The one song that gave Linda Ronstadt a “chill of disgust”
At the core, all any artist should truly hope for is one simple thing: to keep getting better with time.
In a world obsessed with people being prodigies and emerging already at their very best, the mark of a true, long-lasting artist is someone who is going to get better and better, and work to make that happen. Linda Ronstadt’s career is a testament to that.
However, that respectable trait comes along with a downside. It brings with it an inevitable sense of embarrassment or cringe when suddenly you pause at where you are, look back at where you started and realise how much better you are now.
A more optimistic mind would be able to see that and simply celebrate it, pouring out pride for that development and still holding love for the younger, scrappier version who was really just trying their best. But really, for any creative putting work out in the world that’s going to stay there, it must just feel kind of embarrassing to know that worse stuff is there for people to engage with and to have that snapshot of messier, less skilled times be out there for the world to see forever.
It’s basically the artistic equivalent of having your awkward teen photos shared and out there. Imagine all the photos of you at 12, with your braces and your spots, being public in a way you can never ever take back, and a growing crowd of fans gather around. That’s essentially Ronstadt’s experience, as on some of her earliest recordings, she was barely 18.
Still so young and still so new to music, the first releases from the artist are her in her artistic infancy. It’s beautiful to be able to reflect on and see how she developed from the old Stoney Poneys days or her first albums, but to Ronstadt herself, it’s more embarrassing than endearing.
“You don’t get a chill when you hear ‘Long Long Time?’” The Mix once asked the folk star about her breakout hit. To that, she replied firmly, “A chill of disgust.”
All she seems able to hear is the mess-ups. “I hadn’t learned the phrasing yet. I needed to learn it on my guitar first, and I didn’t have time to do that before we recorded it,” she said as to her, that 1970 track is badly built by a girl who didn’t yet know what she was doing or how to do it.
“There are some live versions that are a little better,” she said before having to concede, “Listen, some things are better than others.”
Having to accept that in her discography there will be hits and misses, things she loves and things she hates, ‘Long Long Time’ simply stands out as one of those early tracks she just can’t really bear to listen to now she’s improved so far from that point.
