All language subtitles for BBC.Linda.Ronstadt.The.Sound.of.My.Voice.1080p.HDTV.x265.AAC.MVGroup.org

CHEERING

Right now, I'd like you to meet a young lady,

a very lovely young lady, that I really think

has what it takes to be around
for a long, long time to come.

I'd like for you to meet Miss Linda Ronstadt!

# Feeling better now that we're through

# Feeling better cos I'm over you

# Learned my lesson, it left a scar

# Now I see how you really are

# You're no good, you're no good, you're no good

# Baby, you're no good

# I'm gonna say it again

# You're no good, you're no good, you're no good

# Baby, you're no good... #

Here's a gal who really sings great.

We had her on the show last year
and she was sensational.

My first guest occupies a prominent
place in the top 40 record charts

and she has a big one right now.

Linda Ronstadt is one of the really
great talents in country music.

Would you welcome, please, Linda Ronstadt.

Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Linda Ronstadt!

# I'm turning you down, baby, and I'm going my way

# Forget about you, baby, cos I'm leaving to stay

# You're no good... #

Linda could literally sing anything.

# You're no good... #

I don't think anybody has tried

more different styles and nailed it then Linda has.

There's not that many people that can pull off

new wave music and rock and those beautiful country ballads.

Her range is huge.

She decided what she wanted to do.

And more important,
what she was authentic at doing.

And they always told her,
"No, you can't do this,

"you'll ruin your career."
She did it anyway.

# Good. #

CHEERING

Someone once asked me
why people sing.

I answered that they sing for many
of the same reasons 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.

They sing so the subsequent
generations won't forget

what the current generations
endured or dreamed or delighted in.

There are a lot of really good
singers out in the world,

a lot of better singers than I am.

What I did that was different
from other singers,

I did a whole lot of
different kinds of material.

People would think that I was
trying to reinvent myself

but I never invented myself
to start with,

I just kind of popped out
into the world.

My mom grew up in Michigan.

Her dad was an inventor.

He was the third to Thomas Edison
in the number of

useful inventions in the '50s.

He invented the electric stove,

the electric toaster,

the thermostat, for Westinghouse.

But my grandmother
had Parkinson's disease

and he spent all his money
trying to find a cure.

And that's what I have now.

My mom was really smart too.

She wanted to study math
and physics,

and the University of Arizona was
really good for that,

so she came out to Tucson,
where she met my father.

My great-grandfather,
Friedrich Ronstadt,

came from Germany to Mexico in 1839.

My father's father, Federico,
moved to Tucson when he was 14,

to work as a wagon maker.

But his true passion was music.

MARIACHI MUSIC PLAYS

So he started the
Club Filarmonico Tucsonense.

He was the one who wrote the
arrangements and taught everybody

how to play their instruments.

He was like The Music Man.

If you wanted to serenade
your sweetheart,

you'd get my grandfather's band
to go.

And if you had a wedding
or a funeral,

well, they'd show up for that.

First time that my mother
ever saw my dad,

he was riding his horse
up the steps of her sorority house.

My dad had a lovely
baritone/tenor voice.

He knew a lot of beautiful
Mexican love songs

that were rooted in his childhood.

He serenaded my mother underneath
her balcony.

And she fell big for him.

# I'm a rambler

# I'm a gambler

# I'm a long way from home

# If you people don't like me

# You can leave me alone... #

I grew up in Tucson,
on the last ten acres

of my grandfather's cattle ranch.

We were very isolated,
so if you wanted entertainment,

you kind of had to make your own.

There was a lot of music going
on in that house.

Some of it came in through
the radio,

that was my best friend in
the world.

# What you got cooking?

# How's about cooking...? #

We had amazing radio in Tucson

because it was really close
to the border.

WOMAN SINGING IN SPANISH

We could get
the Louisiana Hayride...

# Get going, Louisiana Hayride

# No use calling the roll... #

..American standards...

# Can't help loving
that man of mine... #

..but my grandmother and grandfather
were classical music devotees.

OPERATIC SINGING

So I would go over to their house on
Saturday morning and listen

to a live broadcast
from the Metropolitan Opera.

And come home and my dad would be
playing Mexican songs on the piano.

My mom would be playing
some Gilbert and Sullivan piece.

My sister loved Hank Williams,
she loved country music.

# I can't help it if
I'm still in love with you... #

My brother would be singing
really high soprano.

He was in a world-class boys choir
and he was their soloist.

She wanted to know how to sing that
way, so I taught her.

So she learned about vibrato
and all that kind of stuff

when she was like five,
six years old.

We learned so much
about singing from each other.

It was completely incorporated
into what we did.

We sang at the dinner table,

we sang in the car, we sang with our
hands in the dishwater.

I thought Spanish was
this magical, musical language.

When I was growing up,

I thought people sang in Spanish
and spoke in English.

If you spoke Spanish on the
playground, you'd be punished,

you weren't allowed to do it.

My sister and brother and I
eventually formed a little group,

we called ourselves
The New Union Ramblers.

We thought that sounded folky.

Bobby Kimmel was a guitar player
that I met in Tucson.

He wrote songs
about his own life.

I remember them being one of the
best vocal groups I'd ever heard.

Bobby joined our family group.

And then he and I used
to play as a duet sometimes.

We played little clubs in Tucson,

but there wasn't very
much opportunity for us there.

At some point, reality stepped in.
My sister had three kids.

And then my brother went
to work for the police department.

Bobby wanted to earn some
money playing music,

so he went off to California.

And I was the last man standing.

# All the leaves are brown
All the leaves are brown

# And the sky is grey... #

I went to LA with the intention
of forming a band.

When I saw the quality
of the singers that were out there,

I started writing to Linda,
saying,

"If you come out, we could
form a band and get a record deal."

I knew they had more clubs
to play in Los Angeles.

I was telling her, "This is
kind of an iffy thing.

"You might starve to death or you
might find yourself

"washing dishes and waiting tables
before you ever get discovered."

She says, "I'm willing
to take the chance."

I was 18 years old.

We had a house on the beach for
80 bucks a month, in Santa Monica.

We split the rent three ways.

It was just great,
it was right on the beach.

Once she got there,
we got to work right away

and we used to practise every day.

Bobby introduced me
to a really good guitar player

named Kenny Edwards, and we formed
a little band.

We called ourselves the Stone
Poneys.

# Look out your window

# The rain is turning into snow... #

We started playing
little beatnik dives

and strange pizza parlours,
wherever we could get a job.

There was the trip where I heard
this band called The Byrds.

They had a light show and a lot
of acid tripping

kind of stuff going on.

The Whisky a Go Go was very
rock and roll.

I heard The Doors there
and I thought,

"They'd be really a hit band
if they get rid of their singer!"

There was The Ash Grove.

That was where you'd go
for authentic folk music.

That's where I first
heard Ry Cooder.

# Have you seen
that vigilante man...? #

Ry Cooder was then and now

the most amazing guitar player
I've ever heard.

I knew they had good musicians
in Los Angeles

but this guy's really something.

I thought, "I'm staying here. I'm
not going back to Tucson to live!"

She came to Los Angeles at a time
when the LA rock and roll scene

was in gear and was going.

Cos, see, after The Byrds did their
thing with Mr Tambourine Man,

then the whole damn
thing broke loose.

And all the record companies
went scurrying around

like headless chickens,
trying to figure out what to do.

"Who can sing a folk rock
and how can we define

"what this thing is going to be?"

# Hey, Mr Tambourine Man

# Play a song for me... #

There was a lot of cross-pollination

that started happening
in the mid-'60s.

