Songfacts®:

• For this song, Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl switched roles. Dave went behind the drum kit, and Taylor played guitar and sang lead. Hawkins, who died in 2022 at 50, also wrote the song, making it one of the few Foo Fighters songs not penned by Grohl. Hawkins also handled lead vocals on the Foo's covers of Cream's "I Feel Free," Joe Walsh's "A Life Of Illusion" and Pink Floyd's "Have A Cigar."
• Taylor Hawkins on the song: "I actually wrote this track, so I sing and Dave plays drums on it. I've had a rough sketch of the song for a long time and Dave has always liked it. It's got a real Southern Californian feel and it was fun producing Dave on drums. Most of the tambourines that you hear are on the record are actually Dave - I hate playing tambourine! - but on this song it's me."
  
  Dave Grohl added: "Taylor is a secret weapon. He'd written a song years ago and we tried to record it as a rock track. But it made more sense as an acoustic thing. I love it because it's a feelgood hit."
• Hawkins: "It's hard playing a demo for Dave because he's like my older brother - I know when he thinks something sucks. He says, "Hmm, yeah that's good," and then he'll say, "I really like how affected your vocals are." Anyway, it's a song Dave liked and it lightened up the acoustic record. Everyone says it sounds like the Eagles! When Dave was recording the drums I went from the control room into the live room and made a suggestion. He was like, "No. I like what I'm doing." I reminded him of this recently but for some reason he didn't remember that." (quotes are from the Foo Archive)
• Though an acoustic song, an electric version of "Cold Day In The Sun" can be found on the CD/DVD Skin And Bones.
• Don't search too hard for meaning in this one. Taylor Hawkins said he came up with the lyrics shortly before the song was recorded, and they "suck." We disagree, but he said the song is all about the melody and the feeling it brings about, not the words.