Dave Grohl appeared in the last episode of the explosion of songs podcast, where he talked about “The Teacher” from Foo Fighters' latest album, but here we are. As Grohl explained in heartbreaking detail, the 10-minute rock epic was written in tribute to his mother, Virginia Grohl, who passed away in July 2022.
“I was with her the entire time leading up to her passing,” Grohl said. explosion of songs host Hrishikesh Hirway. “Every day during that period he wrote something with the guitar, because he felt that if he didn't have that release, he would explode. He would spend the day in the hospital and then try to translate it musically, without a clear intention of what he was trying to achieve. “I was finding these chords and progressions that reflected the way I was feeling.”
Having created two separate demos, Grohl attempted to put them together: “These two ideas were separate for me until I figured that if I put them together, it would be more of a three or four minute song. “It's something much bigger… I could have a piece of music bigger than anything we've ever done and I could dedicate it to my mother.”
“She was the most important person in my entire life,” Grohl continued. “So I thought this has to be the most important music I've ever made.”
When discussing the song's lyrics, Grohl said that the line “Where will I wake up?” was something Grohl's mother asked him during the last days of his life. As for the song's chorus, in which Grohl sings “Wake up!” He explained: “I think someone's immediate reaction to seeing someone die is to wish they would wake up, but that's not how it works. One of my biggest fears in life is that I would be gone when this happened, that I would be traveling and that I would not be around for this. “I was there and we were there together.”
“The first half of the song is meant to build to a crescendo, going through the emotion of that experience. The second half of the song is a reflection,” Grohl said.
As for its ending, “I imagined the song would collapse on itself, deconstruct into this huge wave of noise. For me this was the sound of the end of life. Your final moments just become this distortion of everything you've experienced in life, and then it just fades away.”
“But now I realize that's not the case,” Grohl acknowledged. “I don't think everything will stop. I really think this is just kind of a transition.
Remembering his mother, Grohl said, “I was probably my only friend who liked to hang out with his parents… We were best friends. I felt like I had to honor her, pay tribute to her with this piece of music. So that's when it became more than just a song. “It's the most important thing I've ever written because I wrote it for a gigantic reason.”
Listen to the full episode of explosion of songs below.
Virginia Grohl was a public school teacher for 35 years. In 2017 she published her book.
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