Country music and folk music
and rock music started

commingling and blending
and you'd get all these hybrids.

ARCHIVE: The Troubadour,
just a few blocks

from Hollywood Boulevard,
is known as an avant-garde cafe.

It's the favourite of Hollywood's
young and young in heart.

The Troubadour was where everybody
went to hang out and to be noticed.

If you wanted to make yourself known
to the record community at large,

you'd go to the Troubadour,
play an open-mic night.

I can't even name all the great
songwriters that came through there.

I mean, Laura Nyro,
Neil Young, Joni Mitchell,

Tim Hardin, Kris Kristofferson,

Rick Nelson, Elton John,

Jackson Browne.

It was just week after week of
amazing, game-changing songwriters.

# Some of them were dreamers

# And some of them were fools

# Who were making plans
and thinking of the future... #

I mean, you tried to get
a gig at the Troubadour,

you wanted to play the Troubadour.

All kinds of industry people
hung around in the bar.

The Troubadour was important,
because that's where you'd get seen.

It was a place to play.

It's like in the minor leagues
in baseball, this was your chance,

this was your great chance.

The Troubadour was a bustling place.

They had a hootenanny night
where new artists would come

and sing a few songs,
and I used to go to every

hootenanny night see if
there was anybody really talented.

The Hoot, the Monday
night open-mic hootenanny,

where you'd wait and get on
the list and you'd go

up there and sing your new song.

# Get a head of steam on,
shovelling the coal

# Stick your head out the window,
watch the driver go... #

# Wasting time... #

# And I hear loud
ringing in my ear... #

You got two or three songs.

If you were no good, you probably
didn't last the second song

cos people were like,
"Ah, get off..."

And maybe not even the first song.

# Oh, you and I travel to the beat
of a different drum... #

I heard this song called
Different Drum

by this bluegrass group
called The Greenbriar Boys.

It was written by Mike Nesmith,

who was eventually going to
join The Monkees.

# You cry and moan and say

# It will work out

# But, honey child,
I've got my doubts

# You can't see
the forest for the trees

# So don't get me wrong

# It's not that I knock it

# It's just that I

# Am not in the market

# For a boy who wants

# To love only me... #

We got an immediate response
from managers and people

who were interested in our career.

Herb Cohen was managing Frank Zappa.

We had heard that he had been
a soldier of fortune.

He may have killed somebody.

He was a badass, but he was
established,

and he immediately said,
"I can get you a record deal."

# So, goodbye, I'll be leaving

# I see no sense for this crying
and grieving... #

We recorded a few things,
just the three of us.

Then he took those
to the people in power

and said,
"I want to record these guys."

Capitol said OK,

we signed papers and we were off
and running.

So we recorded it with a mandolin
and a couple of acoustic guitars.

And the record company
didn't like it.

And so, they said, "Well, come back,
we want to recut the song."

Suddenly, everything
changed in the studio.

They had a bunch of strings
in there,

and it was an orchestra session.
I went, "Wait a minute,

"this isn't the way I thought
about the song."

I said, "I don't want to put it on
the record", because that wasn't

the way I'd originally
envisioned it.

# You and I travel
to the beat of a different drum

# Oh, can't you tell by
the way I run

# Every time you make eyes
at me... #

It was a good thing they didn't
listen to me, cos it was a huge hit!

I'm driving down the road
in my car, listening to KTKT Radio,

and all of a sudden,
she's singing Different Drum.

I said, "Wait a minute!"

I loved her voice from
the first time I heard her.

I was a freshman in college.

The Stone Poneys, Different Drum,

yeah, baby!

It was just like...

It was just, like, to pull back

the covering of a fully developed
vocal stylist.

# Yes, and I ain't saying
you ain't pretty

# All I'm saying, I'm not ready... #

Most of the time, as a critic,
you're sitting there saying,

"Well, I'll give the artist a plus
for this and a minus for this.

"This is kind of good,
that's not so good."

Bang, it was like a home-run.

# Goodbye, I'll be leaving... #

We were out on this tour,
and Herbie Cohen comes

to my hotel room and says,
"I need to tell you that,

"when we get back to LA,
the band is breaking up."

Everybody said, "I don't know
about you two guys,

"but we want the girl singer."

The record company wanted
to develop me as a solo artist.

Kenny decided to go off to India and
find a guru and learn to meditate,

and Bobby started a folk club
in LA called McCabe's.

And I was left with,
what in the world to sing?

I was by myself.
Harmony singer with no material.

The remarkable thing
about the Stone Poney days

was she had the nerve to leave
a male band

after it had already
had a hit and go on her own.

Will you welcome, please,
Miss Linda Ronstadt.

APPLAUSE

Ronstadt. Ronstadt?

Did anyone ever suggest that isn't
the most musical name in the world?

Oh, yeah, Glen Campbell called me...
That maybe you should change it

to Linda Marlowe or...
Is there a Linda Marlowe, or...?

It gives people.. Once they learn
how to pronounce my name,

you know, that leaves them free for
all kinds of variations.

Glen Campbell once
called me Linda Bedstead.

You know, I remember you

when you were nothing but
a little Stone Poney. Oh, yeah?

I don't have any idea
what that means.

I know that you were part
of a group, right?

Let's see, how do I explain this on
television and not get yelled at?

Oh, well, maybe you don't!

I think I don't. Oh, yeah?

Is it an inside meaning? Well, yeah,
it has a lot of different...

# 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

# Cos 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

# Cos 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... #

I met her in the Troubadour.

She had this hit called
Long, Long Time.

Apparently, she knew
who I was based on a record

I'd made with Ricky Nelson.

She said, "I like that band you
put together for Rick Nelson.

"Could you do that for me?"

# She's got
everything she needs

# She's an artist,
she don't look back... #

Herbie Cohen was the manager
when I met her.

He gave me these tickets to Hawaii
for the Capitol Records convention.

Linda and I show up
at San Francisco Airport

to fly to Honolulu and,
lo and behold, there was

the FBI to arrest us
for receiving stolen property.

Turns out, Herbie had bought
the tickets in the lobby

of the building from some guy,
you know, probably for 25 cents

on the dollar, and they were
hotter than a $2 pistol.

So we spent the day in jail.

She fired Herbie
and asked me to fill in.

# I don't want
your lonely mansion... #

I was walking through the
Troubadour one night,

on my way to the bathroom.

This band Shiloh got up and did
my exact version

of Silver Threads
And Golden Needles.

# Silver threads
and golden needles... #

I just went, "What?!
It's that solo!"

I thought, "God, what...?" You know,
I was appalled that anyone

would actually sit down with
one of my records, you know,

and learn the solo off it, you know,

like a Led Zeppelin record.

And I heard the drummer and
I thought he was really good.

The drummer was a guy
named Don Henley.

Linda's first
solo album came out in '69,

and I moved to LA in June of 1970.

So, my timing was pretty good.

She'd had a bunch of dates
back east and we needed to put

the band together quickly,
so I hired him for $250 a week.

# Rescue me

# I want you in my arms

# Rescue me

# I need your tender charms

# Cos I'm lonely... #

I knew who she was cos
I had her album.

I listened to that album 100 times.

# Come on and rescue me... #

She could seem vulnerable
and very feminine,

but when she opened her mouth
to sing, everything got different.

You know, it was just incredible.

You knew that there was a very solid
core and a very determined woman.

I just saw her walking
past me in the Troubadour

and she looked so cute,
I just grabbed her by the hand

and I said, "I think
you should cook me dinner."

