Tale of the Tune: Dawes Share the Story Behind “Now That It’s Too Late, Maria”
On All Your Favorite Bands, Dawes recorded live in the studio on analog tape, and weren’t allowed to listen back to the product until producer David Rawlings had finished editing the tracks—an experience that led to an album full of organic-sounding songs that weren’t always perfect, but reveled in their imperfections. “Now That It’s Too Late, Maria,” the album’s epic, almost 10-minute centerpiece, is a glistening example of the band’s newfound looseness—so we had them point out exactly what made the session so special. Think of this as a DVD commentary—start the song, and then read along to hear exactly what they’re talking about:
0:07
Guitarist/Songwriter Taylor Goldsmith: We had this other version that was a fast shuffle. When we got in the studio, Griffin started playing that [slow] tempo, that feel that made it on to the final version, and I started doing that lick. It sounded nothing like how we’d been playing it.
0:30
Taylor: When we started playing this, I thought, “The space between the lines is so long. How could this possibly be the version we use? We were just goofing.”
0:45
Taylor: Right around now, Dave came in the room and motioned, “Keep going, keep going!” A lot of the guitar bits here were me just thinking, “We’re just goofing around until we stop and start actually recording—maybe this or maybe not.” None of us really took this take seriously.
1:32
Drummer Griffin Goldsmith: There’s a part right here on the first chorus when I hit the snare offbeat—Dave didn’t like it. He was like, “It’s not really working.” But it’s kind of my favorite part.
1:55
Taylor: Post-chorus ended up being an important part of the song. We finished the “It’s too late, Maria” part and the rest of us go back to [the chords] E-A-B. Wylie keeps playing the E [in the bass] because he wasn’t sure whether I was going to change chords or not. He did his own thing—makes it his thing rather than chasing after what it was supposed to be. He ended up doing the same thing after each chorus—there’s one go-round of the E-A-B which is just E in the bass and then we play it together.
2:27
Keyboardist Tay Strathairn: Right here is the only chord I’ve missed on any recording I’ve ever done.
2:32
Taylor: We had to tie Tay up and drag him out of the studio—he tried to edit it.
2:40
Strathairn: Once I really heard it, I was into it. I wish it wasn’t a mistake—I wish I had thought of it.
2:50
Bassist Wylie Gelber: We tried [the whole song] faster [as it was originally written] only once. We were like, “Nah, this sucks.”
3:15
Taylor: This time [through the chorus], you’ll see that Griffin doesn’t do the cross- tempo [snare].
3:21
Taylor: All the vocals are live [in the studio]. All the guitars were while I was singing—See, here’s that E in the bass!
3:40
Tay: [Makes swooping keys motion to enunciate a subtle keyboard slide.]
3:49
Taylor: This song is nine minutes and 45 seconds long. This third verse, there was only one usable version of it. I kept screwing up the lyrics—I didn’t really take it seriously, ever. Dave, after [we were done recording], was like, “I don’t think it’s salvageable, really. Maybe we should just edit it out and make the song six and a half minutes instead.” He was able to find a place to shift along in the edit—I was so glad he could. I kept forgetting the lyrics.
4:41
Tay: All the edits were analog, on 2-inch tape.
4:44
Taylor: Sometimes, he’d be cutting in the middle of a cymbal crash or something. I’m getting better at hearing the edits now—but it’s the whole band you’re cutting. For the longest time, I couldn’t tell at all.
5:06
Wylie: The way Dave described analog editing to me was, “Imagine I went to five Dawes shows in a row and it’s just the best of what I’ve heard—I’m only going to take segments of all you guys playing together, but make it the greatest. You play it five times back-to-back, and I’m going to make the best performance from all of that.” We were not doing it to a click track or anything—it’s all feel.
5:51
Taylor: We’re all kind of dancing around each other here, which I really dig. That’s what I mean when I talk about “band solos”— everyone’s stepping it up in a way. This drum fill, the guitar stuff… Griffin and I were facing each other and ended up really playing off each other.
6:15
Taylor: [Before we listened back,] I never thought I had a single guitar solo. I was like, “I don’t know what this album is going to be. I fucked up every single guitar solo.” Then Dave would play it back for me: “I don’t remember playing that, but that’s really cool.”
6:25
Wylie: You get ideas that are made up of your own ideas. It’s cool to hear that back instead of waiting for every single thing; you can listen to it like someone else played it and judge it. “Does this actually sound like
a cool bass part, if I could hear this and it wasn’t me?”
7:49
Tay: For the whole album, Dave wouldn’t let me play just organ or just piano. I had to play organ and piano at the same time. That really limited my parts—I had to think of what I could do with each hand. I’m holding the organ right here [and playing a lead part on the piano]. It forced me to keep things simple.
8:00
Taylor: This part right here—the guitar mic goes out for a sec. You can hear it. It just becomes bleed [into the other mics in the room] and then it’s gone. You can hear it just bleeding into the other mics. They were still setting up the studios and getting the mics right, and Dave was like, “It sounds cool, we’ll just roll with it.” Even though it’s edited, this outro is the first take.
9:01
[Everyone talking over each other, pointing out the moment where the jam devolves into losing the rhythm.] Taylor: We lost the one [count] for a second. You don’t know what’s going on, and then it lands again. It’s super cool.
9:29
Tay: When you don’t know what you’re doing, you listen to what other people are doing. And that’s so much more enjoyable, you know? It’s better that way.
