“I knew it was gonna be a hit”: the Eagles song written in Linda Ronstadt’s living room
Being a celebrity musician couple can be a precarious business. You’d only have to ask Sonny and Cher or John Lennon and Yoko Ono about that. The trouble is if it all comes crumbling down, you run the risk of your hard-earned career being left in ruins alongside your love life. But very occasionally, if the stars align, those relationships can create moments of magic enough to cement the iconoclastic status in one’s career, even if it does come at the cost of a happily intact marriage. Just take the example of the late Eagles songwriter JD Souther.
Souther dated fellow American singer Linda Ronstadt in the 1970s, during which time he and his Eagles bandmates were working on their biggest hits. Eagles HQ, if you will, took over Souther and Ronstadt’s house in the Camrose-Highland bungalows of the Hollywood Hills. However, Ronstadt claimed it was purely because “we had a bigger living room than they did”.
The fruits of the bandmates’ labour – and the takeover of the bigger living room – eventually reaped reward when one of the Eagles’ greatest hits was produced there. Ronstadt remembered “coming home one day, and they had rehearsed ‘Witchy Woman’, and they had all the harmonies worked out four-part harmonies. It was fantastic. I knew it was gonna be a hit. You could just tell.”
From the opening brash rip of electric guitar to its funk-infused tone, Ronstadt clearly had a well-trained musical ear. ‘Witchy Woman’ would feature on the Eagles’ best-known album, Hotel California, and firmly cemented them as gods of rock and roll throughout the test of time.
Unfortunately, the same sentiment could not be applied to Souther and Ronstadt’s relationship, which ended in the years shortly thereafter. However, this is not to say they followed the same path of embittered separation as many Hollywood couples; the pair remained strong friends throughout the decades to come. Souther went as far as to say, in a 2015 interview when asked about Ronstadt, that: “She’s always the first to hear a new album. She’s the greatest listener: an astute, well-read woman, as well as musical.”
Not only is it refreshing to hear of the healthy respect and love that the pair evidently maintained in their relationship throughout the years, but it also displays how Ronstadt played a significant role in making the Eagles the stars they were and ‘Witchy Woman’ the hit it was.
After the sad news of Souther’s recent passing, it’s perhaps more important than ever that his music be given the rightful recognition and iconic status it deserves. The role of Hotel California cannot be understated within that. He and Ronstadt’s relationship may not have lasted, but the impact and lore it created will undoubtedly stand the test of time. Above all else, the story of ‘Witchy Woman’ teaches us that good things can still come from unsuccessful relationships, that there is still joy to be found in them many years later, and – perhaps most importantly – the value of a decent-sized living room.
