Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir / Linda Ronstadt

The sound of the 70s for me is dominated by Linda Ronstadt belting out Top-40 hits like “You’re No Good,” “That’ll Be the Day,” “Heatwave,” “It’s So Easy,” and “When Will I Be Loved?”. The doe eyes peering out from LP covers belied the powerhouse voice. The LA music industry wanted a bona fide female rocker, but Linda was never comfortable in that role and she always defied classification. When her fame forced her to sing her hits again and again in enormous acoustically-challenged arenas and the life on the road began to get to her, she decided to explore other aspects of her musical persona. She followed her pop superstardom with collaborations with Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton, Nelson Riddle, and explored her Mexican heritage with the enormously successful Canciones de mi padre, among other projects. There are some personal stories in this slim volume, but it’s mostly what the subtitle says—a musical memoir. There is no gossip or mud-slinging, Jerry Brown and George Lucas are mentioned almost peripherally-- but that makes me respect all the her more. I heard Ronstadt on “Fresh Air” and was impressed with her intelligent, well-formed answers. This person is completely grounded and never succumbed to the dark side of celebrity and riches. Her voice may now be gone, but her musical legacy assures her a hallowed place in the history of popular music.

Here's a quote from Simple Dreams:

“Someone once asked me why people sing. I answered that they sing for many of the same reasons the birds sing. They sing for a mate, to claim their territory, or simply to give voice to the delight of being alive in the midst of a beautiful day. Perhaps more than the birds do, humans hold a grudge. They sing to complain of how grievously they have been wronged, and how to avoid it in the future. They sing to help themselves execute a job of work. They sing so the subsequent generations won’t forget what the current generation endured, or dreamed, or delighted in.” p.196

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