In 1994, Dave Grohl married Jennifer Youngblood. The marriage was short lived. A couple of years later, the wife kicked the musician out of the house. The relationship between the members of the Foo Fighters was also far from ideal.
Dave needed to regain his peace of mind, and on Christmas Day 1996 he went home to Virginia. In his small homeland, lying in a sleeping bag on the floor in a friend’s house, he wrote a ballad about love, which became one of his most famous and popular compositions.
Everlong by Foo Fighters Song Story
The melody was based on a riff called Sonic Youth Rip Off. Earlier, during the studio work on the second album, the Foo Fighters improvised with him during jams, but things did not go beyond rough sketches.
Dave Grohl wrote the lyrics to Everlong in forty-five minutes. Later, looking into a friend’s studio, he independently recorded the parts of all the instruments. He subsequently described that demo:
Actually it’s the same thing [that the album is an omen Blimey] but very raw.
NME, Song Stories, 2015
After the holidays, Dave returned to Hollywood’s Grandmaster Recorders, where the Foo Fighters were working on a new record, and showed the demo to producer Gil Norton. Tom liked the track, and the song was included in the album.
The meaning of Everlong by Foo Fighters
Many fans of the group believe that the composition is dedicated to Kurt Cobain, with whom Dave played in the Nirvana group, but the author denied this statement.
Grohl does not like to explain the meaning of his songs, but in an interview with a popular music magazine, he did reveal what Everlong was about:
This song is about a girl that I fell in love with. Basically, it’s about bonding with someone so strongly that you not only love them physically and spiritually, but even your voices harmonize perfectly when you sing together.
Kerrang!, 2006
Some believe Dave was inspired in part by his relationship with Louise Post of Veruca Salt. He dated her after the divorce.
Recording and release
The song Everlong was released as the second single from the album The Color and the Shape. It peaked at number three on the Billboard Alternative Songs and number four on the Billboard Mainstream Rock. She also climbed high on the charts in several other countries.
Everlong has made it to several well-known top song lists, including the following:
- “100 Greatest Rock Tracks”, Kerrang!
- “100 Greatest Singles of All Time”, Kerrang!
- “100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs”, VH1
- “Top 150 Tracks of the Last Fifteen Years”, NME, 2011
The acoustic version of Everlong is very popular. The band first performed it on The Howard Stern Show in 1998.
Video of Everlong by Foo Fighters
The surreal music video for the song was directed by Michel Gondry. The Everlong video was nominated for the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Rock Video.
Interesting Facts
- The Foo Fighters often end shows with this song.
- An unusual version of Everlong plays at the beginning of the Learn to Fly video.
- The whisper at the end of the song is three tracks read aloud and mixed: a love letter, a story about the father of one of the sound engineers, and some kind of instruction.
- The song was featured on the soundtrack of The Wolf of Wall Street.
- She also appears in the television series Friends and the comedy Little Nicky.
- Celebrity TV presenter David Letterman called Everlong his favorite song and said that it helped him recover from heart surgery.
Everlong Lyrics by Foo Fighters
hello
I’ve been waiting here for you
Everlong
Tonight I throw myself into And out o
f the red
Out of her head she sang
Come down and waste away with me
Down with me
Slow, how you wanted it to be
I’m over my head
Out of her head she sang
chorus:
And I wonder
When I sing along with you
If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again
The only thing I’ll ever ask of you
You’ve got to promise not to stop when I say when
She sang
Breathe out
So I can breathe you in
Hold you in
And now
I know you’ve always been
Out of your head
Out of my head I sang
Chorus
Everlong Lyrics
Publisher: Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics of Everlong by Foo Fighters Alternate
Hi,
I’ve been waiting here for you
For ages.
Today I get into debt
And I distribute them
Losing her head, she sang.
Get down and wither with me
Get sick of me
Slowly, as you wished.
Don’t understand me
Losing her head, she sang.
Chorus:
I’m interested,
When I sing along with you
Can this feeling last forever
Can anything compare to it?
The only thing I’ll ever ask you
Promise not to stop when I say
She sang.
Breathe out
So that I can breathe you in
Keep you inside.
Now
I know you have always been
Not in myself.
Losing my head, I sang.
Chorus
