Simple Dreams: A Musical Memoir

I remember exactly where I was the first time I heard Linda Ronstadt's voice. I was riding in my Dad's old Chevy Impala and we had just turned on to Croyland Avenue, in my hometown, and this voice came out of the car radio: "You and I travel to the beat of a different drum ...". When the song ended

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the dj announced that we'd been listening to the Stone Ponys. But who was that singer?, I wanted to know, for I was already smitten - it was love at first listen.
Ronstadt often writes dismissively of her singing. particularly in her early recordings, in her wonderful new memoir, Simple Dreams, but I think she should give herself a bit more credit. While it's true that, as her career progressed, the material she took on and performed so brilliantly challenged her in ways that the earlier material did not, she's always been one of the most interesting and seductive singers - male or female - in all of pop music.Consider the depth and range of her catalog - from pure country to r&b to mariachi to Gilbert and Sullivan and La Boheme to the Great American Songbook to bluegrass and on and on. In one of her more recent recordings she even took on cajun music and then, part way through the album, she slips in this gorgeous, spare heartfelt version of the old Left Banke song, Just Walk Away Renee, and makes it sound completely at home with the rest of the material. Along the way she has championed some of the best songwriters of the modern era, both American and Canadian, for whom she has a particular affection. I'll be forever grateful to Linda for introducing me to the songs of Montreal's Kate and Anna McGarrigle, (Heart Like A Wheel) but she also was one of the first artists to record songs by Jackson Browne, Randy Newman, Eric Kaz, John David Souther, Warren Zevon, Michael Nesmith and on and on.
But, I digress a bit - easy enough to do with an artist of Ronstadt's stature - because what I really want to tell you about is, of course, this new book which is, quite simply, one of the best books about music I've ever read. For example, here's Ronstadt on the pleasures and perils of making music with other people:
"When I hire a musician to record or perform, the first thing I look for is a shared sensibility. Whatever the musician listened to or read or saw or where he lived growing up informs every note he plays in a myriad of ways. There are so many choices to make - how loud or soft to play a note, exactly where to place it rhythmically, what kind of textural or melodic embellishment to incorporate, where to add a harmony, how to voice a chord - all done in a split second. It simply can't be done on a conscious level but becomes a matter of instinct enabled by long practice. When a compatible group of players is assembled to serve a clearly defined musical vision, the result can be pure joy. If the group lacks a shared sensibility, it is pure misery."
In fact, this book is exactly the sort of book on music I'm always hoping to read but seldom see in rock star memoirs. It's wonderfully clear sighted and informative about the creative process - a challenge to write about in any discipline - with only enough personal information to give you a better picture of the person responsible for the art. Linda, I can't help it if I'm still in love with you.

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The first inkling that Linda Ronstadt's "Simple Dreams, a Musical Memoir" would exceed my expectations came when the book got a very positive review from Jonathon Yardley in the Washington Post. The second clue came when I heard Ronstadt speak at the D.C. BookFest - she was witty, charming, direct,

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candid and passionate. About her music, her life in music and the people from the industry she had met in a career spanning 50 years. She told many interesting tales, some very funny, others rather touching. I had far underestimated how intelligent she is, but it quickly became evident at BookFest as she gave rather lengthy, well thought out responses to questions, and went off-script for a few minutes on U.S. immigration policy and a few other things important to her. When asked about drugs, she admitted to sampling some, but no injectibles, and she slammed the door shut on the issue with "The only thing I ever was addicted to is reading". In the book she tells how she was constantly looking to enhance her skills by watching other performers, by participating in all-night jam sessions with some of the biggest names of the era, and by constantly taking on new challenges, e.g., performing "La Boheme" for a Papp production in New York. She admits to her failings and her short-comings and she reluctantly accepts that she will never perform again. There were absolutely no pretensions evident in the book nor in the interview I witnessed. Let me close with a very brief sample of her writing. This is from the Acknowledgments: "He also suggested......that I could write about people instead of every horse I knew and loved. Even though I felt guilty about leaving Gilliana, Mischief, Sugar Britches, Blue, Africa, and Valentine out of my story, I know that he was right about that and many other things." I hope there's another book from Linda Ronstadt.

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This is not so much a personal memoir as it is a history of the music scene of the 70's and 80's. Very interesting overall but sometimes too much a list of performances.

Love Linda. Love her music. In fact, I'm going to buy some stuff to add to what I have. But. . . she is not a writer. The book is pretty disjointed. Her style is oddly stilted. She describes relationships as "I was keeping company with. . ." Who talks like this in 2013? Suddenly she talks about her

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children, without any indication of how or when they entered her life. I had to search Wikipedia to learn she adopted two children. No mention of her health issues. But fun to read the stories of her life intersecting with other musical legends.

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If you want to know about Linda Ronstadt's life, look somewhere else. There is very little personal information and no emotion surrounding it. She doesn't even mention Parkinson's, which she has elsewhere said is her reason for leaving her career, which was everything to her. However, if you want

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to know about establishing a career in music and the love of music in general, this is the place. This quote sums up the book:
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.

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