• According to an interview with Dave Grohl in Mojo magazine, he penned this song during one of the lowest points in his life over Christmas 1996. The frontman was sleeping in a sleeping bag on a friend's floor having just gotten divorced from photographer Jennifer Youngblood, and as a consequence was homeless. On top of that Grohl had no access to his own bank account, and both his drummer, William Goldsmith, and guitarist, Pat Smear, were on the verge of quitting the Foo Fighters. In the midst of all this he wrote this love song in about 45 minutes.
• Dave Grohl said this song is about "being connected to someone so much that not only do you love them physically and spiritually, but when you sing along with them you harmonize perfectly."
• The band performed this on The Late Show With David Letterman on February 21, 2000, when Letterman returned from heart surgery. Letterman explained that the song was important to him during his recovery, and specifically asked for Foo Fighters to perform it on his first night back. The band had to cut short a tour to do it, but they made the appearance and got a ringing endorsement from the host, who introduced them as "my favorite band playing my favorite song." The group became Letterman mainstays, appearing on the show for a whole week in 2014. When Letterman did his final show on May 20, 2015, Foo Fighters played this song to close it out, once again getting a stirring introduction from the host. As they played, a montage of memorable moments in Letterman history was shown.
• According to Grohl, this was the first song he wrote with lyrics that were often quoted back to him by fans. He says the line "Breathe out, so I can breathe you in" really resonated.
• There is some whispering at the end of the song. It is a combination of three tracks mixed by Dave Grohl. One track is a love letter being read, another is a technical manual, and the third is a story about the father of one of the studio engineers.
• When Grohl first came up with the guitar riff, he thought it was a rip-off of Sonic Youth.
• The Foo Fighters have played this song live more than any other, with well over 1,000 performances.

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