The Foo Fighters dropped the third preview of their upcoming 10th studio album Medicine at Midnight. The emotional anthem ‘Waiting on a War’ was released on Thursday, January 14. A couple of days later, they released a music video for the song.
Grohl’s Daughter Inspired ‘Waiting on a War’
The mostly-acoustic song was inspired by a disheartening conversation singer Dave Grohl had with his daughter Harper last fall. It reminded him of his own fears of nuclear annihilation when he was her age.
“As a child growing up in the suburbs of Washington DC, I was always afraid of war,” Grohl says. “I had nightmares of missiles in the sky and soldiers in my backyard. They were most likely brought upon by the political tension of the early 1980s and my proximity to the Nation’s Capitol. My youth was spent under the dark cloud of a hopeless future.”
Grohl continues, “Last fall, as I was driving my 11-year-old daughter to school, she turned to me and asked, “Daddy, is there going to be a war?” My heart sank in my chest as I looked into her innocent eyes. I realized that she was now living under that same dark cloud of a hopeless future that I had felt 40 years ago. I wrote “Waiting On a War” that day.
He then explains how the song is related to that day. “Every day waiting for the sky to fall. Is there more to this than that? Is there more to this than just waiting on a war? Because I need more. We all do. This song was written for my daughter, Harper, who deserves a future, just as every child does”. Grohl wrote in the promotional email for the song.
A Look Into the Emotional Song
The four-minute Greg Kurstin-produced song features acoustic guitar, strings, and subtle bass and drums. It picks up the pace and intensity as it moves through a second verse about waiting for the sky to fall and scenes of a little boy lost turning to the radio for solace. The final minute of the track then explodes into a patented Foos rager, as the languid pace triples up and the song changes to a frenzied, cathartic conclusion.
‘Waiting on a War’ is the third track the band has released from the nine-track album so far, following ‘No Son of Mine’ and ‘Shame Shame.’ Medicine at Midnight is due to release on February 5, so mark your calendars!