And she said, "OK,"
and gave me her phone number.

So I called her in a couple
of days, and I said,

"Well, are you going to
cook me dinner?"

She goes, "Sure, come on over."

I came on over and she made me
a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

And I fell in love with her.

Took her home and, the next day,
I said,

"Listen, let's go get your stuff,
I think you can live here with me."

# I got a feeling called the blues,
oh, Lord

# Since my baby said goodbye... #

John David Souther and Linda
Ronstadt, they were a hot couple.

# All I do is sit and cry, oh, Lord

# That last long day
he said goodbye... #

JD'd had a musical duo
with a guy named Glenn Frey.

He was my best friend
and first songwriting partner.

We really did nothing
but just listen to music

and play guitars and try to write
songs and then go to the Troubadour.

Glenn Frey played pretty
good guitar, so I went and talked

to Glenn and said, "Do you want
to do this tour with me?"

He said it'd be really cool.

He'd never been on the road before.

Glenn Frey and I shared a $12
hotel room

with two twin beds in it.

It was a very modest tour, I mean,
I remember being in station wagons.

Rooming together, John and
Glenn each discovered that the other

was a good singer and songwriter.

And that's when they decided
to get together and form a band.

That band became The Eagles.

They wished us well.

You know, John was very supportive,
Linda was supportive.

And they basically said,
"Just go for it."

We didn't have much
success with Desperado.

It was... The record company didn't
know what to do with it.

And then Linda made it
into a classic.

# Desperado

# Why don't you come to your senses?

# Come down from your fences

# And open the gate

# It may be raining

# But there's a rainbow above you

# You better let somebody love you

# Let somebody love you

# Before it's too late. #

CHEERING

I knew the Neil Young tour
was coming and I thought,

this'll be perfect for Linda,
because she had sung backup

on his big hit, Heart Of Gold.

So I called Neil's manager
and I said, "Listen,

"Linda's the right opening act for
this. You've got to help me out."

And they said, "Well,
Neil's going to go out alone."

# I want to live,
I want to give... #

And lo and behold, like,
a week later, they called me

and said, "Neil's
done a few dates in Canada

"and it's getting him too tired.

"He now wants an opening act
and you're it."

Linda was quite reluctant
at the time. She was so worried

about the idea of playing
a huge hockey arena tour

at that point in her career.

But we persuaded her that this
would be a good thing.

CHEERING

Thank you.

You would occasionally get someone
yelling, "We want Neil!"

But by the time the tour got
going, she was holding her own.

# I've been cheated

# Been mistreated

# When will I be loved?

# I've been put down

# I've been pushed round

# When will I be loved?

# When I find a new man

# That I want for mine

# He always breaks my heart in two

# It happens every time

# I've been made blue... #

Here's Linda, who I'd never seen
live before,

big stage, sold out, huge place.

She comes out there and starts
singing, and that voice filled

this arena, where I had seen
concerts for a long time.

Nobody filled this arena
with a voice like Linda Ronstadt.

And she just killed it,
she slaughtered this crowd

who didn't come to see her, but they
sure left knowing who she was.

We did 78 dates in 90 days.

We played before 18,000
to 20,000 people every night.

We got to Houston and there

was this new girl singer
named Emmylou.

It was 1973, during

the one tour I did with Gram.

# Calliope calling

# Children are falling

# In line to ride
on the merry-go-round... #

Emmy started singing and in three
notes, the entire place

was dead quiet. It was like they'd
started Mass or something.

And she was beautiful,
this girl with long hair

and big, brown eyes,
and I thought,

"She's doing exactly what I'm doing.

"But she's doing it better!"

And for a minute, I thought,
well, I can get jealous

and then I won't be able
to enjoy her singing,

or I can just become
a slobbering, drooling fan

like the rest of
the people in the club,

and hope that maybe I can get
her to sing with me.

So I chose the latter. It was one of
the best decisions I ever made.

And Emmy and I became immediate
music and social friends.

Linda had a lot to do
with lifting me up at a very,

very low time in my life.

I had been on my way,
working with Gram Parsons.

I thought I'd found my voice,
I'd found something I loved to do,

singing with him.

# Love hurts

# Love scars... #

On the road,
he was getting himself straight,

he was drinking a lot less.

He was loving the work,
we loved singing together,

we had a record we'd just made.

And apparently someone showed
up with heroin,

which he hadn't done in a while,

and it killed him.

It was devastating,
to lose him like that.

It was Linda who stepped
up as a friend,

and we had just met each other.

She brought me out to LA,
had me stay at her house,

and she talked about me
to everybody,

said how great I was
and genuinely loved my singing,

genuinely made me feel
like I had something to offer

at a very low time in my life.

# Love hurts. #

# Save me

# Free me

# From my heart this time

# Well, the train's gone
down the track

# And I'm, I'm left behind... #

Linda was always very tight
with her girlfriends.

They sang together,
they shared music together,

she was supportive of me.

I was writing songs and hoping
to make my own record.

But, of course, Linda
was really coming into her own

and starting
to be really successful.

I think a songwriter doing
their songs is different

than a singer doing their songs.

Some people prefer
the songwriter doing them,

some people prefer Linda doing them,

but Lose Again, she definitely made
into a bigger song.

# But nothing could save me
from this ball and chain... #

Because I couldn't sing
it like that.

# I've made up my mind I would
leave today... #

I mean, Linda came out and turned it
into this power ballad.

# I know it's insane

# Cos I'll love you and lose again

# Whoa, I'll love you,
and lose again. #

Back then, there wasn't
competition with women,

so I think, women, there weren't
that many of us either,

so I think there was
a certain amount of banding together

to share our women part of it.

This is a song off our new album.

It's about a real special
place, called home.

It's a Karla Bonoff song.

I'd made a demo of Home
and we sent it off to Bonnie,

just a complete long shot,
she decided to record it.

# Travelling at night

# The headlights were bright

# But soon the sun came
through the trees

# Around the next bend

# The flowers will send

# The sweet smell of my home
in the breeze... #

Linda and I are like sisters.

Around the same age and we were
coming up and had

the same mutual, other musician
friends and band members.

You know, it was a community
of artists,

it wasn't sexually divided between
just women and men,

we weren't thinking in
terms of that.

Linda and Bonnie Raitt were two
of the first women that

I was able to see as a young
journalist,

and study the way they operated
in this community.

We're going to move into this world
where we're running bands

with guys in them, but we
can also look after each other.

I said, if I can have it
on my terms and you understand

I'm not going to be told how to
dress or what music to make, great.

We were all throwing away
all those conventions, you know?

The rock and roll culture's
so male dominated,

and it also seems to be dominated
by hostility against women.

This sort of...hmm...

This sort of sexual identity,

that's used as a
weapon against the populace.

Women in particular,
and everyone identifies with it.

And it's sort of sad to me
because what happens

is that rock and roll stars
end up isolating themselves

more and more and more,
thereby increasing your own

feelings of alienation
and anxiety,

and they wonder why
they're so miserable.

That's really when they turn to
drugs and destroy themselves.

It's just really silly.
It just seems very silly.

They lose the ability to focus
on themselves as a person,

rather than as an image.

And that's very dangerous,
I think.

And there's always a lot of people
around them -

managers and scene makers,
groupies and whatever -

that are willing to indulge them
in anything they want.

And it weakens them,
it weakens them as people,

and eventually weakens them
as musicians.

