Rhythm and Harmony in Everlong (Foo Fighters)

Hey there everyone,

I had a student ask about this song Everlong by Foo Fighters. After listening through I thought it sounded interesting enough to devote some time to. It was a single from their sophomore album "The Color and the Shape" which made it to number 10 on the US billboard in 1997. It sparked a bit of research into Dave Grohl as an individual. It seems as though he is a stand-up role model in the rock and roll world.

There are several elements in this song that seem to have been undercurrents to it's success.

*Initially we need to tune our instrument down to Drop D Tuning (DADGBE). The tune in pretty unfulfilling without this.

*There is some creative harmony, chord structures that are really unique for the grunge genre. The first chord of the verse uses extended harmony with a chord tone omitted. It's a major 7 chord with the fifth omitted. The thing about the fifth is, it REALLY matter when we're outlining triads, or altered chords such as b5s, #5s, as in diminished or augmented chords. In the cases of major and minor chords the 5th is the same. If we omit it in these situations the listening isn't bothered by it, but it will sound very "open" by comparison.

The second chord form worth mentioning is the sus9. This is a chord where 5ths are stacked upon each other. Usually we can find three main versions of suspended chords. Bsus4 is the most common (B E F#). If we invert that we end up with a sus2 shape (E F# B). If we invert once more we end up with a sus7 shape (F# B E). B F# C# generates an open voicing of a sus2 chord by displacing the 2 by an octave. (I've mentioned open voicings repeatedly now. They are voicings where chords have tones that are a 4th or more apart.) . This is why it's called a sus9 chord.

*The root motion of the chords themselves is pretty predictable. We'll see this movement by thirds all over the place within popular music. Amidst all of these open voicings, it's nice to have root motion that is easy to listen to. This motion of D to B to G shares a lot of chord tones if we extrapolate to diatonic (of the scale) progressions.

D F# A

B F# D

G B D

I've underlined and made bold the chord tones within this song. Even the two outliers are only a whole step apart.

*The harmonic rhythm is determined by some odd phrasing in a couple of cases. For one, the verse is a seven bar phrase. Each chord gets two measures, except for the Gsus9 chord. It only receives one. As a result there is a little extra momentum as we feel that we get to the B chord early. Since the final Bsus9 chord is two measures as well it feels relatively stable and we return to the top of the form.

The pre-chorus is another subject. It's a three measure phrase. This is partially due to the following point>

*There is a macro polyrhythms happening. In the pre-chorus we have a melodic motif of three eighth notes over our 4/4 time signature. This creates a lot of momentum since all of our notes seem short by one, or more by one. This also creates what we call anticipations. At the end of the second bar, we end up on our final chord on the & of 4, which by all accounts should be early. Due to our three eighth note pattern leading up to this, it feels natural. These anticipations continue all the way through the chorus until the final two measures.

*Finally the chorus is rock solid. This is a huge component. Everything is leading up to this portion of the song. If it doesn't make sense, the song is doomed. It provides a sense of fulfillment by being stable and nearly predictable.

All in all this is a great rock song that a huge portion of the populous related to. A fantastic study.

As always, enjoy the process and keep playing.

Christopher