I Should Have Known

It's got to be kind of annoying being Dave Grohl, and having every song you write be reduced to a Kurt tribute. When I heard this song though, I couldn't help but feel that he was feeding into that idea. Pretty obvious parallels in the lyrics even he can't deny

The song is about Jimmy Swanson, Dave's childhood friend who died a couple of years ago.

Thank you so much for these! Probably the most emotional song of the new album, with uncharacteristically poignant lyrics from Dave. And while I don't think the entire song has to do with Kurt, you can't deny it has traces of Dave's relationship with him.

And no, I am not one of the people that thinks that everything Dave has written is about Kurt. It is only because Krist plays bass on this track, and Butch Vig produced the record (the producer of "Nevermind").

Honestly, I think the song is just about destructive relationships, that you know will lead to heartache, but can't seem to get out of because you are already in too deep. The feeling of looking back at a connection with someone or something, and never being able to forgive them for hurting you that way, even though you should have known the eventual outcome because of obvious signs, even though you refuse to see them.

Just my thoughts on it. Amazing song, off of an amazing album :)

I'm gonna be 'that guy' too just a little bit. I think it's more directly to Jimmy in that he's talking about how he's seen it before and all of that. But I think that having Krist on the bass makes it pretty hard to deny that there's at least some sort of relevance implied for Cobain as being case where he'd seen it before. And off all the songs over the years they could have chosen for him to play on (and crank his bass in the mix, none the less), it was one with this subject matter. And according to that quote in the above post, Kurt's death probably hit Krist pretty hard.

Either way, I think that this once, and JUST this once (not ****ing "My Hero" and every other Foo song ever), there may actually be some relevance to the whole Kurt thing, even if a bit indirectly.

yea i mean i hate to be that guy because i usually hate that guy, but this is the first song i think actually may at least be in part about kurt. not seeing the signs, "look at the shape you're in," etc.

such a beautiful song. it doesn't matter who it's about in the end. the lyrics can apply to anyone who blames him/herself for not noticing the warning signs and stuff.

i can imagine that dave wrote this for both guys. dave noticed kurts derailing but took kurt by his words that he'l be ok..... and i'm sure he blames himself for jimmy too, so i guess that tipped him over to write this beautiful song..

also love that Krist was on the song, love the so-Nirvana like bass sound!!

I watched the documentary they just released, it was on Palladia this weekend, and they talked about this song. Dave says something to the effect that it's not about any one person but about all the failed relationships in his life where he looks back at them and tells himself he should have known it was going to end that way. Definitely a song about reflection.

The song is about his childhood friend, and one of the BEST friends, Jimmy Swanson, who died of a drug overdose in 2008. He "should have known" it would happen because Taylor almost died of an OD in 2002.

Dave was NOT that close with Kurt Cobain, contrary to what some people assume. I really dont fucking know where this shit comes from. Its as if Dave Grohl didnt have a personal life before he was 20 years old or something, I dunno. Nirvana, albeit important, is a very small portion of his life (3 years).

Heres an article from Rolling Stone in 2005 where Dave even says he and Kurt werent that close. Sure, they were bandmates and they were friends, but its Dave Grohl. For him to say anything bad about Cobain would be in bad taste since the guy is dead.

Former member of Nirvana, drummer Dave Grohl has recently confessed that while he played with Nirvana he suffered of loneliness and felt like an outcast, because of the special relationship between frontman Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic.

He told Rolling Stone magazine, "When I joined Nirvana I was the fifth or sixth drummer - I don't know if they'd ever had a drummer they were totally happy with.

"And they were strangers. There was never much of a deeper connection outside of the music. Krist and Kurt had a legendary lifetime connection.

"Those guys were soul mates. They'd been through so much together, from Aberdeen (in Washington state) to the success of Nevermind. They f**king shared everything. I never really shared that moment with them because I came from such a different place."

Dave also said he was never really accepted in the band, because Kurt wasn't satisfied with his musical skills.

"I don't think I've ever told anyone this, but there were times when Kurt was really unhappy with the way I played drums. I could hear him talking about how much he thought I sucked."

During the acoustic tour in 2006, he even talked about his first phone convo with Cobain and how he accidentally made fun of his girlfriend. All your Dave Grohl interviews over the last 16 years can be found here:

fooarchive.com

Beautiful song, I believe in the documentary he says this was never intended to be about kurt, but in the end he realized it was, and he brought krist in for this song. I think this is the only song about kurt though.

FINALLY!!! After stumbling across 5 pages of incorrectly typed lyrics, someone got it right. So many people completely misinterpreted the "damn my heart gone deaf" and "You leave my heart in debt" lyrics.

Great song, and something I can definitely relate to. Loved it even more after seeing the documentary.