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Post by the Scribe on Feb 11, 2023 7:26:03 GMT
Long long time … #shorts #music #lovesong #lifelessons #lindaronstadt #infinity #longlongtime #loveFeb. 11, 2023 by Marissa Lorusso view.nl.npr.org/?qs=aa1a81c9b4f1a8da49c79aa16c938397f4be47010fd5f920669f2fab4c9050577a89584cebfae771d3ed0316940a2de674e6dfd69e5ab58a81321515e8d6e7604d9d87bdcc8617c16e65adf3c7a0672a43624bbe15261d75
This week, we’re sharing thoughts on a recent music moment from the HBO show The Last Of Us; plus, a Tiny Desk from the Indigo Girls.
I asked my colleagues this week about memorable music moments they’d recently seen on TV, and critic Ann Powers had a lot of thoughts about the use of a Linda Ronstadt song in the HBO show The Last Of Us. I asked her to tell me why it stood out, and here’s what she said: click.nl.npr.org/?qs=83177d7176c89ca92bc8572a03eeb733a2fd1853368a6918970b81e7df13688dd704dc67514967f5659f32c9c362357cafb55fc0f38cc144
What’s most powerful about music in “prestige” television right now, as more cinematic streaming series challenge the rules of episodic broadcast TV, is the way it’s becoming not only central to the atmosphere of our favorite shows but elemental within their plotlines. In shows ranging from Stranger Things to Steve McQueen’s Lovers’ Rock , a well-deployed song becomes a catalyst, if not a character — especially an older song, carrying all the golden baggage packed in by many decades’ worth of listeners. The instant-classic third episode of HBO’s videogame-turned-dystopian-epic The Last of Us offers the latest example of a classic tune providing essential plot and character advancement while generating millions of weeping-face emojis across the social universe. click.nl.npr.org/?qs=83177d7176c89ca96d252b4a79d3e7177a12652cc6a0e2a96527fa40163c1cb466063ebf68039ca7d379cb1c8d8e3bb18a866ae82c992ef5 click.nl.npr.org/?qs=83177d7176c89ca923926c7f6bff3f5224aae6adce89346a79cda9de958fa573ab917b23aa9b0a2f3b98ca2e31d38ec2a7c8f3f27219d1f8 click.nl.npr.org/?qs=83177d7176c89ca96954f336ab88758491cf3608402214753aa4b90067e6c86d369a821dedd95f126ad9f1ce7dbefed0034771a8dc158e3a
Linda Ronstadt’s “Long Long Time ” went viral the moment the soon-to-be lovers Bill and Frank, played by Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett, pulled out its dusty sheet music from Bill’s mother’s piano bench. (The fact that the baby grand was still in tune proves this show’s a fantasy.) In the show’s revision of the game, the itinerant hustler Frank has stumbled into Bill’s prepper paradise — the well-stocked home he presumably grew up in, in a now otherwise abandoned Massachusetts town — and the two men warily circle each other over a gourmet meal Bill prepares. Then to the parlor, where Frank continues to violate Bill’s space, but in that disarmingly sweet way Bartlett renders so convincing. At first he offers a jaunty take on the Gary White-penned ballad, reminiscent of Texas troubadour Jerry Jeff Walker’s existentialist reading from 1989: a last-call tip of the whisky glass. Bill, moving from the doorway where he cautiously stands, makes him stop.That’s when the heartbreak begins to pour over the scene. click.nl.npr.org/?qs=83177d7176c89ca9e19f20bf22dc9ba6f95bae4c5a371dfeb21ff06e788c3b60fe5d45962c6428ec6cabddec1456f70e0edffc1699caf6bd click.nl.npr.org/?qs=83177d7176c89ca94c6328f72b56e258d8083ef46b1c614869667088ec29527a53427f4d35dbe0e373d54982cfe6fd0edd92757563d77614
Bill takes Frank’s place on the bench, where he’s almost certainly sat many times, playing to no one. He caresses the keys slowly, intoning the song’s lament as if to himself, the way Ronstadt did when she recorded the song that would become her first hit in 1970. For him, this confession of undying, unrequited passion can’t be reduced to nostalgia. Its sorrow is ever-present, a defining element of his (until now) closeted life. Offerman’s rusted vocality is poignant, but the key to this scene is Bartlett’s changing face as Frank watches Bill. He is realizing something, many things that he must try to reconcile: the opportunity for shelter this lonely man may offer; the truth of Bill’s damaged, opening heart; the potential for an encounter that might bring back the intimacy that once came easily to him. What Frank hears in Bill’s voice is the kind of queer longing that has, in many other stories, has become a kind of cliché — not only desire for one person, but the need for an open life and the community and safety that comes with it in a tolerant world. By the end of the song, Frank is thinking, I can help him make peace with the world. Just the two of us: our world. I can fix that much. The opportunist becomes the lover as the song comes to a close.
