True Love Waits (song)
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"True Love Waits" is a song by the English rock band
Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Greenwood (bass) ...
, released on their ninth album, '' A Moon Shaped Pool'' (2016). Radiohead worked on it for over two decades. Radiohead first performed "True Love Waits" in 1995, with the singer,
Thom Yorke Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician and the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. A multi-instrumentalist, he mainly plays guitar and keyboards and is noted for his falsetto. He has been describe ...
, on acoustic guitar accompanied by synthesiser. Yorke performed it solo on guitar or
Rhodes piano The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...
several times in the following years, and it became one of Radiohead's best-known unreleased songs. A performance was released on '' I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings'' (2001). Radiohead and their producer
Nigel Godrich Nigel Timothy Godrich (born 28 February 1971) is an English record producer, recording engineer and musician. He is known for his work with the English rock band Radiohead, having produced all their studio albums since '' OK Computer'' (1997). H ...
attempted to record the song several times over two decades, experimenting with different styles, but could not settle on an arrangement. Some of these abandoned versions were included on the 2019 compilation '' MiniDiscs acked' and the 2021 reissue '' Kid A Mnesia''. In 2016, Radiohead finally released "True Love Waits" as the closing track on ''A Moon Shaped Pool'', rearranged as a minimal piano ballad. It received positive reviews, and '' Pitchfork'' named it among the greatest songs of the decade. Several critics felt the long wait made the studio version more powerful. Though it was not released as a single, "True Love Waits" entered the French '' SNEP'' and US ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
Hot Rock Songs Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (formerly known as Rock Songs and Hot Rock Songs) is a record chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine. From its debut on June 20, 2009, through October 13, 2012, the chart ranked the airplay of songs across alternati ...
singles charts.


History


1995—1997: First performances and ''OK Computer''

Radiohead first performed "True Love Waits" in December 1995 in
Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
while touring for their second album, ''
The Bends "The bends" is a colloquialism for decompression sickness. The Bends may also refer to: * ''The Bends'' (album), a 1995 studio album by Radiohead * "The Bends" (song), a 1995 song by Radiohead * "The Bends", a song by Mr. Bungle from the 1995 alb ...
''. The songwriter,
Thom Yorke Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician and the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. A multi-instrumentalist, he mainly plays guitar and keyboards and is noted for his falsetto. He has been describe ...
, performed it on
acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
accompanied by an "airy"
keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...
melody. Over the years, the song became a fan favourite and one of Radiohead's best-known unreleased songs.Letts, p.174. Radiohead worked on "True Love Waits" for their third album, ''
OK Computer ''OK Computer'' is the third studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released in Japan on 21 May 1997 and in the UK on 16 June 1997. Radiohead self-produced the album with Nigel Godrich, an arrangement they have used for their subsequ ...
'' (1997), but discarded it. Keyboard loops recorded for "True Love Waits" in this period were released on the 2017 reissue '' OKNOTOK 1997 2017.'' Other versions recorded in this period were leaked in the 2019 compilation '' MiniDiscs acked', including a version featuring "spacey" synthesisers and a wah-wah effect.


1999—2001: ''Kid A'' and ''Amnesiac''

Radiohead worked on "True Love Waits" again during the sessions for their albums ''
Kid A ''Kid A'' is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 2 October 2000 by Parlophone. It was recorded with their producer, Nigel Godrich, in Paris, Copenhagen, Gloucestershire and their hometown of Oxford. After th ...
'' (2000) and ''
Amnesiac Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or disease,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be caused temporarily by the use o ...
'' (2001), which were recorded simultaneously. They hoped to find an
arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...
beyond "just acoustic guitar". The guitarist
Ed O'Brien Edward John O'Brien (born 15 April 1968) is an English guitarist, songwriter and member of the rock band Radiohead. He releases solo music under the name EOB. O'Brien attended Abingdon School in Oxfordshire, England, where he met the other mem ...
kept an online diary of the band's progress, and wrote in January 2000: One month later, he wrote: During this period, Radiohead created an electronic version of "True Love Waits" using the keyboard loops recorded in the ''OK Computer'' sessions. Yorke said later: "We felt like 'True Love Waits' was this wholesome acoustic thing, and then suddenly putting this quite fierce thing... We weren't sure if it was the right thing, so it fell by the wayside." This version became a different track, "Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors", released on ''Amnesiac''. The "True Love Waits" version was released on the 2021 reissue '' Kid A Mnesia''; ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' described it as "harsh" and "
industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...
".