# I've been warped by the rain,
driven by the snow

# I'm drunk and dirty,
don't you know

# But I'm still willin'

# Out on the road,
late last night

# I see my pretty Alice
in every headlight

# Alice, Dallas Alice

# And I've been from
Tucson to Tucumcari

# Tehachapi to Tonopah

# Driven every kind of rig that's
ever been made... #

I was in New York and somebody
said, you have to go and see

this girl, she's amazing,
she's one of the best things

you'll ever hear, she's brilliant.

She's incredibly great looking,

she sings barefoot and will
knock you out in every respect.

And she did.

# Whites and wine

# And you show me a sign

# And I'll be willin'... #

I was running The Beatles'
record label Apple.

When Apple started to fall apart
and the Beatles were

breaking up and all of that,

I went to America and
there I was, being a manager.

I wanted to go back to work
as a record producer,

so I suggested Linda go
and meet with Peter,

which we did,
and he agreed to manage her.

There was a high bar there.

Peter Asher had hung around
with The Beatles,

he expected to make records
that are huge successes.

And he was poised to do
that with Linda,

and Geffen was ready to be the
record company that would be there.

I started Asylum Records

and signed Jackson Browne
and then started signing

other artists and it turned
into what it did.

And I knew when I saw Linda
in The Stone Poneys

that she was going to make it,
and she was going to make

it as a solo artist, and I knew she
was going to be a big star.

She didn't think so.

She had very little
confidence in those days.

Linda was feeling like she
wasn't good enough

to be on Asylum Records.

I said to her that that was crazy.

I'm never really satisfied
with what I do.

And lots of times, I hear that I did
something wrong and it bothers me.

It can ruin my day, really.

Linda never thought
she was as good as she was,

and that is an interesting
paradox, because she's

confident about her ideas
but not about herself

and not about her singing.

My involvement as a producer
with Linda came when

she was having trouble finishing
the album that became Don't Cry Now.

And that's when we decided

that the next album I would produce
was Heart Like A Wheel.

# Some say a heart
is just like a wheel

# When you bend it,
you can't mend it... #

The McGarrigle Sisters, who were
these two Canadian sisters,

they were in an odd category,
they didn't fit in pop music,

they didn't fit in folk music,

they didn't fit anywhere
except they fit in my heart.

We just heard Heart Like A Wheel
and I went, I have to sing it.

# When harm is done,
no love can be won

# I know it happens frequently... #

Linda has the ability to hear
a song and claim it.

You claim it as your own,
as a singer.

If you love it like that,
you get inside it, you become it.

# But my love for you is
like a sinking ship

# And my heart is on that ship
out in mid-ocean... #

Heart Like A Wheel,
she discovered that song,

brought it to me, and I loved it.
I thought it was beautiful.

But I was also thinking in terms of,
we should make some hits.

# Feeling better now that
we're through

# Feeling better
cos I'm over you... #

I'm a ballad singer,
I like to sing ballads best,

but we needed some up-tempo
songs for the record

and, as an afterthought,

I had this song that we'd use
to close the show.

# You're no good,
you're no good, you're no good

# Baby, you're no good

# I'm gonna say it again

# You're no good,
you're no good, you're no good

# Baby, you're no good... #

She knew and loved the song,
I knew and loved the song,

and we decided to do
a version of that song.

I stayed up all night, assembling
this very complicated, intricate,

layered guitar piece.

We worked very long
into, like, the next afternoon.

And that's when Linda turned up
and didn't like it.

She said, "No, I don't like it,
it sounds like The Beatles."

Which it did sound like The Beatles.

But in the end, she came
around and said,

"You know what? I was wrong.
It's great."

# I'm turning you down, baby,
and I'm going my way

# Forget about you, baby,
cos I'm leaving to stay... #

Every song that I sing has a face
that I sing it to, you know?

And so, when something happens
to me -

it's really funny, I mean,
I know so many songs -

when something happens to me, the
song will occur at the same time

and I'll think, oh,
this song or that song.

And if it's a song I can sing,
then I'll have to sing it.

I'll just learn to sing it,
I can't not sing it.

# Today, I passed you on the street

# And my heart fell at your feet

# I can't help it if
I'm still in love with you... #

People would make the assumption
that I was choosing the songs

that we were doing on these
records, or that I was working out

the arrangements, or this,
that and the other.

And I would have to keep explaining

that it was Linda and me,
in that order.

# I can't help it if
I'm still in love with you... #

My sister used to play
all these Hank Williams records

so I thought, I can do that.

# A picture from the past
came slowly stealing

# As I brushed your arm
and stood so close to you... #

Linda knew a good song and she knew
why it was good, and better

than that, she knew how to sing it
better than you could sing it.

When you become that sharp
of a song stylist,

you get authorship in a certain way.

I consider her a real auteur.

She didn't write songs,
but she made songs happen

the way she wanted to hear them.

# I can't help it if
I'm still in love with you... #

I Can't Help It If I'm Still In Love
With You was a hit

on the country charts.

You're No Good was a hit on both
the R&B chart and the pop chart.

SO I became the first artist
to have a hit on

all three charts at the same time.

APPLAUSE

Heart Like A Wheel was a huge
turning point for her.

The avalanche of success
was hitting everywhere.

She was at the forefront
of a kind of pop stardom

that hadn't happened
at that point,

but people didn't notice
the difficulty of being a woman,

trailblazing, and having the success
of a Mick Jagger.

# People try to rape me

# Always think I'm crazy

# Make me burn the candle right down

# Baby, I can't stay

# Don't need your jewels
in my frown

# Now all you women
are lowdown gamblers... #

Now I had gigs in, like, big
sporting arenas,

you know, stadiums and stuff
like that.

I knew the name of every
arena in the country.

"We got a gig tonight
at the Spectrum, in Philly.

"We'll be at the Forum.
Gig tomorrow night at the Garden."

That's where we played.
She was selling them all out.

# Well, this lowdown bitching

# Got my poor feet a-itching

# Can't you see the deuce
is still wild...? #

She was very good,
audience loved her, records sold.

She was on an uphill swing
all the time.

# You got to roll me

# And call me the tumbling dice... #

When we did that tour together,
we'd take turns closing and opening.

You know, try following
Linda Ronstadt every night!

# Honey, got no money

# Sixes and sevens and nines

# Well, hey, now, baby

# I'm the rank outsider... #

I went to go see her
at the Universal Amphitheatre

when she was wearing her Boy Scouts
outfit, and it was just rocking.

# Baby... #

Lin was able to be really feminine
and sexy in this world of men,

and somehow hold on to herself
and do that,

and use that in the best
possible way.

GUITAR SOLO PLAYS

There was a lot of dudes running
around the stages then, you know?

But we were on the road with Linda,
and killing it.

She was killing every night.

# You got to roll me... #

I know they liked my singing
and I know they were proud of what

they were doing, but still,
in rock and roll, the idea that you

were actually working for a chick
singer, in their way,

they sort of saw it as not as cool
as if they were their own

rock and roll band
and they were just all the guys.

# Baby, baby, got to roll me... #

There weren't a lot
of women musicians,

so it was always a band
of guys, you know.

There weren't women bass players
and women guitar players,

and sometimes, some of these
guys were...

They were tough.

I got a lot tougher and more
foul-mouthed. I used to swear a lot.

I mean, I used
to talk like a truck driver.

When I think about the way
I used to talk, I'm shocked.

Without having any other
girls along on the road,

just automatically,
you start to imitate them.

Linda was never comfortable
being on the road, but obviously,

she did her job and part of her
loved it. Who wouldn't love it?

But I think there was another
part of her that went, you know,

this doesn't feel right.

