Wednesday, October 09, 2013

Simple Dreams

I just finished reading Linda Ronstadt's book "Simple Dreams - a Musical Memoir".

I have always loved Linda Ronstadt's music so when Spouse heard an interview on NPR with Linda, he told me about it and I listened to a recording of the interview on NPR's website.  In the interview Linda mentioned her memoir, and I ordered it from Amazon that day.

I really, really enjoyed it!  Since it is a memoir, it is written in the 1st person (like my blog) which made me feel as though I were sitting in my living room with Linda, hearing about her childhood, her musical influences, the shifts in her music from folk to country to pop to standard to traditional Mexican songs. It was like having a conversation with an old friend, for indeed, I have been living to Linda Ronstadt's music for a very long time.

When I was 13 years old I saved my allowance to buy Linda Ronstadt's Greatest Hits album and played it over and over and over again until I knew every word to every song.  I even practiced singing the harmony lines in my favorite songs "You're No Good", "Heatwave", and "That'll Be The Day".  I used my parents' old Underwood typewriter to type a letter to Linda Ronstadt, letting her know that I knew all the words and harmonies to her songs, so if her back-up singers ever got sick, I could fill in for them.  Unfortunately my parents did not see the "charm" of this offer and did not let me mail the letter.

Its a great read and I'd recommend you download or order it today.


2 comments:

the cajun said...

She's one of my all time faves. I remember her with the "Stone Poneys" (yes, I am that old. The 2 albums she made of standards with Nelson Riddle blew me away, but my favourite song needs to be "Love Is A Rose". When she released "Canciones de Mi Padre" in the late 80s, I fell in love all over again. Think I'll check out the book, now.

Thanks for posting this.

Blobby said...

I love her, but I was disappointed by the book. Not bc she left out the dirt, but how she breezed over a lot of her rock music. She never touches on many of her "rock" albums - nor the process of music selection or recording.

I was impressed how she knew everyone before they were anyone.