2001—2016: Further performances

During Radiohead's 2001 ''Amnesiac'' tour, Yorke performed "True Love Waits" solo several times on acoustic guitar. A performance was included on '' I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings'' (2001). He performed it on several more occasions, including his solo performances at the 2009
Latitude Festival The Latitude Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Henham Park, near Southwold, Suffolk, England. It was first held in July 2006 and has been held every year since, apart from 2020, when it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 ...
and the Cambridge Corn Exchange in 2010. From 2006, Radiohead began performing a slower version on
Rhodes piano The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...
as an introduction to "
Everything in Its Right Place "Everything in Its Right Place" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, released on their fourth album, ''Kid A'' (2000). It features synthesiser, manipulated vocals, and lyrics inspired by the stress singer Thom Yorke experienced while ...
". According to the '' Phoenix New Times'', "This is a looser, lighter take ... without the clear
chord changes In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...
and forceful desperation of the acoustic version, one that somehow emphasises the romantic quality of the lyrics rather than the loneliness."


2016: ''A Moon Shaped Pool''

In 2016, more than 20 years after it was written, Radiohead released "True Love Waits" as the last track on their ninth album, '' A Moon Shaped Pool'', in a minimal piano arrangement. Radiohead performed this new arrangement on the ''Moon Shaped Pool'' tour, until their 2018 leg in South America, when Yorke again performed "True Love Waits" solo on acoustic guitar.


Composition

The live version of "True Love Waits" released on ''I Might Be Wrong'' has Yorke performing the song alone on acoustic guitar. According to '' Pitchfork'', it features unexpected chord changes and "vehement" guitar strumming. The ''Phoenix New Times'' likened the "earnest" and "simple" arrangement to Radiohead songs from the same era, such as " Fake Plastic Trees". The studio version, released as the final track on ''A Moon Shaped Pool'', was described as "mournful
post-rock Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with ...
" and a " deconstructed
ambient Ambient or Ambiance or Ambience may refer to: Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgrounds * Ambient music, a genre of music that puts an emphasis on tone and atmosphere * ''Ambient'' (album), by Moby * ...
piano ballad". It features no guitar; instead, it uses a minimal, four-note piano figure, over which pianos are gradually overdubbed, creating polyrhythmic loops and textures.
Bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...
enters in the second verse. '' Chart Attack'' described it as "slow and melancholy" in the tradition of Radiohead album closers such as "Videotape" from '' In Rainbows'' (2007). According to Yorke, the first verse — "I'll drown my beliefs / To have your babies / I'll dress like your niece / And wash your swollen feet" — addresses the "difference between young and old", when people grow out of childish behaviour; the narrator is offering not to grow up to keep someone they love. The lines "And true love lives / On lollipops and crisps" were inspired by a story Yorke read about a child who was left alone by his parents for a week and survived by eating said snacks. The song has a "pleading"
refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the vi ...
: "Don't leave, don't leave."


