Bob Dylan Once Asked Dave Grohl to Teach Him a Foo Fighters Song
Bob Dylan is an inspirational musician for many, and many consider it a massive compliment to receive admiration from him. It’s hard to grasp the music Dylan likes, but occasionally, he shares his thoughts on the latest and greatest stars of modern music. Foo Fighters Dave Grohl said Bob Dylan is a fan of his band and even asked the frontman to teach him one of their most famous songs.
Bob Dylan asked Dave Grohl to teach him Foo Fighters’ ‘Everlong’
“Everlong” was released in 1997 as the second single of the Foo Fighters’ second album, The Colour and the Shape. Almost 26 years later, it remains one of the band’s signature songs. It’s a favorite for many fans and folk/rock singer Bob Dylan. In an interview with Vh1 Storytellers, Grohl recalled his experience opening for Dylan. He was invited to speak with the iconic singer, who asked if Grohl could teach him how to play “Everlong”.
“Someone said that Bob wants to see me, and I was like, ‘Oh my God! Did I say something wrong?’ I turn around the corner, and there he is,” Grohl revealed. “He’s standing there in the dark with a black hoodie, black leather pants and black leather boots standing at the other side of this arena in the dark. He said, ‘How’s it going? Thanks for being on tour’. He was a really nice guy. And as we’re talking, he said, ‘What’s that song you guys got? The one with the lyrics about promising not to stop when I say when?’ I said, ‘Yeah, ‘Everlong’’. And he tells, ‘Man, you gotta show me how to play that, I want to start doing that song’. At that point, I was just like, ‘you know what I’m done.’”
Grohl went through ‘phases with Dylan’
Like many other rock stars, Dave Grohl considers Bob Dylan one of his musical influences. Growing up, he listened to and learned from the “Blowin’ in the Wind” singer, but Grohl said is perspective on Dylan changed over time. In an interview with Uncut, the “Learn to Fly” singer said he listened to various Dylan records at different stages of life and found himself appreciating his lyricism as he got older.
“As for his records, I find you go through phases with Dylan,” Grohl explained. “I remember hearing him on the radio as a kid, and my Mother had Blonde On Blonde when I was growing up. Then as a teenager, you start getting into stuff like black-and-white photography and acid and politics, and you start listening to Dylan as a part of that. Then a little later in life, when you’ve come to appreciate the simple beauty of a lyric, you get into his poetry and music on a different level.”
Foo Fighters were invited to go on tour with Dylan
In 2008, Bob Dylan went on tour with Foo Fighters as his opening act. Grohl said the invitation was like being “knighted.” However, the two acts aren’t on the same level of rock. Dylan is more folksy and casual, while Foo Fighters is a more hardcore band on the verge of metal. Grohl said Dylan wanted them to be heavy rock during their performance, but they decided to go acoustic as it fit the tone of the tour better.
“In the end, they decided to go with the acoustic thing – but the fact that Dylan wanted the rock show proves what a bad motherf***** he still is,” Grohl said. “I was totally blown away by that. If he’s prepared to have a band like us or The Raconteurs or whoever, go out and f***in’ rock the house before he goes on, then that guy’s more rock ‘n’ roll than anyone I know.”
Elements of this story were first reported by Far Out.
