The Foo Fighters song that tried to emulate Willie Nelson: “Storytelling tone”
Are the Foo Fighters the only remaining legacy rock band still with a pulse on the current industry? It’s a topic open for debate, but one thing is certain—Dave Grohl’s post-Nirvana outfit remains one of the most seismic and steadfast bands of the past half-century despite facing their fair share of struggles.
In recent terms, that most of all obviously relates to the tragic sudden death of Taylor Hawkins some three years ago now, leaving the hearts of the band and their fans with a gaping drum-shaped hole torn through the middle. It was because, more than any other member aside from Grohl, Hawkins was the undeniable essence and energy that palpated through the Foo Fighters – their beat in both a literal sense as well as a metaphorical one.
While the drummer was a commanding presence in every aspect of his tenure with the band, arguably an area in which his impact can be most tangibly felt is in the 2005 album In Your Honor, sonic home to one of only two tunes in their entire songbook where Hawkins sits at the helm. Apart from switching places with Grohl on ‘Cold Day in the Sun’, that album was made all the more unique for its split into two halves of a rock side and acoustic side, allowing the band to explore the true depths of their diverse musicality within its own free space.
However, when breaking down the tracks on the rock side, Hawkins previously singled out one particular song as embodying a certain classic spirit both in its lyrics and musical structure. With regard to the tune ‘The Deepest Blues Are Black’ he described it as: “the mellowest thing on the loud half of the album, while still maintaining a masculine thump.”
But more than that, he explained, “There’s a real swinging, ‘We Are The Champions’ feel. You can almost sing ‘We Are The Champions’ to the chorus. And I love the vocal on it, I love the drum sound on it. It’s a little rawer than the rest of the album. The lyrics remind me of fuckin’ Willie Nelson or something – it almost has an old-school, good, country storytelling tone to it.”
While admittedly Nelson’s classic country standard efforts like ‘Funny How Time Slips Away’ or ‘Hello Walls’ may seem an odd comparison to the screaming abrasiveness of Hawkins’ band, he was right to brand them both with a “swinging” feel and certain sense of heart, particularly in lyrics like: “Faded you/ Your diamond in the rough/ You don’t have to tell me/ I know where you’ve been/ Shining once again.”
With the Foo Fighters evidently making room for their softer side laced throughout In Your Honor, a certain smooth country sensibility clearly commanded them, surely making a fellow stalwart like Nelson proud.
In this sense, with Nelson’s archives only continuing to expand even into his ninth decade, it seems Foo Fighters would also quite like to keenly follow in those footsteps if given the choice. All too tragically, that future sadly won’t contain Taylor Hawkins in a physical form, but you can be sure his spirit is carried with the band everywhere – and maybe just rubbing off a little country charm as he goes.