If I were going to choose something
to do, it would not be

to stand up in front of a lot
of people, but I love to sing.

I love to sing, I love music,
so at some point,

you do whatever you have to do,
to do music.

She would confess to me that
if she saw people in the front row,

right, and somebody leans over
and says something to the person

next to them, she thought
they were saying, you know,

"She's the worst singer I've ever
heard. I don't like this."

She really believed that.

You get on the bus at night, card
game going on, everybody blasting

music, or everyone else drinking,
you know, a lot of drugs around.

A lot of people would go onstage
completely hammered,

completely fuckin' hammered.

Everybody was up at night,
and when the gig ended,

you don't go home and have milk.

It was kind of the night-time,
danger,

fun part about not having
to go to bed.

You know, if Keith Richards
can do it, so can I.

Linda's thing was diet pills.

She went through a phase, mostly
taking speed and not eating

and being super skinny.

It seemed like it was so hard to be
out there

day after day after day and to try
to get up the energy

to sort of do that when you were
just wrung out from the sense

of being dislocated from place.

I was with a bunch of people that
were basically earnest

and basically honest,
and the kind of paranoia

that was introduced by drugs, it was
so destructive in our ability

to communicate with each other,
and it really saddened me.

And then at some point,
we all just stopped.

BASS PLAYS INTRO

CROWD CHEERS

# I feel so bad,
I got a worried mind

# I'm so lonesome all the time

# Since I left my baby behind

# On Blue Bayou

# Saving nickles, saving dimes

# Working till the sun don't shine

# Looking forward to happier times

# On Blue Bayou

# I'm going back someday

# Come what may

# To Blue Bayou

# Where the folks are fun
and the world is mine

# On Blue Bayou... #

When Rolling Stone was ready

to put Linda Ronstadt on the cover,

that was her absolute
peak up till then.

# If I could only see... #

Generally, it was
a very male-oriented,

denim-clad warrior cover.

So, here comes Linda Ronstadt,

and she and Annie Leibovitz put
together this photo session that

was like no other cover that had
been on Rolling Stone before.

She was honest...

..and opened her heart.

She said, "This gets lonely,
and I don't know where it ends up.

"It's an emotional journey,
and I'm happy that I've brought

"this kind of joy, but you know
what, when I'm here alone

"in this Malibu home that looks very
cosy, it's lonely."

There's a lot of show business
people down here, you know?

It's not my style exactly.
Where did you live before?

Nowhere, really. I was on the road,
you know, for about ten years,

and I didn't exactly have a home.

# On Blue

# Ba...

# ..you. #

CROWD CHEERS

Singing the national anthem here at
Dodger Stadium, Miss Linda Ronstadt.

# Can you see... #

I remember my dad was
watching her at the game.

She sang the national anthem.

# What so proudly we hail'd

# At the twilight's last... #

And all of a sudden, there she is.
She'd come in the limo

straight to the restaurant from

the game to have something to eat.

My parents had a small restaurant on
Melrose Avenue, across the street

from what was then KHJ Radio, which
was the radio station in the day.

Lindy walked in and my dad
was wearing a shirt

that we call in Mexico a guayabera,

and it has four pockets
and it's white, and she said,

"This is a good place, because he's
wearing the shirt my dad wears."

A lot of people who hung out at the
Troubadour also ate at Lucy's.

Lucy was very, shall we say,
loose with the cheque now and again,

if we were on hard times.

Our customers were not just
the soon-to-be celebrities

of the industries, they were the old
guard of Los Angeles.

I mean, you're talking
old-school money.

There was a big communal table that
my father used to sit everybody at.

So, you would sit with policemen,
you would sit with firemen,

sometimes you'd sit with an actor,
sometimes...

I mean, a football player...

You never had any idea
who you would sit with.

What happened was, Linda had
decided that she wanted to change

the 8-track cos she
wanted to hear something else,

so she had to step up on
this little wine rack.

And at that moment, the Governor,
Jerry Brown, comes in that room

and he sees her and it was,
like,

"Wow! Who's she?"

So, my father went
and he sat them together.

And, well, he fell in love with her,
there was no question about that.

Jerry likes passionate music.
He likes passionate music,

passionate women, you know,
that's his deal.

We had a really good time together.

He went out to run for president
for the last couple of months,

and if it hadn't been for the fact
that I got to see him on TV,

I mean, I would have forgot
what he looked like. So...

But he came back yesterday, and he's
going to make it all better now.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

So he told me, anyway.
I've yet to see.

DRUMS START

# My boyfriend's back
and you're gonna be in trouble

# Hey, now

# Hey, now, my boyfriend's back... #

Did you have much of a problem
when you were with Jerry Brown,

people expecting you to have
political views along the

lines of Governor Brown's, whereas,
you're a singer, he's a politician?

Our relationship was completely
personal,

it wasn't political at all.

So, you know, he did
politics, I did music. Right.

It's easy to separate that.

Now, you went to South Africa
recently.

Did you receive criticism
for going there?

As far as I was concerned,
it was just a gig.

I don't think that
if you disagree with

the policies of the government,
which I do very definitely disagree

with policies of the South African
government, I don't think

that's enough of a reason not to go
and play music there.

If I did that, I wouldn't be able
to play in the United States

because I don't agree with
their policies about nuclear power

or nuclear warfare.

I mean, my God, we've got
this person running the country,

you know, that I completely
disagree with.

If I decided that I wasn't going
to play where attitudes

of racism prevailed, I certainly
couldn't play in Australia

or England or lots of places
in the United States,

a lot of places
in the American South,

or Boston, which is
extremely racist.

I went to South Africa. It has
a fascist, repressive government.

I'm very interested
in the culture down there.

You've just got finished talking,
you say,

"Why does anyone think I'm
controversial?"

Do you realise what you've just
talked about here?

We've just received all
your political views in one blow.

I'm teasing, I'm not
putting it down, honestly.

I don't think my political
views are very controversial.

Who likes nuclear warfare?

I remember her having
the Wall Street Journal in her bag

one time in the '70s when she was
dating Jerry,

and I went... You know, I'd thought
she was really smart,

but she's really well read

and very, very up on a lot
of different things.

She's as wide-ranging
in her critical,

intellectual pursuits,
as she is in her musical pursuits,

and you don't find that kind of
depth and eclecticism in pop music.

Jerry needed somebody that
could be full-time there for him.

You couldn't have two careers
in that family.

# I never will marry... #

There's not enough time.

# I'll be no man's wife

# I intend to stay single

# For the rest of my life... #

I mean, the same reason
I never got married!

I don't know, I think it's hard
being a woman in the music business.

You know, it's...
It's a different kind of life.

# And the rushing deep waters

# Went over my head. #

Well, you don't need to get married.
You know what I mean?

It's like, we have our own income,

and you don't have to have the state
verify that you love somebody,

and when that relationship
is over, you leave.

Neither one of us are really
made for marriage

or, I think, long-term
relationships.

So, why did you break up?

I can't remember.
Maybe she could tell you.

# It's so easy to fall in love

# It's so easy to fall
in love

# People tell me love's for fools

# Here I go breaking all the rules

# It seems so easy
It's so easy... #

My mum wanted to be a scientist,
but she had four kids,

and I think that it was always
a little bit of a disappointment.

# It's so easy to fall in love... #

She always said to me, "Go out and
have a life." You know,

you don't just have to get married.
There are alternatives.

# It's so easy to fall in love

# It's so easy to fall
in love. #

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

I have to confess, I got a really
bad crush on this guy.

