Love you, Bobby and Linda!
Q
I edited the thread title to make the content clearer.
Nice find, though.
And thanks!
Ah, “Long Long Time.” AKA: “The American Suicide Song.”
Anybody know why Bobby left the stage? Did he need some oxygen? Or did he realize that if he was exposed to that song for any longer his poor ticker would just give up and not give him the couple years he ended up with?
Dz?
Q
Thanks for that.
As an old sound guy, I have to compliment Linda on her nearly perfect microphone technique. She brings the microphone closer when she’s singing quietly and needs an intimate sound, and pulls it away when she gets loud. Nobody learns this anymore, requiring the soundboard operator to manually ride the gain up and down (fraught with danger) or run limiters and compressors (still not as effective as a singer with good mic technique). K.D. Lang is one of the few other singers with this kind of technique, which she probably picked up from watching videos of earlier great singers like Patsy Cline.
Quasi,
I had the biggest crush on Bobby Darin as a kid.
I was almost crying watching his old videos and after reading his Wiki profile.
Thank you for the link to my old memories.
My guess? This was Bobby Darin’s show and he was counting on some of Linda Ronstadt’s cool to rub off on him (he’d missed the Rat Pack, Brill Building and Hippie boats back to back and this was his last shot at relevance). She went down the catwalk stage, drawing the audience and camera’s eyes away from him. And while that might have been his guitar playing, it was likely pre-recorded so his snit went largely unnoticed.
No.
Just my humble O, but I believe Mr. Darin was a musical GENIUS.
No.
Just no.
Q
Dude grew up with a heart weakened by rheumatic fever and nobody expected he’d live as long as he did. He’d duck offstage for oxygen and was a basket case after a show, but to say he gave 100% onstage doesn’t understand that really gave much more than that, far more than he should’ve. (shrug) Maybe it kept him alive longer.
If you were talking about the song, I will happily set “Long Long Time” against all comers, including “Gloomy Sunday,” the noted Hungarian Suicide Song, regardless the translation, scoring based on the number of wrists slit and heads put in oven, divided by the number of native speakers of the language.
And I don’t think the surviving Hungarians can match the tag-team smackdowns of Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” and “I Fall to Pieces.”
One theory about why Darin left the stage: out of respect for the transcendent singing of Ronstadt. He knew that anything other than her on that stage would be an unneeded distraction.
He was an interesting guy and a consummate professional - all of those smooth natural mannerisms were carefully practiced and honed.
You are correct. He was a pro. To propose anything else is to suggest that the artform he performed within is invalid, which is subjective and outside the bounds of the actual performance. It was a beautiful segment. He switched to tape at the perfect moment. He has nothing to apologize for.
ETA: God, she was hot, but she could kill me with that song so the love that was incredibly unlikely became it was a love that shouldn’t be, and that’s my story and I’m sticking with it.
More vintage Ronstadt:
I’ve never heard this called The Suicide Song, and the lyrics don’t seem to support that either…how did that come about? And I’m sure he didn’t leave in a snit…her walking down into the audience was certainly rehearsed and planned. Maybe the symbolism of the empty chair was what he was aiming for…or maybe he was still playing the guitar as he walked off and got oxygen, if that’s what was happening.
Kittenblue, you might want to give another listen to it.
I read through the lyrics. I’ve listened to it several times. I’m not feeling suicide from her side or his. Please enlighten me as to what you hear that I don’t. And I’m talking about Long, Long, Time…not Gloomy Sunday, which I’d never heard before today…that one is blatant!
You are made of sterner stuff than I, kittenblue.
Oh, and it’s not about the singer killing herself. She’s resigned herself to a lifetime of abuse and unrequited love. The person likely to kill himself is a listener sitting alone at closing time
Man, she was hawt in her younger days.
But she can still sing.
It’s be a long, long time since this thread was active.