1971 Powerful Love Song, Never a No. 1 Hit, Became a Signature Linda Ronstadt Hit

Written by musician Gary White, singer-songwriter and staple of the 1970s, Linda Ronstadt, wrote in her memoir that she first heard about the song “Long, Long Time” from her friend David Bromberg. After White played a show in New York City, Ronstadt met him backstage and asked about the track. This led to her recording it in 1970 for her album, Silk Purse.

Often hypercritical of her own work, Ronstadt said of her recording of “Long, Long Time”:

“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 [player], began to play those chords, they got real into that and became personally involved.”

“Long, Long Time” tells the story of a love that will outlast time for the narrator. The song was so moving and such a powerful hit that it became a signature song of Ronstadt’s in the ’70s, with the singer recalling, “I learned to sing it better. It was a big hit for me in 1970, and it bought me some time.”

Ronstadt’s various self-critiques did not prove to impact the commercial status of the song, and it became a breakout hit for the artist. Upon release in June of 1970, the single spent 12 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 25. The following year, in 1971, the song garnered Ronstadt a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Female Vocal Performance.

In 2023, the song found a new life when it served as the backbone and episode title for the third episode of HBO’s hit series, The Last of Us. After the episode aired, Spotify announced that streams of the song increased by 4,900% over the previous week, and the song reentered the Billboard charts.

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