In 1970, Linda Ronstadt had her breakthrough as a solo artist with the song “Long Long Time.” More than 50 years later, it’s still a beloved fan favorite—but not a favorite performance of the singer.
Recorded for the album Silk Purses, the Gary White-penned ballad features folk rock acoustic guitar and lyrics about unrequited love and moving on. And while it gave Ronstadt her first solo hit, reaching No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1970, as well as her first Grammy nod, the former Stone Poneys singer was critical of her performance on the song.
In her 2013 book Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir, Ronstadt noted that her musical style hadn’t yet “jelled” when she recorded “Long Long Time” decades prior.
“I never liked my performance on the record,” she wrote. “It was recorded at 10 in the morning, somewhat early for a singer, and we used the live vocal. I learned to sing it better later.”
Even though she didn’t like her vocals on the song, Ronstadt has described “Long Long Time” as one of her favorites and a song that meant “a lot” to her.
In an interview with The Los Angeles Times, she recalled that White played her the song after a Paul Siebel show in Greenwich Village and she “instantly wanted to record it.”
“That same night I also heard Siebel’s great song ‘Louise,’ which I also recorded,” she added. “Elliot Mazer produced them both in Nashville with musicians from the Area Code 615 band. I sang the vocal live with the track at 10 o’clock in the morning, not an ideal time of day for singing!”
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In addition to “Long Long Time,” Ronstadt downplayed her vocal talent on her 1975 No. 1 hit “You’re No Good.”
“I didn’t care for the way I sang ‘You’re No Good,’ I didn’t think the vocal was any good,” she told Rock Cellar magazine in an interview. “I remember being disappointed in that so its success was a false success for me. The success of You’re No Good was not something I was proud about but was rather it was something I was so disappointed in.”
The music legend further explained, “I was tired, and we’d been working on ‘You’re No Good’ for a long time. I was also a little tired of the song anyway because we’d been doing it on stage. I sang it all day, and my voice was all worn out and my rhythm was a little off. I just didn’t like it and didn’t like my phrasing on it.”
RELATED: Linda Ronstadt, Trailblazing ‘First Lady of Rock,’ Turns 80
Ronstadt broke boundaries throughout her career, transitioning from folk to arena rock to country, Latin classics, standards, and opera. But she has long admitted that she is hard on herself when it comes to her music.
“I don’t like to listen to my own recordings,” she said in a 2015 interview for Delaware Online. “I always hope they are better than I remember them, but they usually aren’t. If I stumble onto one and have to hear it, it’s usually not as good, and I remember [it] as not being good enough. It’s just hard to judge your own work.”
Decades after her breakthrough success with “Long Long Time,” Ronstadt stands as one of the most iconic musical voices of all time, one of rock’s first female superstars who paved the way for so many others.
Related: 1977 Legendary Hit Was Nearly Scrapped Before Linda Ronstadt Saved It
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