According to Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl, "Cut Me Some Slack," his recently released collaboration with Paul McCartney, took about three hours to write and record.
"We walked in; we jammed the song. It just came out of nowhere," Grohl told KROQ. "The best songs happen that way. We recorded it live and put a vocal over it and that was it. It was three hours and it was perfect."
Grohl added that McCartney was "just the sweetest, nicest, most awesome person."
McCartney, Grohl and his former Nirvana bandmates, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear, performed the song twice in 2012: once at the 12.12.12 Concert at New York's Madison Square Garden and then three days later on Saturday Night Live.
"Cut Me Some Slack" is from Sound City — Real to Reel, the soundtrack to Grohl's new documentary about Sound City studios in southern California, where several classic albums, including Fleetwood Mac's Rumours and Nirvana's Nevermind, were recorded. You can hear the studio version of the song below.
Eight months later, Grohl asked McCartney if he would play the track at the 12-12-12 gig. "You have to understand, one of the great things about playing with Paul McCartney or playing with Neil Young is that that generation of musicians, they cherish and respect and value the practice of just going into a room and coming up with something and jamming and making it a song," Grohl said. "There’s not like seven songwriters and seven producers and digital technology or whatever. It’s like people getting in a room."
The Sound City soundtrack also features Grohl's collaboration with Skipknot's Corey Taylor, "From Can To Can't," which we posted yesterday. You can hear it here.
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Grohl's Sound City Players will perform at the film's January 18 premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
The new band features Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks, Creedence Clearwater Revival's John Fogerty, Foo Fighters' Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel and Chris Shiflett, Alain Johannes, Chris Goss, Cheap Trick's Nielsen, Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk and others.
Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.
