David Lee Roth has just dropped his latest single and this is one guitarist John 5 has been hoping we’d hear for quite some time. It’s Dave’s tribute to Van Halen titled “Nothing Could Have Stopped Us Back Then Anyway”. The song is embedded below for your listening pleasure.
Back in August of 2021 John 5 talked about the song to Alabama’s AL.com:
Speaking of rock legends, you played guitar on the David Lee Roth solo album “DLR Band.” But of course, Van Halen freaks, we want to know more about this unreleased album you recorded with Dave. A couple of acoustic tracks from that were released in the last year or so, “Somewhere Over The Rainbow Bar and Grill” and “Giddy-Up!”.
Yeah, and people really like those songs, so I’m super happy about it. Because listen, you can’t deny a good song and Dave writes good songs. He’s written some of the most amazing songs of our lifetime, and Dave worked really hard on these lyrics. I’m not sure when it’s going to come out or if it’ll come out, but I hope it does.
There’s one I’ll tell you about called “Nothing Could Have Stopped Us” and it’s unbelievable. Being a Van Halen fan and a Dave Lee Roth fan, it’s unbelievable because it’s about Dave singing about Van Halen and what it was like. Really something special, so I really hope that comes out.
Is the rest of the unreleased David Lee Roth record in the same vein as the songs that have come out, which have a singer/songwriter sound? Or is there some hard-rock on there too?
He wanted to do this kind of a more California sessions type of thing. And he’s such an artist, I was like, “Whatever you want to do, I’m there for you.” So it is that kind of vibe. But there’s a lot of multi tracks and different acoustic parts that all work together. It’s kind of orchestrated, if you wil
“Nothing Could Have Stopped Us Back Then Anyway” comes from 2007 recordings featuring Dave and John 5, who told VHND that in early ’07, the two joined forces to record a batch of songs for a possible album along with Roth’s former solo band-mates, Gregg Bissonette (drums) and Brett Tuggle (keyboards). Not long afterward, John revealed to Guitar World that they had, indeed, completed a full album’s worth of material.
David Lee Roth “Nothing Could Have Stopped Us Back Then Anyway” Lyrics
We laughed, we cried, we threw the television off that balcony
That memory means so much to me
No doubt in me, I do believe that no one listens to both sides except the neighbors
Fine art of compromise, happy losing half of mine ‘cuz she’ll lose her half later
First taste of being victim of the very songs I sing
Ended up with “say goodbye and “I hope I hear good things”
Walk away
Walk away
Nothing could have stopped us back then anyway
Remember when you safety pinned the tablecloth to my pants
And I stood up to the sound of dancing and the sound of our romance beginning
Kicked out the restaurant to make the night complete
Six pack and a happy meal on a park bench down the street
Dinner with Tennessee’s elite
“Once upon a time” is how a fairy tale sells it
“Sit down you won’t believe this shit” is how the trucker tells it
Strike up the band, hire the piper we will pay
Nothing could have stopped us back then anyway
