This Is a Call

"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, stating that "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".^[4]

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."^[5]

"'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!"^[4]

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.^[6][7] 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.^[8][9] The song also charted at number five on the UK Singles Chart.^[10]

No music video was made for the song; however, the band played the song live on the Late Show with David Letterman in mid-1995. It was the band's first national television performance.

• A live version recorded on June 15, 1996, at the Golden Gate Park as part of the Tibetan Freedom Concert was released on the "Free Tibet" DVD.
• Another version recorded at the following year's version of the festival on June 7, 1997, at the Downing Stadium was released on the Tibetan Freedom Concert live album.

UK 7-inch single; French and Japanese CD single

1. "This Is a Call"
2. "Winnebago" (Grohl, Turner)

UK 12-inch and CD single

1. "This Is a Call"
2. "Winnebago"
3. "Podunk"

Dutch and Australian CD single; New Zealand cassette single

1. "This Is a Call"
2. "Winnebago"
3. "Podunk (Cement Mix)"

• "Podunk (Cement Mix)" is seemingly the same mix and version as the standard version of "Podunk". The reason for this is unknown.

• Dave Grohl – guitars, vocals, bass, drums