David Lee Roth has revealed that he was inspired to write his tribute song to Eddie Van Halen, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow Bar and Grill,” after walking past by a bar.

“I actually walked past the door of a local drinking establishment and smelled the sawdust,” Roth told Richard Bienstock of Variety. “And like [Marcel] Proust with a lemon cookie [in the novel In Search of Lost Time], it triggered volumes of memory.”

The previously unreleased “Somewhere Over The Rainbow Bar And Grill” was made available as a standalone single in late October.

“I don’t usually write autobiographically,” he added, “but this was a specific effort to replicate a time and a place.”

Roth said that his late bandmate didn’t get a “show biz” type of memorial where after the burial, the guests go to a reception and share all sorts of stories about the deceased.

“So I thought, if that occurred for Ed — which it did not — and everybody was going to get up and tell a story, when it got to my turn I would start with, ‘The smell of fresh sawdust on the floor…’ And go from there.”

He continued: “That’s the beginning of the story, at least for me. Because that was everywhere we played — the smell of fresh sawdust on the floor. And we were famous for breaking drinking records. Still are! And solo, too!”

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