Ronstadt herself made a journey while laying down the previously unrecorded “Long Long Time.” It mirrors the one we see on Bartlett’s face. Not a morning person, Ronstadt felt that her phrasing was horrible when she began her take at 10:30 a.m. in Nashville’s Woodland Sound studio. But something “in those chords” — a sequence shifting back and forth from major to minor — lifted her into the kind of melancholia that makes the song so effective in capturing the unresolved nature of grief. That’s what Bill lives with, what Frank suddenly finds himself challenged to approach. click.nl.npr.org/?qs=83177d7176c89ca979c73ef54f564c93d732ce065834f5ddc9eb4660f8688e639ba4486f965d56ce1edb33aac7682de72051c54810434aa7
The late, great theorist José Esteban Muñoz defined the melancholia Bill’s rendition expresses as an aspect of queer survival, and it permeates the episode as we watch him and Frank deepen their relationship over the years. I’ll end with Muñoz’s words , in tribute to the bittersweetness of their connection, enhanced by the aura of Ronstadt’s yearning: “It is this melancholia that is part of our process of dealing with all the catastrophes that occur in the lives of people of color, lesbians, and gay men.” In a show about generalized catastrophe, one man’s version of a 1970s chestnut not only personalizes the bloodied landscape but queers it, deepening the connection that then plays out for the rest of the episode. In many ways “The Ballad of Bill and Frank” is as corny as a Hallmark movie, with as many well-placed accouterments of comfortable middle-class life — another cliché afflicting queer depictions in the mainstream. Yet the ache in it makes it meaningful, extending from its first interpreter to the last of them. That ache wouldn’t hit so hard without “Long Long Time.” click.nl.npr.org/?qs=c2fe196eb7bfb121933a516dbee4d59c6e3773c372fbcbd9fe117fa0893d6be00f2d65b473bb4fc0856322a793de1aaeda3c7776801df3bc click.nl.npr.org/?qs=c2fe196eb7bfb12114372a2a24b67b7b5cb4125f0329f0a7c9729411122310dc564f1fab7d88e563f5fe3a4273be515b2a5ef208954bec8a
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Post by heatwavedave on Feb 13, 2023 8:34:27 GMT
For a long, long time #LindaRonstadt New episodes of #TheLastOfUs premiere Sundays at 9PM on #HBOMax
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Post by the Scribe on Mar 16, 2023 11:11:36 GMT
T.3 - “Long Long Time” (Linda Ronstadt) THE LAST OF US
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Post by the Scribe on Mar 17, 2023 23:54:20 GMT
amazing cover by Brian Killeen. This guy is truly talented.
Long Long Time - Linda Ronstadt Cover Brian Killeen
13,939 views Feb 4, 2023 #lindaronstadt #longlongtime #thelastofus Heard this on The Last Of Us the other night and fell in love with it, hope you enjoy 💛
linktr.ee/Briansongs
#lindaronstadt #longlongtime #thelastofusmore www.youtube.com/@brian_songs
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Post by goldie on Mar 18, 2023 19:20:45 GMT
He does a killer Skeeter Davis and some Beach Boys songs too. Very nice.
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Post by the Scribe on Mar 21, 2023 9:40:07 GMT
'Long Long Time' is a pretty little 'Folk' Song, about a Woman, who has tried, (for ages), to get a Man, she loves, to pay attention to her. However, it looks like, he will never love her back. Linda sings it very well, which is why she got a Grammy Nomination, for it, in 1971:
Long Long Time -- Linda Ronstadt -- (1970)
01 (1) Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - Tears Of A Clown 02 (6) Diana Ross - Ain't No Mountain High Enough 03 (4) Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi 04 (2) Dawn - Candida 05 (NE) Linda Ronstadt - Long Long Time 06 (3) Neil Diamond - Solitary Man 07 (5) Miguel Rios - Song Of Joy 08 (11) All Right Now - Free 09 (7) Carpenters - (They Long To Be) Close To You 10 (8) Clarence Carter - Patches 11 (9) The Kinks - Lola 12 (10) Elvis Presley - The Wonder Of You www.ukmix.org/forum/music/the-vault/1950s-1970s/127094-fifty-years-gone-1973-retro-week-12-25-march-1973/page19
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Post by the Scribe on May 28, 2023 21:12:58 GMT
'The Last of Us': All the Songs Referenced in Season 1 collider.com/last-of-us-season-1-all-songs/?newsletter_popup=1 BY JULIO BARDINI PUBLISHED MAR 14, 2023
www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a42707267/the-last-of-us-linda-ronstadt-bill-frank-song/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=arb_ga_mnh_md_pmx_us_urlx_17889802313&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsMvKkfeY_wIVlA99Ch2N6ACxEAAYAiAAEgJaI_D_BwE
The perfect mix for the end of the world.
