Why Linda Ronstadt hated three of her biggest hits
Sometimes it can be difficult to take criticism, but it’s even harder to avoid being your own worst critic. Linda Ronstadt, for all of her talents as a vocalist, was acutely aware of how much she could be the victim of her own perfectionism.
Whether in the Stone Poneys or as a solo artist, Ronstadt has always been a marvellous and versatile vocalist, but there have been plenty of occasions where her performances haven’t reached her own high standards, and she’ll be the first to let anyone know just how she feels about some of her contributions. As outsiders, we’re inclined to say that on her day, she was up there with the best of them; for her, this was not the case.
For all the success that a hit like ‘You’re No Good’ had, reaching number one in the US charts and becoming her best-selling single, Ronstadt wasn’t much of a fan of what she produced in the recording studio for the track. Complaining that there were some minor imperfections, she’s gone on record to slate the track since its chart triumph.
“It’s a live vocal, and it’s a terrible vocal,” she claimed. “I was so tired. It was about getting the phrasing—I just felt like I had rushed the timing, and didn’t just lay back in the groove.” While these are all things that might get on the nerves of a performer who is determined to get things right, these are all minor faults that you’d think someone at the highest level would be able to overlook given the success it brought her.
Similarly, Ronstadt has never been a fan of her interpretation of Martha and the Vandellas’ ‘Heat Wave’, which is one of three Motown classics that she recorded throughout her career. Determined to deliver a rendition that stood apart from the original and gave it some of her own individualistic flair, her verdict on the final take was not favourable, and she still has a hard time listening to the track to this day.
“I’m still sorry, because I hate to sing it,” she once expressed of her version. “I don’t think I sing it well. I don’t think the record was good, and I cringe when it comes on the radio. I’m not doing it in the show anymore and people are going to be bitching at me.”
However, the song that Ronstadt has most famously dismissed, and would frankly rather never speak of again, came from her time with the Stone Poneys. When her group chose to record a cover of the Mike Nesmith song, ‘Different Drum’, she was adamant that she would sing in more of a folk-oriented style, once again, to add a bit of her own flair to the track. Despite this, nobody else in the studio appeared to share her vision.
With Jimmy Gordon in the room on drums, and Don Randi on harpsichord and piano, Ronstadt had trouble convincing them to listen to her. “They said, ‘well, we want to do it again, but we’re going to get a different arrangement.’ I had no idea there would be all these musicians, and it turns out they were all good players. I didn’t want them to use it because I felt like I was struggling with the singing.”
However, despite feeling as though she wasn’t good enough to compete with them, and that she didn’t have a chance to record it in the style that she wanted, she was able to acknowledge that the track became a hit as a result of the decisions that were made. “When they put it out, it was lucky they didn’t listen to me,” she said. Given that it was the Stone Poneys’ biggest hit, it’s probably for the best that it turned out the way it did.
