Ongoing History Daily: We’ll never figure out the weird whispering in “Everlong” by the Foo Fighters

If you listen to the lyrics of the Foo Fighters’ “Everlong,” you might think that Dave Grohl is talking about Kurt Cobain’s drug problems. Nope.

Around Christmas in 1996, Dave was not doing well. He’d just been divorced from his first wife and was for all intents and purposes homeless. He didn’t have access to his bank account, either. At the same time, it looked like Pat Smear was going to quit the band. Drummer William Goldsmith was on his way out, too. It was a bad time. But then in just 45 minutes, this love song came together.

It was written about Lousie Post, the frontwoman for Veruca Salt. One more thing: You know all that incomprehensible whispering in the song? Three things are happening at the same time. On one track, Dave is reading from some technical manual. On another, it’s a love letter to Lousie. And the final bit is a story about one of the fathers of one of the studio engineers.