Music has always been a key component of The Last of Us. Both games are heavily infused with good stuff, going way beyond Gustavo Santaolalla's awesome theme score, so it couldn't be different with HBO's series adaptation. During Season 1, the show has graced us with great songs in some of the most crucial moments, and they are never music just for the sake of music.
Every song is directly connected to the story being told in their own episode, and, therefore, they are each uniquely important. The series premiere, "When You Are Lost In The Darkness", for example, has a whole segment set in 2003, and music is a big part of how that ambiance is built - it was another time, so the songs have to reflect it. So let's dive in all of those musical references, shall we?
After Sarah (Nico Parker) wakes Joel (Pedro Pascal) up in the series premiere, she cooks breakfast for them in the kitchen. The song playing in the background is Avril Lavigne's "Tomorrow", from her 2002 album Let Go. Although not a hit like "Complicated" and "Sk8er Boi", "Tomorrow" is perfectly on tune with the premise of the episode. The singer is insecure about her relationship, asking her partner to give her more time to be alone. She is not sure how she will feel the following day, and wants to believe her partner when they say it's going to be okay. Sadly, we know Sarah won't have a "tomorrow", as she dies later in the episode. Her father repeatedly tells her it's going to be okay, that they will survive, but she doesn't. The whole world could have more time, too, but the cordyceps doesn't wait.
Once again in the breakfast scene in the premiere, but now playing when Tommy (Gabriel Luna) joins Joel and Sarah - whose track selection is killer, we must say. Dido's "White Flag" was constantly played in the radio (remember radio?) in 2003, and there was no escape. The lyrics tell of a lover in regret of their actions, asking their partner for another chance. They understand the damage that was done but they know their feelings are true. This foreshadows how Joel will come to feel about his past. He is aware he wasn't a good father for Sarah, nor a good brother for Tommy, although he loves both of them still, even after the world has ended. He's at war with his past and doesn't plan on letting it go - no white flag above his door.
80s means trouble. It also means it's not 2003 anymore, as the premiere episode moves to 2023. As Joel, Ellie and Tess (Anna Torv) venture out of Boston Quarantine Zone, the radio in their apartment comes alive with "Never Let Me Down Again", by Depeche Mode, which, according to the smuggling code they've established will Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett), means there's trouble around.
Lead singer Dave Gahan originally wrote the lyrics about his heroin addiction, depicting the ups and downs until sobering up. In The Last of Us, Craig Mazin explains it's about Ellie going on a journey with Joel, who's a dangerous man. They don't know it, but they will become each other's best friends, and are surely going to let each other down along the way.
On to "Long Long Time", the emotional third episode. For a while, it takes us back to 2003, when we meet Bill. He's hiding from FEDRA agents in the bunker beneath his mother's house and only comes out when he's sure the goons have left. That's when the party starts for him, to the tune of "I'm Coming Home To Stay", by Fleetwood Mac, back when it was a blues band led by Peter Green. The singer talks of going back home and never leaving again. Well, Bill is beginning his coming-out process and allowing himself to be fully visible after a whole life of hiding, and he doesn't plan on leaving.
Still in Episode 3, but now in 2007, Bill is still living by himself. He's a lonely person, he just doesn't admit it to himself. Working in his bunker, he's listening to "White Room", by Cream, which is ironic because he is in a pretty dark room, actually. The song talks about a person waiting for someone on a train that's never going to arrive. A bunker is also a room "where the sun never shines", where Bill watches "shadows run from themselves" (aka the Clickers) on his CCTV cameras. Also, "White Room" came out in the 1960s, which, according to the smuggling code, means "no new stuff". Bill was stagnant, making no progress in his existence and being the same lonely person he always was. Until...