We had a little romance for a while,
but it wasn't long-lived.

He dumped me for this pig.

Well, at least I got his picture.

# Does he love me, I want to know

# How can I tell if he loves me so?

# Is it in his eyes?

# Oh, no, you make believe

# Is it in his sighs?

# Well, no, you'd be deceived

# If you wanna know
Shoop, shoop, shoop, shoop

# If he loves you so
Shoop, shoop, shoop

# It's in his kiss
That's where it is! #

APPLAUSE

To present the nominees

for Favourite Female in Rock and Pop

are Teddy Pendergrass
and Tanya Tucker.

The nominees are...
Linda Ronstadt.

APPLAUSE

Miss Barbra Streisand.

APPLAUSE

And Donna Summer.

You open the envelope,
I'm too nervous.

I'll do the gentlemanly thing
here, and I'll open it,

if you will read.
OK. And the winner is...

..Linda Ronstadt.

APPLAUSE

Linda was the Queen.
She was like what Beyonce is now.

She was the first female rock
and roll star.

# Want love?

# Get closer... #

She was the only female artist to
have five platinum albums in a row,

and most of them multiplatinum.

# Hold her hand... #

For Favourite Female
in Rock and Pop...

..Favourite Country Single...

..Blue Bayou, by Linda Ronstadt.

And the winner is...

It's another one! ..Linda Ronstadt.
The winner is...

..Linda Ronstadt.

# You make a fuss
when her eyes ain't on you

# Well, give her something
to look forward to

# Remember all
those other girls who ran... #

The nature of being a pop musician
is that you get

these things that are successful,
then you have to sing them

for the rest of your life,
over and over and over again,

and they start sounding
like your washing machine.

# Want love... #

I didn't like singing
in the big arenas,

because the sound was, like,
you know, you'd hear the guitar solo

that they played last week
still ringing around the rafters.

So, I started looking
for other things to do.

There is this feeling that she
has about the music itself,

rather than the career itself.

You know, some people are just
hard-core careerists,

and there's nothing wrong with that.

You know, it's how your mind works
that makes the difference.

It's your... How you see yourself

or how you see yourself
in the world, you know?

And not everybody is a pure
art for art's sake,

and not everybody's a pure
careerist, either,

especially in music,
because musicians love music,

or they wouldn't do it.

She wanted a change.
She got tired of doing arena rock.

She wanted to try different things.

I picked up the phone and called
my great friend John Rockwell,

who writes music criticism
for the New York Times.

I said, "I hate playing
these big sporting arenas.

"It's not good for the audience,
it's not good for the band.

"I want to sing in a theatre with
a proscenium and a curtain."

He said, "Well, the next time
you come to New York,

"I'll take you down to make
this fella named Joseph Papp.

"He has a theatre. It's called
the New York Public Theater,

and he does Shakespeare
and he does musicals, he did Hair."

He wanted to do
the Pirates of Penzance.

My mum was a Gilbert
and Sullivan lover.

She had a big book of Gilbert
and Sullivan songs on the piano,

and I actually learned
all the soprano parts as a kid.

And I loved singing them,

but I never got a chance to
in rock and roll.

That was in her roots,
that was in her upbringing,

it was part of her authentic
musical experience.

Joe called me and said, if I wanted
to do the part, I could have it.

And I said, "No, I have to come
and audition,"

because I didn't know whether
I could sing it or not.

She wanted to be certain
that she would do it well.

They thought being able to say Linda
Ronstadt's in it

would be good for business.

But her concern was, well,
will it be good for the show?

SHE SINGS HIGH SOPRANO NOTE

I was there for several rehearsals
and she was fabulous.

She just grabbed it by the horns
and...

HIGH SOPRANO NOTE

That was the first job I was ever
offered

where I actually got to sing
like that.

I was delighted, I really was, but
I can't really do it very well yet.

Because it's really hard, you can't
learn that overnight.

You've got to be in training.
In training, yep.

# Poor wandering ones... #

Linda had a great voice and
she had a great vision for herself,

and she didn't want to just be
singing rock and roll.

She wanted to do everything.

# Hold, monsters!

# Ere your pirate caravanserai

# Proceed against our will
to wed us all

# Just bear in mind that we are
wards in Chancery

# And father is a Major General... #

I knew some of her songs, sure,

but operetta?

# Prepare, unhappy
General Stanley...#

A week into rehearsal,
we all sang through the score,

just sitting in a circle on chairs,

and when I heard her voice

it was just...

..this bel canto,

soprano,

gorgeous,

musical...

..celestial yet earthy,

just pure, it was so pure,
it just made me cry.

I just remember just listening
to that voice, it was just...

Singing that stuff?

Touching.

# Oh, sisters,
deaf to pity's name, for shame,

# It's true that he has gone astray,
but pray

# Is that a reason good and true

# Why you should all be deaf
to pity's name? #

Gilbert and Sullivan? Really?

A rock star who has the guts
to go out there

and do that kind of musical comedy?

She just didn't care.

To her, it was like
a mountain to climb.

# Oh, oh, oh

# Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

# Oh, oh, oh, oh... #

Linda can bring herself
to sing anything.

She could sing opera, she could do
anything with her voice.

I couldn't do all that.

# Take

# Heart! #

Kevin Kline and I were both
nominated

for Tony Awards for that show.

Kevin deserved it more than I did.

All I did was walk around and sing.

My mom died during
Pirates Of Penzance.

I wasn't with her when she died,

and I just couldn't quite get it
through my head that she was

gone out of the world and I was
never going to see her again.

She'd had all these records,

Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald,

Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee,

and I thought, "I'd like to try
to sing some of those songs."

# Only the lonely go... #

When we lived together, almost every
evening, the last record

we listened to was a Frank Sinatra
album called

Songs For Only The Lonely

with Nelson Riddle arranging.

Constantly, people were telling
Linda,

"You can't do this."

I'm guilty.

When she was going to do
the Nelson Riddle album,

I didn't think it was a good idea,

not because she couldn't do it,
but because

we had this run going with rock
and roll records and country rock.

I said, "I'd like to find somebody
that can write and arrange like
Nelson Riddle."

He said, "Why don't you just ask
Nelson Riddle?"

Well, I didn't know
he was still alive.

You are the only person that
I knew that could do

orchestrations like this.

I didn't know where you were,

whether you'd be interested
in working with me,

whether you'd ever heard of me
or not, and as soon as I started

learning the songs, I just...
They just got inside me.

I wanted to record them and I wanted
to do it

worse than anything I've ever wanted
to do.

I remember your phrase for this.
You said,

"These are songs I cannot not do."

I can't not do them.
At some point...

It's like falling in love, you know?

Choice doesn't even enter into it.

# What's new?

# How is the world

# Treating you? #

I would think, "Well, my God,
how can I sing these songs?

"Ella Fitzgerald has sung them,
Billie Holliday has sung them,

"Frank Sinatra has sung them."

# Handsome as ever... #

She studied all of those records

and she studied every available
version she could find

of each one of those songs.

She is a real student.

# What's new?

# How did that romance
come through? #

She told me she wanted to get those
songs out of the elevator,

by which she meant that that's
the only place you heard them,

and she wanted to point out that
that's not where they belong,

that they were some of the best
songs ever written.

# Pardon my asking what's new... #

I went to her house
and tried to talk her out of it,

but as soon as she told me
Nelson Riddle was going to do it,

I said, "Well, I'd like to come
to the record session."

