“Everlong” is about experiencing a connection with somebody so intense that you desperately want the feeling to last forever.

Dave Grohl wrote it during an emotionally chaotic period.

His marriage had broken down.

He was sleeping on a friend’s floor.

Then he fell in love again.

That new relationship inspired one of Foo Fighters’ defining songs.

Who is “Everlong” about?

The song is widely connected with Louise Post of Veruca Salt, with whom Grohl was romantically involved.

Grohl has described the song as being about loving somebody physically and spiritually and feeling so connected that singing together creates perfect harmony.

In this case, the harmony wasn’t only metaphorical.

Post actually sings on the recording.

Louise Post is on “Everlong”?

Yes.

And the recording story is brilliant.

Post has said Grohl telephoned her at around 2am while she was asleep in Chicago.

He was recording vocals in Los Angeles.

He wanted her to add backing vocals.

So she sang them over the telephone.

One of rock’s most famous love songs literally contains the voice of the person connected to its inspiration.

What does “everlong” mean?

It isn’t really a standard word used this way.

It suggests:

forever

for a very long time

something continuing beyond the moment.

That perfectly fits the emotional question inside the song.

Can anything feel this real forever?

The narrator already knows intense moments are temporary.

That’s what makes him desperate to preserve one.

How did Dave Grohl write it?

The musical idea began while Grohl was experimenting with guitar during recording sessions.

He initially worried the riff sounded too much like Sonic Youth.

The song developed further after he returned to Virginia during Christmas 1996.

Grohl was going through his divorce and staying at a friend’s house, sleeping on the floor.

He reportedly completed the song remarkably quickly.

What is Dave Grohl whispering in “Everlong”?

This is one of rock’s great tiny mysteries.

During the quiet section, distorted whispered voices appear.

For years fans have tried to work out exactly what they say.

Accounts connected with the recording suggest multiple spoken tracks were layered together, involving material including a love letter, technical text and a story connected to a studio technician.

The exact complete wording has never become a simple official lyric.

Which is probably for the best.

Mystery improves it.

What was Louise Post originally whispering?

Here’s where the story becomes even stranger.

Post has said the original whispered section involved the dream she was having when Grohl’s 2am phone call woke her.

A dream about the two of them.

Grohl later replaced it with his own whispers, one of which Post described as a love letter to her.

You could hardly invent a more 1990s alternative-rock romance.

Why does the song sound so powerful?

The guitars are enormous.

But the emotional idea underneath them is surprisingly vulnerable.

Grohl isn’t singing:

I am powerful.

He’s essentially asking:

Could anything ever feel this good again?

That’s fear.

The louder the band becomes, the more vulnerable the question sounds.

Why is the acoustic version so famous?

Because removing the distortion reveals how strong the song is underneath.

Grohl has performed “Everlong” acoustically many times.

Without the enormous guitars, it becomes almost a singer-songwriter piece.

Same song.

Completely different emotional weight.

Great songs survive rearrangement.

“Everlong” survives almost anything.

Songs like “Everlong”

Try Foo Fighters’ “Walking After You”, Jimmy Eat World’s “23”, Smashing Pumpkins’ “Mayonaise”, Bush’s “Glycerine”, Incubus’ “Drive”, Third Eye Blind’s “Motorcycle Drive By”, Deftones’ “Be Quiet and Drive”, Hum’s “Stars” and Veruca Salt’s “Shimmer Like a Girl”.

What does “Everlong” really mean?

You meet somebody.

For a moment everything aligns.

Emotionally.

Physically.

Musically.

And even while it is happening, part of you understands that moments don’t last.

So you ask the impossible question.

Can this one?