Linda Ronstadt Live in Hollywood

Linda Ronstadt is a legend. I don't really know anybody older or younger who doesn't like Linda Ronstadt. Like many males of my generation, we not only loved her beautiful voice but carried a huge crush to match.

In 1980, she was at the top of her game, a bona fide rock 'n' roll star with a succession of platinum selling albums. In April of that year, she performed a live concert at Television Center Studios in Hollywood for an upcoming HBO Special.

Through a friend, I was able to get a bootleg cassette tape of the entire concert and played that thing to death in my new 1980 blue Toyota truck cassette player.

The concert has now just been released, Feb. 1st as a live album (view sources here) and I have delighted in revisiting these tracks with Linda and her wonderful band including, Wendy Waldman, Kenny Edwards, Danny Kortchmar, Dan Dugmore, Billy Payne, Bob Glob, and Russ Kunkel. If you ever read album jacket covers in the 70's and 80's, these guys were on everybody's records.

Nobody could belt it out like Linda, and it's extremely emotional for me to see one of my teenage idols stopped in 2009 from singing and doing the thing she loved the most due to her Parkinson's diagnosis. Now at 72, you can catch up with her in her recent February 7th interview in Rolling Stone and on the TV show, Sunday Morning  from February 3rd.

Here is my playlist starting with the Sunday Morning interview with Linda. Then, a mix of good and poorer quality video of the concert along with the better audio tracks from the album, as sometimes the 80's tape hiss is a bit much, but I love to watch Linda perform! Enjoy my friends.

The Water is Wide (Karla Bonoff)

Today, I'm introducing a new blog theme segment where I will feature 100 of my all-time favorite songs, over time. I plan to focus on one or two songs per blog. I've also created My 100 Songs YouTube playlist and you'll see the rated order slowly emerge from 1-100. So play along with me Monday readers and start your own list too!

The idea and motivation for starting this list is my response to Rolling Stone magazine's Lists. Rolling Stone has been doing all kinds of lists for years which has been highly successful in marketing their magazine. However, the more lists they make, it seems the less relevant they are becoming. I'm a list kind of person myself, but this recent list of 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time, got me thinking. Any list like this is subjective, but when you're shooting for the middle to currently satisfy the most people, you are actually satisfying no one. Their title is the 100 Greatest Songwriters of All Time, really, of all time? You know they meant the last 60 or so years of rock 'n roll, but they should have got the title right, right? Not to mention that R. Kelly is #80 and Björk is #81 on this all time list, need I say more.

So, I think I can do as good with my boomer rock 'n roll years of experience and picking my own favorite songs sounds like a fun writing exercise.

The first song to add to my100 is, The Water is Wide by Karla Bonoff from her 1979 album, Restless Nights and produced by her longtime collaborator, Kenny Edwards (1946-2010). The Water is Wide is a traditional Scottish folk song that has been performed by countless artists over the years, but I have always favored Karla's version the best. Karla's and Kenny's arrangement of the song features: Karla and James Taylor on acoustic guitars, James in one of his best backup vocal recordings ever (with J.D. Souther too) and Garth Hudson from the Band, playing a longing accordion that gives the song it's seaworthy roots. This song is simply the love song of all love songs. Be prepared to shed a tear for that one person in your heart who means more than anything to you.

The water is wide, I can't cross o'er

And neither have I wings to fly

Give me a boat that can carry two

And both shall row, my love and I