“Waltz #1”
written and performed by Elliott Smith 1997 // Produced by Elliott Smith, Rob Schnapf & Tom Rothrock / Recorded at Sunset Sound Studio 3 and Mixed at Sound Factory Studio B by Rob Schnapf & Tom Rothrock.
KEVIN MOYER: This studio version was released in 1998 through DreamWorks Records on the album XO which was Elliott’s first solo album on a major label. I think that Elliott was living in New York by this time?
ROB SCHNAPF: Yeah he was living in New York by then and it was one of the songs where we pretty much finished it in a day. Later added strings and some other touches but the heavy lifting was done – VTRs, drums, bass, piano, vocals, harmonies, etc. It was a good day….
NICKOLAS ROSSI: It seemed like this one was talked about a lot by his friends as a song that really had an impact on them. It really seemed to have all these feelings and stories attached to it. I wanted to include it because I wanted his friends to pause from the narrative for a moment and just go into a song of Elliott’s that they could all comment on. What was really great about being able to put this in the film was blending from the demo version to the studio version in one of my favorite scenes.
“Waltz #1 (Demo)”
written and performed by Elliott Smith
1997 // Produced by Elliott Smith
KEVIN MOYER: This is the demo version that was from Larry Crane’s original DAT of the mix and was recorded at Jackpot! Recording in Portland Oregon.
LARRY CRANE: I remember we labeled this “Bushmills” after knocking down the rough mix that you have here. We only spent 4 hours or so recording this, and then walked over to the bar and grill where Joanna’s sister worked and had drinks. It was such a gloomy song, and it was a typical gloomy Portland day, but it felt good to hang out with my friend.
MARK FLANAGAN (owner of Largo, a club in LA that Elliott played and hung out at): Elliott played us the Waltz songs and others from XO upstairs in my office one night at Largo before recording them. He played the wobbly piano song on Jon Brion’s cheesy Casio keyboard and it was so great that Jon called him a “fucker” in awe.
“True Love (instrumental)”
written and performed by Elliott Smith
January 2001 // Produced by Elliott Smith
KEVIN MOYER: This was another one of the songs that Elliott would often demo and play after hours at Largo, and also one of the last songs that Elliott ever performed at Largo on Valentines Day in 2001. This was around the time that Elliott and Jon Brion went into a small studio to record the track, partially as an attempt to help him get to focus on non drug activity. I’ve heard I think two or three different versions of this song and the lyrics evolved and shifted from a love interest to a major drug interest instead. One of the versions seemed really scathing too, and I wondered if some of the references were about the intervention and the anger he had towards his friends. This is the instrumental track of a full version was recorded at Jon Brion’s studio with Tom Biller & Jon engineering; and this is a new mix done by Larry Crane years later for use in the film.
NICKOLAS ROSSI: I wanted to put this instrumental version in the film while Elliott’s friends talked about the intervention and how things started to change and get more difficult. There seemed to be a growing concern for Elliott at this time, and the instrumental version of this song seemed to be enough of a clue for the fans who knew the song and were familiar with what was being said here. True Love. What was this really alluding to? The lyrics have countless references to drugs and rehab, but I wanted to keep the lyrics out of this part of the film. I wanted the instrumentation to carry behind the concerns of his friends, and focus on their own lyrics to the scene.
“True Love”
written and performed by Elliott Smith
January 2001 // Produced by Elliott Smith
KEVIN MOYER: And here is the full version of the previous song, “True Love” complete with the vocals, as the song was intended.
MARK FLANAGAN: I recall Elliott playing me early versions of songs – “True Love” had been brewing for a bit, other songs like “Stickman”, “Memory Lane” and “Everything Means Nothing To Me”- he would keep chipping away at. The first set of lyrics he wrote really impressed me, they were very personal and he told me he was self-conscious of releasing that version. I suggested he make it third person like Dylan did with Blood on the Tracks. “They sat together in the park” instead of “We sat together in the park”. He deduced from that, he sucked in comparison to Dylan!! Fucker knew he was good.
I also have a rough copy on cassette of him playing “True Love” on Valentines Day… He performed it live at Largo in the middle of a comedy show in front of a stunned audience… and I remember being bummed that he had made the love song into a druggy song. That’s where he was then and as he was playing it live sitting on the floor, pretty much in the dark, I remember thinking that ‘I hope this fella makes it through this hell’. I still miss the guy from before all that.