XYLOPHONE AND HARP PLAY

# Please... #

When my sister was in high school,
she got to go to her senior prom,

she got to wear these strapless
dresses with a lot of tulle,

and I always wanted
one of those dresses.

But by the time I got to high
school, the styles had changed,

and I never got to have one, so I
said, "I'm going to put
a show together,

"we're all going to
get to wear those dresses."

# So dream

# Dream

# Dream. #

This is a real treat tonight.

We have three marvellous singers
on the show, and do you know

how many times they have been
nominated for Grammys between them?

45 times in total.

APPLAUSE

And...

..the albums they've all sold
are in the multimillions,

and I guess it's taken the ladies
about ten years to get

this together where
they wanted to work together,

and made an album called Trio,
and it was well worth the time.

The album is described as old-timey,
but it's sensational.

Would you welcome Linda Ronstadt,
Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I'd met Dolly. I saw her
singing on the Grand Ole Opry

and she was a wonder to behold.

What you have in front of you is
one of the most beautiful girls

you've ever seen, you know,
she's just gorgeous.

When she opened her mouth and
started to sing,

I fell on the floor.
She's an amazing singer.

# Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene

# I'm begging of you, please,
don't take my man... #

I told Emmylou about her and then
Emmy met her somehow.

# Jolene... #

When I made my first trip
to Nashville, the powers that be

set up a meeting with Dolly, and she
was making a record in her studio

and it was, like, unbelievable,

it was better than any
Disneyland visit.

# And eyes of emerald green... #

They kind of found my music
somewhere

and kind of wanted to meet me and
that's kind of how we all started.

Emmy called me up and she said,

"Dolly Parton's at my house.
You have to come over."

I was living like 40 minutes away,
and I got there in 20 minutes.

She came over, and there we were,
the three of us,

and we were there with our idol,
Dolly.

And they had this big old house,

almost like a bunch of hippies
just living up there,

different people, good musicians.
They had different bedrooms.

It was just a free-for-all kind
of house, a dream for musicians.

And somebody said,
"Well, sing something."

# Bury me beneath the willow

# Under the weeping willow tree

# So he may know where I am sleeping

# And perhaps he'll weep for me. #

So I started singing that

and then they started saying,
"Sing that again."

# Oh, bury me... #
And here come all these harmonies

and, oh, it was just chilling,
chilling, chilling.

# Bury me beneath the willow

# Under the weeping willow tree

# Where he may know where
I am sleeping

# And perhaps he'll weep for me... #

When we heard our voices,

it was like injecting some kind
of serum

into your veins. It was like a high
like you've never felt.

We sang first in a living room
and said,

"Well, this sounds really good."
It was special, it was different
when we sang together.

It was special. It was like
a sister,

the sound of sisters, musical
sisters.

# Won't you bury me
beneath the willow

# Under the weeping willow tree

# Where he may know... #

At that moment, we thought,
"We have to do a record."

# To know, know, know him

# Is to love, love, love him

# Just to see him smile

# Makes my life worthwhile

# To know, know, know... #

We learned so much about singing
from each other because you get to
sort of be them for a second

when you're shadowing them
in a harmony and you get to have
like a...

It's like getting on an eagle

and getting to see the world
through that eagle's experience.

I get to sing through Dolly's voice
or sing through Emmy's voice
when I sing real close harmony.

# Why can't you see

# How... #

The only big disagreements would be,

"Are we going to use autoharp
or dulcimer on this song?"

Yeah.

Sometimes we would disagree
about who would sing lead

cos Emmy and I always want Dolly
to sing lead on everything.

"Dolly will sound great on that."

It's like, "You sing lead!"
"No, you sing lead."

Linda is such a perfectionist.

She's a pain in the ass sometimes
because she is such a perfectionist,

cos she will not have it
unless it's perfect.

She used to make me sing those
harmonies over and over and over

and I said, "I'm going to sing it
the same way, no matter what."

"No, you're not, you're going
to hit this one note."

See, I don't know how to...

All those intricate harmonies like
Emmylou and Linda do.

I just sing that
raw stuff from feeling,

and it ain't always proper,
but it sounds good.

# Yes, just to know him

# Is to love, love, love him

# And I do. #

Linda, you've sung
just about all types of music.

Light opera, you've been on
Broadway, rock and roll, pop.

What's your next project
going to be?

I'm going to do an album of Mexican
music, of traditional Mexican music.

I'm kind of a traditional Mexican
myself, you know,

I grew up about 40 minutes
from the Mexican border,

my family are Mexican
and that is my roots,

that's what I came from

and I have been dying to do this
record for years and years

and I'm getting round to it this
year, boy, I'm going to do it.

# Intensa nostalgia invade mi
pensamiento... #

Our neighbour that lived behind us
in the garage apartment,

him was Harry Dean Stanton,
a great character actor,

and a great singer of Mexican
folk songs.

We would hear him up
till the wee hours

singing these Mexican folk songs,
these canciones.

And, um...

..Linda knew all those songs.

I don't think people thought
of her as, er...

..as Mexican.

It certainly never came up.
I never heard it.

I mean, the name Ronstadt
is not Hernandez.

Ronstadt is a German-sounding name.

No, she's certainly from
Mexican heritage,

but it wasn't the most apparent
thing.

You know what? I want to see where
you put your D.

Say "ganador."

# Ga... #

It's the phrasing.

# Ganador

# Ganador-r-r-r. #

Dorrr. Dorrr. Dorrr. Uh-huh.

Is it up on the roof of your mouth,
the back of your teeth, or...?

Dorrr. Dorrr.

When he asked me if I would sing
a harmony on his record,

I was completely delighted

because you can only learn by doing,
you know, I can't...

There isn't a book you can get, you
know, say,

"How do you learn how to be a singer
in Spanish?"

And it's always been a dream of mine

to make an album of these Mexican
songs that I learned from my father.

HE SINGS IN SPANISH

My father had a beautiful
baritone voice.

He sounded like a cross between
Pedro Infante and Frank Sinatra.

Always, you know, if there was
a dinner party or something,

he'd get the guitar out,
and then he'd just sing,

and I always would fall
asleep in somebody's lap,

listening to my dad sing
some beautiful song.

We always, as a family,
we always sang in Spanish.

Even though I didn't understand
much of what I was singing,

it was something that
I learned to do.

It's kind of like lip-reading,
you know?

I used to kind of chameleon
in harmony along with my father.

BOTH: # Asi prolongan el final... #

To learn to sing that style
as a grown-up, professional singer,

that took some doing.

# Su triste juego del amor

# Donde el silencio es ganador... #

Si. Vamos. I always forget the
beginning when I go through

the ending and it makes it so hard!
High five, high five. Oh, yeah.

Is it this way? Is that how you do
it? The Latin way?

OK, I've got it. Ya esta obligado.

OK, I'm learning all these
new things.

# La, la, la, la... #

My dad invited me to go to the
Tucson Mariachi Conference.

And that way I got to meet
the Mariachi Vargas.

Those good bands,
like the Cobre or the Camperos,

or the Mariachi Vargas, you're going
to go to a symphony

and you're not going to find
better musicians.

They're all virtuoso players.

I picked a couple of songs.
The band said,

"These songs are very traditional
and they're very difficult to do."

I said, "Well, that's the only songs
I know, so we'd better learn them."

I went to the
president of my record company,

who's a man who genuinely
likes music,

and I said, "Look, I've made all
these records for you,

"they've sold this. I'm going
to do this just for me, you know?

"And this might be self-indulgent.
If it sells two copies,

"I don't care, but if I can't record
this music, I'm going to die."

