Dave Grohl picks his favourite Paul McCartney song
You’ll be hard-pressed to find a successful musician that doesn’t cite hearing The Beatles as a defining moment in their musical education. The Liverpool foursome helped lay the foundations of modern music, popularising innovative recording and production techniques rarely used in mainstream Western pop. In their decade as a band, they provided a dense collection of tracks, ranging from gentle piano ballads to proto-heavy metal, making them a beacon of inspiration for musicians worldwide.
Dave Grohl, who rose to prominence as the drummer of Nirvana before fronting Foo Fighters, is a massive fan of The Beatles. As a child, he studied their songs in his quest to become a musician. During a talk at the Arclight Theatre in Hollywood celebrating Ringo Starr’s book release, Grohl explained, “My introduction to music really was the Beatles. In listening to the drums, that became my reference point for everything. [I would notice] ‘Oh, that guy’s too busy, Oh that guy doesn’t have any groove,’ because I had the Beatles in the middle— and it still is.”
On that same radio show, Dave Grohl: My Beatles, the musician detailed his experience of discovering the band as a child. “I remember having a sleepover at a friend’s house when I was four or five years old and listening to ‘Hey Jude’. I don’t think I’d ever listened to a rock and roll record. This was my introduction, and it’s stuck with me ever since,” he said. “I remember that night, laying in my sleeping bag and singing along to the na-na-nas at the end of the song. It was stuck in my head so much I couldn’t sleep.”
Over the years, Grohl has shared some of his favourite tracks by The Beatles, including John Lennon’s ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’ from the band’s iconic 1969 album, Abbey Road. Talking to Radio 2 Beatles, he explained: “I love heavy music, I love Black Sabbath, I love Motorhead, but I think that nothing is heavier, melodically darker and deeper than the riff in this song”. Grohl also loves the George Harrison-penned ‘Taxman’ from Revolver, stating: “I love the chords, I love the melody, I love the snare sound… I mean, you have to imagine that in 1966 they were inventing a lot of rock ‘n’ roll recording by figuring out new ways to engineer these sessions.”
However, when it comes to his favourite Paul McCartney-penned track, Grohl enlightened Q Magazine with his pick. “The greatest Paul McCartney track? You can’t even answer this question, it’s just not fair, but I’m going to say ‘Blackbird’.” Taken from their self-titled album, also known as The White Album, ‘Blackbird’ is a fan favourite, perhaps due to its appeal to both adults and children. Grohl continued: “It’s such a beautiful piece of music, perfect in composition and performance, and in its lyrics and in the range of his voice. Just learning that song made me a better guitar player and gave me a better appreciation of songwriting. To me it’s just musical bliss.”
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