Everlong

The creative spark to turn that pattern into a full song came a little later, around Christmastime. Grohl, going through a divorce, found himself in Virginia, sleeping on the floor of a friend's house. There, in just 45 minutes, he wrote Everlong. The lyrics were born from his connection with Louise Post, from the band Veruca Salt. He described the song as being about being so connected to someone, physically and spiritually, that when singing together, the voices would harmonize perfectly. He recorded a demo of this version, playing all the instruments, which, according to him, already had the essence of the final version, albeit much rawer. Back on the West Coast, Grohl worked with producer Gil Norton at Grandmaster Recorders in Hollywood. Upon hearing the demo of Everlong, Norton was impressed. Soon, Nate Mendel and Pat Smear joined, and they recorded the song. The distinctive guitar intro was recorded using an Astatic JT40 microphone, known for producing less clear sounds. Grohl wanted Louise Post to contribute vocals, but as she was in Chicago, her parts were recorded over separate phone lines at the studio. Grohl's chorus harmonies were also recorded with the JT40, achieving a similar fidelity to Post's. For the breakdown section, three spoken-word tracks were recorded, one of them recounting a childhood anecdote from assistant engineer Ryan Boesch about being punished for disturbing his father's sleep, and the other two with Grohl reading passages from a book. Ultimately, only the first of these narrations was used in the final mix. The song was released as the second single from The Colour and the Shape in August 1997. It reached number 3 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart in the United States and on Canada's RPM Rock/Alternative chart. It is considered by many to be the song that best represents the band. Sadly, Everlong was the last song drummer Taylor Hawkins performed live before his passing in March 2022. Following his death, the song experienced a resurgence, entering the Billboard Global 200. In 2021, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it at number 409 on its list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. In 2020, Kerrang named it Foo Fighters' best song, and the following year, American Songwriter placed it second on its top 10. The song has also appeared in music video games such as Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour.