What Dave Grohl Actually Whispered in the Foo Fighters’ ‘Everlong’
The Foo Fighters are one of the all-time great classic rock bands, defying the odds by enduring for nearly three decades. The recent death of the group’s drummer, Taylor Hawkins, has thrown the Foo Fighters into sharp focus, with many fans diving deep to learn more about the band. One legend about the Foo Fighters has to do with their song “Everlong.” The 1997 hit features a series of so-called whisper tracks that have long had fans speculating.
What are the 3 rumored whisper tracks in the Foo Fighers’ ‘Everlong’?
“Everlong” is the second single off the Foo Fighters’ sophomore studio album, The Colour and the Shape. It’s ostensibly a love song, featuring lyrics such as “If everything could ever feel this real forever … If anything could ever be this good again.”
According to Radio X, “Everlong” was written after Dave Grohl’s divorce from his first wife and was reportedly inspired by his relationship with Veruca Salt band member Louise Post.
Toward the end of the song, a whisper can be heard in the background. Though the voice belongs to Grohl, the words are unclear. According to Radio X, the official Foo Fighters newsgroup once reported that the whispering is made up of three tracks: a “love letter,” a “technical manual,” and a “story about a studio technician’s father.”
1 whisper track in the Foo Fighers’ ‘Everlong’ can be substantiated
Over the years, speculation has swirled about the content of the whisper tracks in the Foo Fighers’ “Everlong.” But only one can be fully substantiated — the one regarding the studio technician’s father.
According to Loudwire, recording engineer Bradley Cook, who worked on the album The Colour and the Shape, admitted in a 2019 interview that a fellow engineer, Ryan Bosch, used to tell the band about how his father would “come home from his night job, and he had to sleep in the daytime. When he and his brother were too loud, his dad would give them military punishment [raises arms] and [make them] hold [his] boots at the foot of his bed, hold them up while he slept. That’s Dave retelling the story.”
Another breakdown from 96FM details that once the whispering is broken down, the lyrics seem to say, “So Dad would take the Sundays off, and that’s the only time he could ever get any rest/And so, because we were loud on Sundays/He’d make us hold his construction boots over our head till he’d sleep.”
The interpretation of those lyrics seems to confirm the story about the studio technician’s father.
Speculation about the whisper tracks
Louise Post, who reportedly inspired “Everlong,” later discussed the whisper track that’s supposedly a love letter.
“I sang these back-ups over the phone at 2am after being woken up from a deep sleep in Chicago by [Dave Grohl], who was tracking the vocals for ‘Everlong’ in LA … The whispered section of this song was originally the dream I was having when the phone rang. It was a dream about us,” the Veruca Salt singer explained in an Instagram post dated July 13, 2021.
“He later removed it and replaced [it] with his own whispers, one which was a love letter to me. Maybe I’ll tell the full story … eventually … if I feel like it.”
Foo Fighters fans have speculated for years about the whisper tracks. In a 2015 Reddit thread, users discussed the urban legends surrounding the song.
“I had heard about the love letter, technical manual, and story explanation and that Dave’s been asked and he has no recollection of what they were,” one fan wrote.
Regardless of the truth behind the whisper tracks in “Everlong,” the song has endured, becoming one of the Foo Fighters’ most beloved releases. It’s also the final song Taylor Hawkins played before his sudden death in March 2022, Rolling Stone reports.
