The song that Dave Grohl called “the most beautiful piece of music ever written”

By Tom Taylor (Far Out Magazine)

APR 24, 2022

Whether you love him or loath him – and fewer people loath him than chocolate – Dave Grohl is one of the finest songwriters of our time. For some reason, this is perhaps less recognized than it should be. To put it as simply as possible, there aren’t many musicians who have the eclectic depth to their back catalogue that he has whilst sustaining both a mainstream presence and artistic integrity.

The music might not be to your taste but anyone who can shred a drum solo, pen a folky ditty, a grunge classic and a stadium rock anthem while remaining singular all the same is a feat that you have to admire. Part of the reason his music is so eclectic is because his music taste is equally unbiased. In fact, the beauty of his songwriting is that it is upheld by structures that pervade all genres and Grohl is quick to recognise that sensibility in any song that comes his way.

This trend began way back in his childhood as he told Mark Maron on his WTF podcast. “The music that really got into my head first was AM radio in the car. So, this was the mid-1970s, so you’re talking Andrew Gold and Phoebe Snow and Helen Reddy and Carly Simon and 10cc—all that AM bullshit, man.” He might refer to it as bullshit, but it is a mark of his open ears that he welcomed it and admired it all the same.

He continued: “There is something about that era of music, where you had all of these incredibly gifted songwriters who were really proficient in their playing. Someone like Andrew Gold […] I swear to god, he sang this song called ‘Never Let Her Slip Away’. Dude, this song is not a huge hit in America, but it’s the most beautiful piece of music ever written.”

It might not have been a big hit in America reaching only 67 in the charts, but it reached number five in the UK, and it is the song that I grew up hearing my dad sing as he washed the dishes. That might seem like a wildly personal corroboration to put in a piece that has no place for me to appear in it, but that is the sense of nostalgia that the song somehow spiritually brings forth, just as Grohl no doubt recalls it blasting out of the speakers of AM radio on long summer drives as a kid.

However, beyond the almost-hauntingly nostalgic spirit of the song, the structure itself is something that Grohl also eagerly appraised. “The keyboard sound is a little maybe, you might call it cheesy, it’s not cool anymore, but melodically […] it is maybe one of the most melodically sophisticated songs I have ever heard in my entire life. You have to hear it. It will blow your fucking mind.”

In fact, the Foo Fighters frontman even announced plans to have a go at the 1978 song one day. As he forcefully asserted: “We’re going to cover it just so you know.” Well, let’s hope he does justice to the sunshine anthem and it retains all that rarefied atmosphere that the original crams into its pan-scrubbing joie de vivre.