Jan 24
Liberal Arts Blog — If not Linda, Who? Aretha? Whitney? Mariah? Adele?
Liberal Arts Blog — Thursday is the Joy of Music Day
Today’s Topic: If not Linda, Who? Aretha? Whitney? Mariah? Adele?
Last week, Linda Rondstadt. But re-reading the post, I felt it was incomplete and I’ve decided to follow up in order to a.) share a few quotes by and about LInda, b.) strongly recommend the hour-and-a-half documentary, “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice,” (first link below) and c.) raise the question: if not Linda, who? Who had the greatest voice of all female pop singers of the last sixty years? Whose voice cut through to your soul deeper and faster? Was it Aretha? Janice? Whitney? Mariah? Adele? Beyonce? Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate elucidate.
LINDA RONSTADT ON WHY PEOPLE SING
1. “Someone once asked me why people sing. I answered that they sing for many of the same reasons the birds sing.”
2. “They sing for a mate, to claim territory, or simply to give voice to the delight of being alive in the midst of a beautiful day.”
3. “Perhaps more than 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.”
NB: “They sing so the subsequent generations won’t forget what the current generation endured, or dreamed, or delighted in.”
BONNIE RAITT, DOLLY PARTON, GILBERT AND SULLIVAN, MARIACHI
1. Dolly Parton: “Linda could literally sing anything.”
2. Bonnie Raitt: “I don’t think anyone has tried more different styles and nailed it than Linda has. There’s not many people that can pull off new wave music and rock and the most beautiful country ballads. Her range is huge.”
3. And remember, Linda got bored with rock and focused on Gilbert and Sullivan for a time and then Mexican mariachi.
NB: Ronstadt’s “Canciones de Mi Padre” is the “biggest selling non-English language album in American record history. It won her a Grammy in 1989.
WHO ARE LINDA’S PEERS? HOW DO YOU CLASSIFY HER?
1. Aretha, Whitney, Beyonce, Mariah, Adele?
2. Grace, Janice, Stevie, Carrie?
3. Other?
NB: So many wonderful, soulful voices. But does one electrifying moment stand out? Which singer? Which song? When? For me it was Linda. The song was “Distant Drum.” The year was 1967. It was on the radio. I was in a car.
FOOTNOTE
I could not have told you who the singer of “Distant Drum” was until I did the research for last week’s post.
THE DOCUMENTARY
Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice
RONDSTADT SINGS MARIACHI
LINDA RONSTADT — “CANCIONES DE MI PADRE” {{H.D.}} (COMPLETE), 1989
PIRATES OF PENZANCE
Linda Ronstadt The Pirates of Penzance
MORE
Canciones de Mi Padre — Wikipedia
LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED THEMATICALLY
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
YOUR TURN
Time to share the coolest thing you learned in the last week related to music. Or the coolest thing you learned in your life related to music. Say your favorite song or songs. Or your favorite tips for breathing, posture, or relaxation. Or some insight into the history of music….Or just something random about music… like a joke about drummers. jazz, rock….or share an episode or chapter in your musical autobiography.
This is your chance to make some one else’s day. And perhaps to cement in your memory something important you would otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than you otherwise would about something that matters to you.
