscribe to their YouTube Channel for more incredible music.