Many have heard the phrase, “This song saved my life.” But it’s not often a legendary late-night host publicly expresses the sentiment towards his favorite band. In 2000, David Letterman came back to showbiz following a crucial medical procedure — one that put him out of Late Night with David Letterman for a couple of months. True to late-night fashion, there’s always a musical guest in each episode. For Letterman, there’s one band and one song he’d like to hear on his return to Late Night: “Everlong” by the Foo Fighters.
Like any legendary song, “Everlong” is written on a whim by frontman Dave Grohl. What the singer wouldn’t realize is how much the song would mean so much to some of Hollywood’s biggest names. But just as how the song saved Letterman, “Everlong” would also serve as a much-needed closure to the band’s personal loss in 2022.
“Everlong” Was Written During Dave Grohl’s Divorce in 1996
In 1996 and in the middle of his divorce, Grohl stayed at his friend’s house in Virginia with a sleeping bag. Far away from a proper recording studio and the rest of the Foo Fighters, Grohl wrote “Everlong” on an acoustic guitar in just 45 minutes. The song itself is about a girl he’d fallen in love with, to the point that there’s perfect harmony between them as they sing along. Followed by a quick demo, “Everlong” is properly recorded at Grandmaster Studios in Hollywood, and released through their 1997 sophomore album, The Colour and the Shape.
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Even before Letterman publicly expressed his love for the song, “Everlong” caught the attention of certain prolific figures — specifically Howard Stern. In March 1998, Grohl delivered a solo version of “Everlong” on The Howard Stern Show. Not only was it his first time on the show, it was also the first time he gave an acoustic performance of the song. A much more confident Grohl returned for Howard’s 2014 Birthday Bash to perform the song once again. The same full-circle moment would happen to the Foo Fighters and Letterman as well.
David Letterman Got Through His Recovery from Heart Surgery Thanks to “Everlong”
The Foo Fighters became regular mainstays on Late Night with David Letterman. Having appeared on the show between 1997 and 2015, two performances truly cemented the lore between the Foos and Letterman. On February 21, 2000, Letterman made his first appearance on his show following his heart surgery, which put him out of TV for 15 weeks.
To commemorate the momentous night, Letterman had Foos return as his musical guest to perform his “favorite song by my [his] favorite band,”: “Everlong.” As Letterman revealed, “Everlong” has “meant something incredibly personal and intimate,” to the host, especially during his time in recovery. The Foos were invited once again to perform “Everlong” for Letterman’s final episode in May 2015.
The feeling was mutual between the Foo Fighters and Letterman. The band loved the host so much, that the band canceled a stop in their South American tour just for their 2000 Letterman performance. Even before the Foo Fighters were a thing, Grohl had been a big fan of Letterman since his childhood. Outside of Late Night, the band and Letterman continuously kept in touch and frequently gave the host guitars and snare drums as gifts.
The Foo Fighters Closed Out Their Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert With “Everlong”
“Everlong” precedes its popularity. The song may have been a favorite of Stern and Letterman, but it also holds a special place in the Foo Fighters. In 2022, longtime drummer Taylor Hawkins unexpectedly passed away during the band’s stop in Bogota, Colombia. In celebration of his life, the Foo Fighters held the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert on September 3rd, joined by the likes of Liam Gallagher, Paul McCartney, and more of rock n’ roll’s biggest voices.
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The 50-song set may have felt like forever, but aside from their powerful performance of “My Hero” (with Hawkins’ 16-year-old son Shane Hawkins on the drums), Grohl’s solo rendition of “Everlong” put a memorable, bittersweet end to the show. With only the frontman on stage accompanied by his guitar, he is joined by thousands of audiences in a tear-jerking sing-a-long.
Throughout the years, “Everlong” has symbolized different things for different people. To Grohl, the song started out as an expression of his unexplainable and somewhat metaphysical feeling of love. To Letterman, it’s the song that got him through one of the scariest and most uncertain periods of his life. To fans of the Foo Fighters, it’s a bittersweet goodbye letter to a man who’s changed so many people’s lives. The song’s timelessness is credited to how inexplicably relatable it is. With every joy, with every sorrow, a new meaning is given to “Everlong,”