Everlong

"Everlong"
Song

"Everlong" is the second single released from the Foo Fighters' second album The Colour and the Shape, released in 1997.

Background and production

The drumbeat (performed by Grohl on the album recording) was a result of experimenting with the new wave music style.

The song itself was conceived of when Dave returned home to Washington, DC that winter break and recorded in January-February 1997.

During the instrumental break, three indecipherable tracks whispered by Grohl can be heard. The exact wordings are unknown, but according to the official Foo Fighters newsgroup FAQ, the source materials are a love letter, a technical manual, and a story about a studio technician's father. Grohl himself has only confirmed the use of the technical manual.

Versions

Although the song is normally performed with electric guitars, vocalist/guitarist Dave Grohl's solo acoustic variation gained popularity after an impromptu rendition on Howard Stern's radio show in 1997.

Another acoustic version of this song concludes both the 2006 live CD and DVD Skin and Bones, which polled at #61 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2006 (the original version, acoustic or otherwise, never reached the countdown).

A muzak version of the "Everlong" chorus appears in the opening and closing scenes of band's music video for "Learn to Fly," from the subsequent album There Is Nothing Left to Lose.

This song was also covered on February 6, 2008 by the band The 18th September with vocals done by lead singer Tanner Herring.

Video

The video was directed by Michel Gondry who has stated that he re-used the dream concepts explored in this video in his 2006 film The Science of Sleep.

The music video is parody of classic horror movies such as The Evil Dead and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

In order to accommodate the music video's running time, the song's final chorus is repeated with a brief interlude in between, which apparently consists of the song running backwards.

Plot Summary

The video starts with a shot with two burglars (played by Pat Smear and Nate Mendel) heading for a house and with a view of the inside of the house with pictures of a happy couple all over the walls (respectively played by Dave Grohl as the husband and Taylor Hawkins, impersonating the wife) and ends up in the bedroom with the couple sleeping in bed. From then on, we enter the dreams of the husband and the wife.

The husband's dream takes place in a party in which the husband saves his wife from two ill-intentioned characters. Grohl's character is clearly based on Sid Vicious. Grohl saves the wife by beating the bad guys up with his right hand, which swells as he gets angry. The two "bad guys" disappear. The couple proceed to a room with a giant phone with a deafening ringing. The husband tries to pull up the giant receiver and then wakes up with a start, realizing that what he hears is in fact his phone (in the bedroom). He answers realizes that his wife is on the phone from her dream as he turns to her with a worried look on his face.

Inside the wife's dream she is sitting in an old house lost in a dark forest when she is threatened by the same two evil characters seen in the first dream, while her husband is gathering wood logs outside the house. The scared wife makes a phone call to someone who proves to be her husband in reality. It ends up with the previous scene of the husband answering the phone call.

The husband then intentionally falls asleep again to rescue his wife. But he finds himself lying in bed with several women who have their legs spread over him. The legs turn into the logs he was picking up in the second dream. He runs to the house and saves his wife once again from the two evil characters, and they throw the unconscious attackers into a small pond.

Finally we see the two evil characters (who prove to be the two burglars from the start) standing by the side of the couple's bed in reality. Then the group members come out from their guises with their instruments and finally we see the whole band playing in the bedroom.

In the "How I Convinced Dave Grohl to Make That Video" chapter in the book accompanying the DVD of Gondry's music videos, he explains the diffuculties he had, including not being able to show different women in bed with Grohl due to jealousy, and Pat Smear worrying about his image. He also says that the video represents fantasies, guys of violence to save a woman, and a woman's of being rescued.

Single: Track listing

CD1:

1. "Everlong"
2. "Drive Me Wild" (Vanity 6 cover)
3. "See You (Live Manchester Apollo 25th May 1997)"

CD2:

1. "Everlong"
2. "Requiem" (Killing Joke cover)
3. "I'll Stick Around (Live Manchester Apollo 25th May 1997)"

Chart positions

Chart (1997)	Peak position
Euro Hot 100 Singles Chart	36
New Zealand Singles Chart	34
UK Singles Chart	18
U.S. Hot Modern Rock Tracks	3
U.S. Mainstream Rock Tracks	4

Popular culture

• David Letterman named "Everlong" to be his favorite song. It was performed by the Foo Fighters on the 21 February 2000 episode of his show, his first since returning from heart surgery. Letterman introduced them as "my favorite band, playing my favorite song." He was impressed with their song's first performance on his show in 1997, which coincided with its initial release as a single. The song was performed again for the comeback episode at the request of Letterman, who also promoted the band's current album at the time, There Is Nothing Left to Lose. "Everlong" itself is not featured on the album.
• In the sitcom Friends, the acoustic version of "Everlong" is played as exit music for Chandler and Monica's wedding.
• The movie Little Nicky also features the acoustic version of "Everlong".
• The song is also featured on the T.V. show Daria in the episode "Lane Miserables" while Daria watches, from a window, as Trent and Monique walk away.
• In 2005, Bronson Arroyo included a cover of "Everlong" on his album, Covering the Bases. It featured Stephen King reading a passage (presumably written for the song itself) during the song's breakdown.
• An acoustic version of the song was used in the movie, Orange County.
• Featured in Mac Dawg Snowboard Video "Simple Pleasures"
• Hardcore band In the Face of War did a hardcore cover of the song on their album Live Forever or Die Trying.
• In VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s, "Everlong" was featured as a song that missed the countdown. It came in at #104.
• Album version featured in a segment of The Power of Snow: Cold Fusion, a 2003 film by Warren Miller.
• While the Foo Fighters toured with Bob Dylan in 2006, Bob reportedly asked Dave Grohl to teach him "Everlong" so he could cover it.

Accolades

• Ranked #45 in Kerrang! magazine's "100 Greatest Rock Tracks Ever" (1999)
• Ranked #39 in Kerrang! magazine's "100 Greatest Singles of All Time" (2002) (The magazine's editor complained about the song's position, claiming it to be "The best track ever to be imprinted onto plastic")
• Ranked #22 in Stylus magazine's "100 Music Videos of All Time" (2006)

External links

"Everlong" official music video link