Chasing Birds

Chasing birds is a pointless pursuit because the feathered creatures just fly away, leaving the chaser stranded on the ground. Here, a doleful Dave Grohl reflects on the futile search for a long-lasting relationship. For a time the singer was in a romance where he felt so high his "head was in the clouds." But once the relationship ended, he came back down to earth with his heart "six feet underground." He laments, "The road to hell is paved with broken hearts. Bleeding hearts like mine."

Some critics have compared the delicate, pretty ballad to the songwriting of Paul McCartney, which is far away from the heavy rock music of Nirvana and Foo Fighters. Grohl told the BBC he learned how to play guitar as a teenager by strumming along to The Beatles. "You know, to me dissonance and chaos is easy," he said. "Having listened to a lot of very difficult music in my formative years, I eventually found that the challenge of simplicity and melody is more rewarding than just screaming feedback and distorted drums." "I realized that when I was in Nirvana," Grohl continued. "Kurt's songwriting was very simple and, ultimately, it really grabbed people's hearts because of its simplicity and melody. But, yeah, it's not easy to do."

Dave Grohl recalled in a track by track video for Louder that he wrote the song on an acoustic guitar thinking it was going to be an acoustic song. Then he thought, "I don't know if we want an acoustic song on this record," so he added some electric guitar and drums.