This Is a Call is a song by the Foo Fighters, released as the lead single from the band’s 1995 self-titled debut album. Released in June 19, 1995, it is one of many songs Dave Grohl wrote and performed on the album when Foo Fighters was a one-man band.
This Is a Call is one of the few songs on the Foo Fighters‘ debut album that does not date from Dave Grohl‘s days with Nirvana. It was a new song written in mid-1994, months after Kurt Cobain‘s death. Grohl married his long-time girlfriend Jennifer Youngblood and wrote the song while on honeymoon in Ireland.
“In that summer of 1994 I’d travelled a lot; I think I wrote ‘This Is A Call’ in Ireland. When I got back I booked five days in a recording studio, which seemed like an eternity, and I did the whole first Foo Fighters album in five days”.
Dave Grohl said about the song:
“The chorus says ‘This is a call to all my past resignation’. It’s just sort of like a little wave to all the people I ever played music with, people I’ve been friends with, all my relationships, my family. It’s a hello, and in a way a thank you.”
“‘This Is A Call’ just seemed like a nice way to open the album, y’know, ‘This is a call to all my past resignations…’ I felt like I had nothing to lose, and I didn’t necessarily want to be the drummer of Nirvana for the rest of my life without Nirvana. I thought I should try something I’d never done before and I’d never stood up in front of a band and been the lead singer, which was fucking horrifying and still is!“
On June 19, 1995, This Is a Call was serviced to US alternative radio and was issued commercially in the United Kingdom as a 7-inch single, 12-inch single, and CD single. The following month, the song debuted at number 12 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and rose to a peak of number two the following month. The song also charted at number five on the UK Singles Chart.
Tracklist:
- This Is A Call
- Winnebago (Written by Grohl, Turner)
Credits
Dave Grohl: guitars, vocals, bass, drums
