About the song
“Long Long Time” by the exquisite Linda Ronstadt, a song that stands as a hauntingly beautiful and deeply melancholic testament to unrequited love and enduring longing. Released in 1970 on her album Silk Purse, this track, penned by Gary White, became Ronstadt’s first major solo hit, earning her a Grammy nomination and solidifying her status as a formidable interpreter of poignant ballads. It’s more than just a sad song; it’s a raw, vulnerable confession of a heart caught in an endless cycle of hope and despair.
The lyrics of “Long Long Time” paint a vivid and painful picture of a narrator who has loved someone deeply and persistently, despite that love never being fully reciprocated. The opening lines immediately set the tone of weary resignation and enduring hope: “Love will abide, take things in stride / Sounds like good advice but there’s no one at my side.” The repeated phrase “Long Long Time” emphasizes the duration and intensity of her devotion, a love that has endured for years, even when the object of her affection remains distant or unaware of the depth of her feelings. The song captures the quiet agony of waiting, hoping, and continuing to love someone who doesn’t, or can’t, return that same level of affection. It’s a universal theme of unspoken desires and the quiet suffering that comes with loving from afar.
Linda Ronstadt’s vocal performance on “Long Long Time” is truly mesmerizing. Her voice, already mature and incredibly expressive even in her early career, carries the immense weight of the lyrics with breathtaking sincerity. She delivers each line with a delicate balance of fragility and underlying strength, conveying the deep ache of loneliness and the persistent spark of hope that keeps the narrator going. Her nuanced phrasing, the subtle inflections, and the controlled power of her voice perfectly capture the song’s melancholic beauty. There’s a raw honesty in her delivery that makes the listener feel every ounce of her longing and the quiet despair of her situation. It’s a performance that truly marked her as an interpretive genius.
The musical arrangement of “Long Long Time” is beautifully sparse and perfectly complements the song’s intimate and melancholic theme. Primarily featuring acoustic guitar and a subtle, supportive rhythm section, the instrumentation creates a haunting and understated backdrop that allows Ronstadt’s pristine vocals and the poignant lyrics to take center stage. There’s a slight country-folk sensibility to the arrangement, a characteristic of her early sound before she fully embraced the more polished country-rock of her later career. The production is clean and uncluttered, designed to highlight the raw emotion and the captivating simplicity of the melody.
“Long Long Time” resonated deeply with audiences because its themes of enduring, unrequited love are universal. Linda Ronstadt’s exceptional vocal artistry and the song’s timeless melody transformed it into an iconic ballad that continues to move listeners decades later. It remains one of her most cherished and enduring recordings, a powerful testament to the emotional depth and universal appeal of a love that, despite everything, has lasted a “Long Long Time.”
Video
Lyrics
Love will abide
Take things in stride
Sounds like good advice
But there’s no one at my side
And time washes clean love’s wounds unseen
That’s what someone told me
But I don’t know what it means
‘Cause I’ve done everything I know
To try and make you mine
And I think I’m gonna love you
For a long long time
Caught in my fears
Blinking back the tears
I can’t say you hurt me
When you never let me near
And I never drew one response from you
All the while you fell all over girls you never knew
‘Cause I’ve done everything I know
To try and make you mine
And I think it’s gonna hurt me
For a long long time
Wait for the day you’ll go away
Knowing that you warned me
Of the price I’d have to pay
And life’s full of flaws
Who knows the cause?
Living in the memory of a love that never was
‘Cause I’ve done everything I know
To try and change your mind
And I think I’m gonna miss you
For a long long time
‘Cause I’ve done everything I know
To try and make you mine
And I think I’m gonna love you
For a long long time
