"Truly, Truly" is a song by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Grant Lee Buffalo Grant Lee Buffalo was an American rock band based in Los Angeles, California, United States, consisting of Grant-Lee Phillips (vocals and guitar), Paul Kimble (bass) and Joey Peters (drums). All three were previously members of another Lo ...

. It was released in May 1998 as the lead single from their fourth album, ''

Jubilee A jubilee is often used to refer to the celebration of a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term comes from the Hebrew Bible (see, "Old Testament"), initially concerning ...

''. Written by Grant-Lee Phillips and produced by Paul Fox, the single peaked at number 11 on the ''

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 advertis ...

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

chart.

Composition and recording

According to

drummer Joey Peters, he and Grant-Lee Phillips began work on "Truly, Truly" in 1996 while touring with

The Smashing Pumpkins The Smashing Pumpkins (also simply known as Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band formed in Chicago in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, guitarist James Iha, bassist D'arcy Wretzky and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin. The ...

. As Phillips and Peters began demoing tracks for what would become the ''

'' album, bassist and producer Paul Kimble did not participate because, Peters recalled, "it was kind of obvious he was in a different space, musically and creatively". Kimble left the group the following year. Phillips explained in a 1998 ''

Musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

'' magazine article that "Truly, Truly" began with a bass part. "And then it was a matter of setting that to a metronome and then filling in the chords around it — finding you could set majors or minors to whatever melody is being played in the bass." The song's tone changes, Phillips said, have to do with running through different amplifiers, including a Marshall JCM900 and a

Vox AC30 The Vox AC30 is a Instrument amplifier, guitar amplifier manufactured by Vox (company), Vox. It was introduced in 1958 to meet the growing demand for louder amplifiers. Its "jangly" high-end sound made it widely used by British musicians and oth ...

. Phillips added, "The guitar part was played straight through, but we recorded all the amps on separate tracks, giving us up to four very distinct sounds to manipulate during the mix."

Release

"Truly, Truly" was sent to

modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college and commercial rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. ...

mainstream rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent a cross between classic rock, active rock and alternativ ...

, and triple-A radio stations in May 1998. The song features on a promotional four-track

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

(EP) titled ''Yours Truly'' which

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

sent to commercial and college radio and press. The EP was also packaged with an issue of ''

Alternative Press Alternative press may refer to: Individual publications * ''Alternative Press'' (magazine), an American music magazine Alternative journalism * Alternative media ** Alternative media (U.S. political left) ** Alternative media (U.S. political r ...

'' magazine. A three-track

cassette tape The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog audio, analog magnetic tape recording format for Sound recording and reproduction, audio recording and playback. Invented by L ...

featuring "Truly, Truly" was made available during a club tour prior to the album release.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from liner notesGrant Lee Buffalo - ''Jubilee'' (CD liner notes). Slash Records. and Discogs. Locations *Recorded at A&M Studios in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

, California *Mixed at South Beach Studios in

Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. The municipality is located on natural and human-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean an ...

, Florida *Mastering at Precision Mastering in Los Angeles, California Personnel *Grant Lee Phillips – vocals, guitar *Joey Peters – drums, tambourine, shaker *Dan Rothchild – bass *Rami Jaffee – organ *Andrew Williams – additional vocals

Chart positions

References

{{Grant Lee Buffalo 1998 singles 1998 songs Slash Records singles Warner Records singles