I don't understand any Spanish,
I didn't understand how popular

those songs were, but this is a lady
who wanted to do it her way,

and who was going to say no?

# Ay! que rechula es la fiesta

# La fiesta charra, fiesta del sol

# Donde los charros valientes

# Dan con su canto la evocacion

# El jaripeo es un festejo

# Que huele a zurco
y a tradicion... #

Canciones De Mi Padre,
it's the largest selling

Spanish language album
in the history of the industry.

That's the whole Linda Ronstadt
story right there in a nutshell -

Linda deciding
she wants to do something,

the record company telling her
she can't,

she goes ahead and does it anyway

and they jump on board as the thing
starts to take off.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Toda la familia would come,
and they loved it,

because they were here from Mexico,

even though their kids
had grown up here

and become American citizens.

"Who is this girl singing songs
so beautifully?"

# Ya comenzo el jaripeo

# La gente aplaude con emocion... #

The fact that she went on
and did that

and did it in such a big way,

that was a brave thing to do.

Many people would have been
terrified.

"I'll mess up my career," you know?

But obviously, she had purpose,

personal decision.

It's good.

# Que huele a zurco y a tradicion

# Remedo de la faena

# Mas admirada de mi nacion

# Bonito es el jaripeo
y cuanta su animacion

# Yo quiero montar un toro para
que mire mi amor

# Upa yupa yu!
Y upa!

# Yo quiero montar un toro pa'
que me mire mi amor

# Ay! Ay! Ay! #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

To have that traditionalism
going along on the bus with me

from town to town, where I'd only
sung pop music,

to take that part of the dirt with
me, you know,

the part of the soil
of the land where I came from

to Cleveland and Cincinnati
and New York, that was a thrill.

You should have seen
Central Park with, you know,

close to a million people in it.

When the mariachi got up onstage
with their big hats,

the place fell out.
They went nuts, you know?

There was such a thing of pride
that went from the stage

to the audience, it was just great.

This song was written by me
and my father,

and it's called Lo Siento Mi Vida.

# Lo siento mi vida... #

My dad died when he was 84.

There was a kind of a peace
that happened when he died.

In the three or four days
before he died,

he was reading to us passages
from Gabriel Garcia Marquez's book

Love In The Time Of Cholera,
and it was just a great sharing.

It was a different experience being
with my father when he died,

than it was with my mother.

I knew I was going to miss him,
but I accepted it better.

# Siempre separar. #

He had what I would
describe as a beautiful death.

I'd seen her on TV,
and I thought she was great,

but when she came to New Orleans,
she was just...

Just so down-to-earth and, you know,

girl next door thing, you know?

And just humble.

She was just a sweet, humble person.

I'd been in New Orleans
for the World's Fair,

and somebody said, "Well,
The Neville Brothers are playing

"at some club down in the Quarter.
We should go."

We're going to get serious-serious
right now.

I'm going to turn you on
to our brother Aaron Neville.

Aaron Neville was onstage singing
this beautiful song, Arianne.

# Arianne is April morning

# That comes rippling
through my window

# She's the smell of coffee brewing

# On a quiet, rainy Sunday... #

Somebody told me
she was in the audience,

so I called her up onstage,
to sing a duet.

Usually, I'll never do
anything like that,

because I like to rehearse
everything first,

but I wasn't going to say no
to Aaron Neville.

After that,
I asked for her autograph.

She said, "To Aaron, love.

"I'll sing with you any time,
any place, anywhere, in any key."

# Look at this face... #

The next morning, I woke up
and my first thought was,

"Boy, I liked singing with Aaron
Neville. That sounded pretty good."

And then I thought, "You idiot,
everybody sounds good

"when they're singing with Aaron
Neville."

# I still don't know where
it's going... #

I said, "We've got to make a record
together." And he was up for it.

# I don't know much

BOTH: # But I know I love you

# And that may be
all I need to know... #

They had all kinds of rumours
going on on that one.

They said, "Oh, Linda and Aaron got
married," or whatever.

It was just crazy stuff.

# Look at these dreams

# So beat and so battered

# I don't know much... #

The producer told us,
"If you don't make it look real,

"ain't no sense in doing it,"

so, you know, we had to make it look
real.

# And that may be
all there is to know

# Who-o-oa. #

At the studio, I said,

"I'll see you at the Grammys."

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I had a speech, but
I'm...I'm...I'm...

..too nervous.

I just want to say thank you
to Linda first.

LINDA WHISPERS

And my wife Joel.
LAUGHTER

Aaron and I won two
Grammys for that record.

But as time went on, there was

something really wrong
with my voice.

I just lost a lot of different
colours in my voice.

There's a lot of things you do
in singing,

you turn your voice to different
planes to make different sounds,

and I couldn't do any of that.

It turned out I had Parkinson's
disease.

Singing is really complex,

and I was made most aware of it
by having it vanish.

I could still sing in my mind,
but I can't do it physically.

I sang my last concert
on November 7th, 2009.

It was a Mexican show.

It must have been quite a...

Quite a reckoning, to have this
marvellous instrument

that could always hold the notes,
hit the notes and shape the notes,

could no longer hold the notes
without quaver.

But there's a lot of good records
with her magnificent voice on them,

and I hear her laughing in my head

all the time, I hear that cackle all
the time, so...

..I'm sort of never without her.

I can imagine that not being able
to sing, for Linda, is awful.

But I also know of nobody who could
handle that kind of change

or adjustment in a more logical
and thoughtful

and intelligent way than Linda.

I don't think she misses
going on the road.

I don't think
she misses making records.

I think she misses singing
with her friends,

and singing in the living room
with her family.

There's just no-one on the planet
that ever had or ever

will have a voice like Linda's.

You know, I'm grateful
for the time I had.

I got to live a lot of my dreams
and I feel lucky about it.

Another person with Parkinson's said

that life after death isn't
the question.

It's life before death.

So how are you going to do it?

How are you going to live?

THEY SING IN SPANISH:

Hang on...

Got to find a part, there.

Um, start right there?

HER VOICE QUAVERS

I don't even have that
note in my speaking range any more.

You said before...
You said you couldn't sing any more.

This isn't really singing.

Believe me, it's a few notes,
sketched in,

but it's not really singing.

Are you enjoying it?

Well, I would enjoy it much more
if I could sing,

but I can't let them sing this
without me.

It's a family thing.

Shall we? Yeah. Are you guys ready?

LINDA CHUCKLES

Do we get to eat? Yeah. Yes.
Oh, good.

# I've been cheated

# Been mistreated

ALL: # When will I be loved?

# I've been put down

# I've been pushed round

# When will I be loved?

# When I find a new man

# That I want for mine

# He always breaks my heart in two

# It happens every time

# I've been made blue

# I've been lied to

# When will I be loved?

# When I find a new man

# That I want for mine

# He always breaks my heart in two

# It happens every time, oh

# I've been cheated

# Been mistreated

# When will I be loved?

# When will I be loved?

# Tell me

# When will I be loved? #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

MUSIC: Still Within The Sound
Of My Voice by Linda Ronstadt

# Where have you gone, my darling
one?

# Are you on your own?

# Are you having fun?

# Is there someone to hold when you
need it bad?

# Is it uncontrolled like the love
we had?

# Does a day go by like a memory?

# Do you ever try to remember me

# In an automobile or a crowded bar?

# Well, I hope you're all right,
wherever you are

# And if you're still within the
sound of my voice over some radio

# I just want you to know you were
always my only choice

# And wherever you go,
that I still love you so

# If you're still within the sound
of my voice... #