Today’s classic sad song of the day is “Long Long Time,” one of Linda Ronstadt’s first solo hits. The single was released in June of 1970 and rose to #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #20 on the Easy Listening chart. Mr. Ronstadt’s performance was nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Female Vocal Performance. (She lost to Dionne Warwick’s recording of “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again.”)
“Long Long Time” was written by a guitarist named Gary White. Ms. Ronstadt saw Mr. White playing backup guitar for singer-songwriter Paul Siebel at New York’s Cafe Au Go-Go and, after the show, he asked to play her one of his songs that he thought would be perfect for her. Ms. Ronstadt takes it from there:
“We saw the last part of his very impressive show made rich with his cowboy falsetto and a song about a poignant, sad girl of a certain reputation named Louise, and then went backstage to meet Gary. He had already packed up his guitar, so he took it back out of its case, sat down, and began to sing [this song]. I told Gary I wanted to record it immediately.”
The lyrics describe a love that never quite coalesced. You can hear that longtime longing expressed in the lyrics:
Love will abide, take things in stride
Sounds like good advice but there’s no one at my side
And time washes clean love’s wounds unseen
That’s what someone told me but I don’t know what it means
‘Cause I’ve done everything I know to try and make you mine
And I think I’m gonna love you for a long long time
Ms. Ronstadt recalls the recording session for the song:
“I can remember the day I recorded ‘Long, Long Time.’ It was 10:30 in the morning, but I was really into this kind of achy feeling, because the music—it’s in these chords. I think my phrasing was horrible. I think I kind of butchered it, but it is definitely in those chords. And it happened to the musicians, who are jaded session players. As soon as the fiddle player and Weldon Myrick, who’s the steel guitar, began to play those chords, they got real into that and became personally involved.”
She was right about those chords; that progression of IV – I – III7 – vi – IV, then I – V – vi – IV – I – V – I in the chorus just kills. She was wrong about her phrasing, however. Her voice is powerful and emotive and sells the hell out of that song. It was a bravura performance.
“Long Long Time” was track number one on the second side of Silk Purse, Ms. Ronstadt’s second solo album—you know, the one with the picture of Linda in cutoff jeans in a pig pen on the cover. That album only hit #103 on the Billboard 200 album chart, however, probably because it only had one hit single, the one that’s today’s classic song of the day. Bigger albums and more hit singles were in the future; Linda Ronstadt ended up with three #1 albums (Heart Like a Wheel, Simple Dreams, and Living in the USA) and nine top ten singles (“You’re No Good,” “When Will I Be Loved,” “Heat Wave,” “Blue Bayou,” “It’s So Easy,” “Ooh Baby Baby,” “Hurt So Bad,” “Don’t Know Much” [with Aaron Neville], and “Somewhere Out There” [with James Ingram]). She became a legend—and “Long Long Time” is the song that truly demonstrated that a new talent was on the scene.
Not surprisingly, “Long Long Time” got Ms. Ronstadt a lot of attention from listeners and industry insiders alike, as well as a lot of bookings on a lot of TV variety shows. She didn’t pull any punches when she performed this song live, as witnessed in the following clip from The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour in 1970. That girl could sing.
