According to consequence.net, on latest episode of the Song Exploder artist Dave Grohl discussed the meaning of “The Teacher,” which is from Foo Fighters’s latest album But Here We Are. Grohl explained that the 10 minute rock song was written in tribute to his mother, Virginia Grohl, who passed away in July 2022.

“I was with her for all of the time leading up to her passing. Everyday during that period, I would write something on the guitar, because I felt that if I didn’t have that release, I would explode. I would spend the day at the hospital and then try to translate it musically — with no clear intention of what I was trying to achieve. I was finding these chords and progressions that mirrored the way that I felt.” said Ghrol.

Having come up with two separate demos, Grohl stated: “These two ideas were separate to me until I imagined that if I were put them together, it’s more than a three or four minute song. It’s something much bigger… I could have a piece of music bigger than anything that we’ve ever done that I could dedicate to my mother.”

While remembering his mother, Grohl said: “I was probably my only friend who liked hanging out with their parent… 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 turned into something other than a song. It’s the most important thing I’ve ever written because I wrote it for such a gigantic reason.”

Photo Credit: Boston Lynn Schulz