Dave Grohl and his current band Foo Fighters released the album The Colour and The Shape in 1997 on the Capitol Record label. From this album was born a few singles including what some consider the band’s greatest song: Everlong. This song has been played extensively in not only the original single format but in the seldom live, often taped acoustic recording performed by Dave Grohl.
As to the meaning of this legendary song, it varies person to person (of course). Personally, it’s about taking all a moment has to offer: living it up and never ending the perfection of that single inconceivable moment in time. In an interview, Dave Grohl commented on the lyrics of Everlong saying they referred to people he thought were heroes to him. This was not to single out Kurt Cobain but also not to exclude him. An anonymous source has commented, to much detail and conviction, that the song is about Louise Post.
More importantly to most listeners is the moment toward the end of the song when Dave Grohl whispers what sounds like incoherent patchwork lyrics. These infamous whisper lyrics were done in replacement of Louise Post singing over a telephone. These whispered lyrics are compiled from Dave Grohl reading out of a technical manual, describing his friend’s apartment, and “some other stuff” (which many have referred to as a dream he had). Most sources will claim that the three parts of the whisper lyrics are done in the left, right, and centered channels but this source specifically describes the whisper portion to have been mutilated by switching each from speaker to speaker. Dave did, however, support the portion concerning reading from a technical manual. The Foo Fighters newsgroup official FAQ posts this in regards to these mind-boggling whisper lyrics:
Apparently Dave scrambled three audio tracks together so as to distort what you, the listener, hear. To this date, no one has been able to decipher exactly what is being said, but we do know that one track is a love letter being read, one track is a technical manual being read, and the last track is a story about one of the studio technician's father.
Everlong
Hello
I've waited here for you
Everlong
Tonight
I throw myself into
And out of the red out of her head she sang
Come down and
waste away with me
Down with me
Slow out you wanted it to be
Over my head,
out of my head she sang
And I wonder
When I sing along with you
If everything could ever feel this
real forever
If anything could ever be this good again
The only thing I'll ever ask of you
You've got to
promise not to stop when I say when
Breathe out
So I can breathe you in
Hold you in
And now
I know you've always been
Out of your head out of my head I sang