Reception

Reviewing ''I Might Be Wrong'' in 2001, Matt LeMay of '' Pitchfork'' wrote that "True Love Waits" is "absolutely gorgeous ... it can hold its own against any song on ''OK Computer''". He felt that the song, along with the performance of "Like Spinning Plates", "justified the existence" of the album. Ted Kessler of ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' praised Yorke's vocals as "clear and true". Nicholas Taylor of ''
PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
'' described the song as "a bittersweet victory of love" that "shows that behind all of Radiohead's modernist nightmares is a fragile, desperate desire to connect, fully and meaningfully, with just one person". ''Pitchfork'' wrote that the work-in-progress versions released on ''MiniDiscs acked', however, " on'treally work ... It offers insight into why
he song He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
was notoriously difficult to pin down." ''Rolling Stone'' and '' Arizona Republic'' named the studio version of "True Love Waits" the best song of May 2016. The ''Arizona Republic'' critic Ed Masley wrote that the new arrangement "heightens the sense of desperate yearning in Yorke's vocal as he begs his lover not to leave". ''Pitchfork'' named it the week's best new track and the ninth best song of 2016. The critic Nathan Reese wrote: "'True Love Waits' is an elegiac
coda Coda or CODA may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * Movie coda, a post-credits scene * ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television *''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...
to one of Radiohead's most inward-facing albums and a fitting treatment to a song that many already considered a classic. The wait was worth it." In 2017, '' Consequence of Sound'' named it the 12th greatest Radiohead song, writing that it "shimmers with rainfall piano instead of mopey guitar". In 2019, ''
Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...
'' named it the greatest Radiohead song and ''Pitchfork'' named it the 93rd greatest song of the decade. Though '' The Quietus'' critic Mike Diver was critical of ''A Moon Shaped Pool'', he praised "True Love Waits" as Radiohead's most affecting song since their 2008 single "
Nude Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. The loss of body hair was one of the physical characteristics that marked the biological evolution of modern humans from their hominin ancestors. Adaptations related to h ...
". The ''NME'' writer Damian Jones said it was Radiohead's saddest song. Steve Jozef of the ''Phoenix New Times'' felt the new arrangement captured the best elements of Yorke's guitar and Rhodes piano performances, saving it from sentimentality, and was "the most straightforward, unpretentious, and emotionally raw composition on the album". The '' GQ'' critic Jake Woolf felt that the studio version was "a disappointment", with "mushy piano that weighs the song down emotionally ... the guitar version had a brightness that the studio version lacks". '' Louder Sound'' said it was "weary and defeated, which may be deliberate, but less emotionally engaging". Several critics felt the long wait made the studio version more powerful. The ''Vulture'' journalist
Marc Hogan Marc Hogan (born October 3, 1981) is an American journalist. He currently works as a senior staff writer at Pitchfork. Hogan has been a music critic at Pitchfork since 2004. He has contributed to a number of other publications, including '' SPIN ...
wrote that "the difference between the studio cut and its various predecessors floats over the proceedings like a ghost in the machine". The ''Pitchfork'' critic Jillian Mapes wrote of the "sense that an older, wiser man" was singing, and that the lyrics were more heartfelt "now that he seems resigned to haunting the afterlife". In ''Consequence of Sound'', Nina Corcoran wrote that the long wait "allowed Radiohead to peel hewords when riper than ever". The ''Phoenix New Times'' writer Jozef speculated that the studio version was influenced by Yorke's recent separation from his partner of almost 25 years, Rachel Owen. Whereas the early arrangement, likely written shortly after Yorke met Owen, has a "hopeful, proud character", the ''Moon Shaped Pool'' version sounds "resigned, isolated, lost". The ''Rolling Stone'' critic Andy Beta wrote that "the effect is like stumbling upon an old love letter years after a relationship has grown cold", and that whereas the "don't leave" refrain once suggested redemption, it now sounded like a goodbye.


Charts


Personnel

*
Colin Greenwood Colin Charles Greenwood (born 26 June 1969) is an English musician and the bassist for the rock band Radiohead. Along with bass guitar, Greenwood plays Double bass, upright bass and Electronic musical instrument, electronic instruments. With h ...
*
Jonny Greenwood Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood (born 5 November 1971) is an English musician and composer. He is the lead guitarist and keyboardist of the alternative rock band Radiohead, and has written numerous film scores. Along with his elder brother, th ...
*
Ed O'Brien Edward John O'Brien (born 15 April 1968) is an English guitarist, songwriter and member of the rock band Radiohead. He releases solo music under the name EOB. O'Brien attended Abingdon School in Oxfordshire, England, where he met the other mem ...
*
Philip Selway Philip James Selway (born 23 May 1967) is an English musician and the drummer of the English rock band Radiohead. Along with the other members of Radiohead, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. Selway released his debut ...
*
Thom Yorke Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician and the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. A multi-instrumentalist, he mainly plays guitar and keyboards and is noted for his falsetto. He has been describe ...
*
Nigel Godrich Nigel Timothy Godrich (born 28 February 1971) is an English record producer, recording engineer and musician. He is known for his work with the English rock band Radiohead, having produced all their studio albums since '' OK Computer'' (1997). H ...
 – production, engineering, mixing * Sam Petts-Davies – engineering * Maxime LeGuil – assistant engineering *
Bob Ludwig Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Qu ...
 – mastering


References


Sources

*Letts, Marianne Tatom.
Radiohead and the Resistant Concept Album: How to Disappear Completely
', 2010.


Footnotes

{{Radiohead Radiohead songs Songs written by Thom Yorke Songs written by Jonny Greenwood Songs written by Colin Greenwood Songs written by Ed O'Brien Songs written by Philip Selway Rock ballads 2001 songs 2016 songs 2000s ballads