Foo Fighters vocalist and founder Dave Grohl participated in the Oates Song Fest 7908, organized by John and Aimee Oates to raise funds for the charity Feeding America. Between songs, Grohl talked a bit about how he created one of Foo Fighters' classics, "Everlong".
Initially, the musician explained that because he is not a trained guitarist, he looks at the guitar "as if it were a drum set," so the string pattern heard in the song is very similar to that used on that instrument. "Because of the emotional state I was in, I started writing the lyrics for this song, and it comes from a very true place. The song began to take shape, and I wanted to record it quickly so I wouldn't forget it," the artist said.
Grohl recounted that he had a friend in Washington from his punk rock days in the 1980s named Jeff Turner who owned a studio, where he asked to record. “Without having the song fully formed, I went in [to the studio], added drums, guitar, and bass, and sang into the microphone for the first time,” the musician recounted. “And it really felt like it made sense. Both the lyrics and the melody resonated with where I was emotionally. I think that’s what songs should be. They should be something where not only the tone, the melody, or the dynamics of the instrumental, but also the lyrics fit and represent how you feel at that moment.”
Before performing an acoustic version of "Everlong," Dave Grohl also revealed that the first time he performed the song with just an acoustic guitar was on The Howard Stern Show , and that the absence of the other instruments "makes the song convey the feeling I always wanted it to convey."
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