Carlotta Valdes
Recorded
Release history
Credits
- Written by Harvey Danger, © But Mom I Love Music (ASCAP)
- Aaron: bass
- Jeff: guitars
- Sean: lead vocal, harmonies
- Evan: drums
Alternate versions
- Carlotta Valdes [Texas version]
Lyrics
Jimmy Stewart follows Kim to where your portrait hangs on a wall
Such a haunting vision, he forgets his partner’s fall
Jump into the San Francisco Bay
I’ll follow you in
I know you can’t swim
when you’ve been dead a hundred years, CarlottaCarlotta Valdes, Carlotta Valdes
Carlotta Valdes, I will make you herEverything’s subjective
Nothing lasts for Johnny-O
Kiss Kim Novak where the redwoods grow
Bleach her hair, pretend that she didn’t die
Go up the Mission stair
I’ll follow anywhere, that is
Until you climb too high
’cause I get vertigo
vertigoCarlotta Valdes, I will make you her
What a thing to be the center of attention, all the time
He isn’t really falling for this, is he?
He’s getting dizzy
And so am ICarlotta Valdes
Carlotta Valdes
Carlotta Valdes
Let her go, Jim!Carlotta Valdes, I will make you her
Quotes
SCN: The words to “Carlotta Valdez” (which, as assiduous HD trainspotters have noted, should actually be spelled “Carlotta Valdes,” according to the source material) arose during an afternoon screening of the 1996 re-release of Vertigo (not my favorite Hitchcock), and the song was finished that very same night.10A
AMH: Sean let out triumphant/relieved
Yes!at the end of the keeper take (you can hear it on the record). We were pretty inexperienced in the studio, to say the least, and had the weight of time and money (both in short supply) on our shoulders. That moment always reminds me of the uniquely satisfying feeling of getting something exactly right, right when we needed to.10A
SCN: Aaron’s bass melodies bust out all over this record—one of my favorites ever is the intro riff to the very first song. Played fast and dirty, that DA-nah-nah-nah-nah-NAH-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah figure is great in at least five ways: 1) as song intro, 2) as an ALBUM INTRO, 3) as a bass line, 4) as a sound, 5) as an argument—which I by no means believe Aaron was in any way actually having—with the orthodoxy of guitar rock. Oh, and 6) as rock. Because it does.MMV
Notes
- Misspelled as “Carlotta Valdez” on the album.
- A heavily-rearranged version of this song was first released in Fall 2007 on a tour EP by Sean Nelson and His Mortal Enemies, under the title “Carlotta Valdes (Countryish)”. In 2013, it was included on a USB drive of bonus tracks distributed with some copies of Sean’s solo album, Make Good Choices, and circulated under the title “Carlotta Valdes Goes to Texas”? before being released as the b-side to Sean’s “Viral Love” single in 2019.