Alt Rock Autumn Day Ten: Everlong By The Foo Fighters
Day Ten.
Yesterday for day nine, I covered the hit song from The Smiths, This Charming Man; it chronicles the societal differences between two people who are clearly interested in one another, but we never know if they will be together. Today, we look at one of the best alt rock bands ever and one of their biggest songs.
Today, I’ll be covering Everlong by the Foo Fighters.
Everlong released as the eleventh song on The Colour and the Shape album on May 20, 1997. It later dropped as a single on August 18, 1997. The song is written by the bands lead singer and guitarist Dave Grohl; and it has a pretty unreal backstory on how it was written.
In late 1996 around Christmas time, Grohl moved back to Virginia where he’s originally from and because he was in the midst of a divorce, he was sleeping on a friends floor in a sleeping bag. He wrote Everlong in roughly forty five minutes. The lyrics of the song were inspired by Grohls ongoing relationship with Louise Post of the band Veruca Salt. He stated that Everlong is about feeling a deep connection with a person to the point where it’s more than physical touch and spiritual interaction; “…when you sing along with them you harmonize perfectly.”
Due to their relationship, Grohl really wanted Post to provide vocals for the song. There was one problem though. During the time of the recording, Post was in Chicago with Veruca Salt, so to still have her on the song, the band recorded Post over the phone on multiple occasions singing “do, do, do, do, do”. Her muffled vocals can be heard faintly throughout the song accompanying Grohl on the lead guitar.
The sound of Everlong is very unique and is what sets it apart from many songs from this era. It’s also a big reason why this is my favorite song from the band. Grohl stumbled upon the sound when he played a “Sonic Youth rip off riff” that reminded him of the bands song Schizophrenia. I enjoy how throughout the song, the Foo Fighters master going from very soft, to very loud and abrasive in a good way with their guitar play. The song kicks off with a light “do, dododo, do, dododo” strumming and is hit with deeper and more pronounced guitar and drum play.
Verse one opens with “Hello, I've waited here for you, Everlong, Tonight, I throw myself into, And out of the red”. Back to me painting pictures. I see a man seeing a woman who he’s in a relationship with looking at the woman. This could be them getting ready to hang out and she’s just gotten to her house. “Hello, I've waited here for you”. He could now be proclaiming his love for her when he sings “Tonight, I throw myself into, And out of the red”. He really likes this girl and feels such a deep connection that he wants to throw himself into a relationship, no matter what he’s going through in life.
The second verse expands our story. “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, And I wonder, When I sing along with you”. While our male protagonist may be in a tough place in his life, he wants this girl that he loves to come down to that place with him. Not because he wants the worst for her, but because he believes that she can get him out of this dark place he’s in.
When Grohl sings, “she sang, And I wonder, When I sing along with you” it leads into the chorus of “If everything could ever feel this real forever, If anything could ever be this good again”. This is a clear as day nod to Louise Post as he mentioned when discussing the song about how when you harmonize with someone you love, it’s bigger than physical or spiritual connections.
The end of the chorus and start of verse three really blend together. “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.” Our male protagonist wants her to never leave and for them to never stop harmonizing in life. Her saying “Breathe out, so I can breathe you in” feels like her way of accepting our protagonist here. She is ready to take him for what he is and accept him.
A truly beautiful touch conducted by the Foo Fighters in Everlong is from 3:04 to 3:27; the whispering which is then drowned out by a light drumming that picks up and is completely walloped by the Foo Fighters picking up where they left off at the three minute mark. I truly adore that portion of the song so, so much.
Everlong is regarded as one of the bands biggest hits. In 1997, it peaked at number two on the UK Rock and Metal chart, number three on both the Canada Rock/Alternative and US Alternative Airplay charts, and number four on the US Mainstream Rock chart. Over the years, it’s resurged as it hit number one on the US Hot Hard Rock Song chart in 2022. Everlong reached double platinum in both the US and UK and hit earned triple platinum in New Zealand. In 2013, Rolling Stone ran a Best Foo Fighters Songs poll and fans voted it number one. A year later in 2014, Triple M named Everlong the number one song on their Modern Rock 500 list.