Linda Ronstadt — "Long, Long Time"
Until a song from 1970 came with new stuff to set Bill free. "Long, Long Time", by Linda Ronstadt, is now a classic thanks to The Last of Us. It represents the many barriers Frank overcomes to touch Bill's heart after they meet in 2007. In a recent interview, series co-creator Craig Mazin revealed what drove him towards this song: it had to be incredibly sad, about yearning for love, while never getting any, and coming to terms with the fact that you will always be alone. That is the description of a lonely person, who, in this case, is Bill, yearning for love without the prospect of ever getting any, due to the constant repressing he had to put himself through as a closeted gay man. Fortunately, he eventually found love. Fortunately for us, we got this beautiful song back.
Yes, you know this one. Max Richter's "On The Nature of Daylight" was already a modern classic even before it was featured in The Last of Us. You probably heard it before in movies like Shutter Island and Arrival, or the hit TV series The Handmaid's Tale. Here, it plays as Bill and Frank enjoy their last day together and get married, with its melodic overtones making the scene even sadder for us.
When Joel and Ellie enter the bunker at Bill and Frank's compound, there's still 1980s songs playing on their radio - at that moment, "Chains of Love", by Erasure, is on. Not much is going on then, and the singer speaks of not letting yourself be caught in "the chains of love", meaning that true love is one that should set you free, and not make you feel chained. Kind of like what Frank's love did to Bill, right?
Episode 4, "Please Hold To My Hand", is where Joel and Ellie's journey through what used to be the USA really begins, as they leave Bill and Frank's compound behind and hit the road. After Ellie teases Joel with a male magazine, she finds a cassette tape with songs by Hank Williams, which Joel claims to be from "before his time". The song they play is "Alone and Forsaken", which works as a perfect analogy to what happened to the country after the cordyceps outbreak, now a wasteland that's "alone and forsaken by fate and by man". The name of the episode also comes from a verse in this song, the pleading in the end: "Oh Lord, if you hear me, please, hold to my hand. Oh, please, understand."
The end credits of Episode 4 actually bring an interesting Easter egg for the sequel to the original game, The Last of Us Part II. Originally released by New Order in 1987, "True Faith" is part of the sequel's soundtrack as a theme for a grown-up Ellie, sung by Lotte Kestner in an acoustic cover. In the game, the song represents her growth after the whole journey she goes through, a painful process through which she finally becomes an adult. In the series adaptation, it brings the aggravation of being a 1980s song, and we know it to mean there's trouble ahead for our heroes.
In the end of Episode 6, Joel is wounded by a group of raiders as they flee from the university campus, and collapses on the ground after they leave the city. As Ellie desperately attempts to reanimate him, a beautiful version of "Never Let Me Down Again" comes on. This time, the Depeche Mode is sung in an acoustic version by Jessica Mazin, showrunner Craig Mazin's daughter.
In the The Last of Us podcast for the series, Mazin explains he asked her for "a haunting and slow, and about a daughter mourning the loss of her father," a direct contrast to the first time this song was played, in Episode 1. Back then, they were setting out on their journey together, each with their own baggage, hoping they wouldn't be let down. Now, Joel has let her down, and Ellie needs him more than ever to not let her down again.
Pearl Jam may be one of the best rock bands active today, but in The Last of Us, their career ended in 2003 with the cordyceps outbreak. They had time to release Riot Act, their 2002 album, though, where "All or None" is. The song plays in the beginning of the flashback sequence in Episode 7, "Left Behind", showing us Ellie's days before setting out of Boston QZ with Joel and Tess. Back then, she endured constant bullying at school and had no friends, with her best friend Riley (Storm Reid) having vanished without a trace three weeks earlier. Alone, she firmly believes hers to be a "hopeless situation", like the one the song mentions in the lyrics.
The importance of A-ha's "Take On Me" in The Last of Us can't be overstated. It was already in the trailers for Season 1, and we finally got to hear it in Episode 7, when Riley shows Ellie how wonderful escalators really are. This song is perhaps the defining song for Ellie's whole journey throughout the franchise, from bratty young teenager to strong and determined woman. It also plays a huge part in the sequel game, The Last of Us Part II, with a beautiful acoustic cover performed by Ellie's original voice actor, Ashley Johnson.
Yes, this is a version for babies of "Just Like Heaven", a classic The Cure song. It plays as Riley shows Ellie the merry-go-round during their adventure in the mall inside Boston QZ. Why not use the original version? Because it would sound weird in a kid's ride, wouldn't it? Plus, it's the perfect song to describe the feeling between Ellie and Riley - it sounds just like falling in love. The lyrics (which we don't hear, unfortunately) are also perfect for the characters, who are realizing their who they really are to each other, as Riley shows Ellie the wonders of the mall ("Show me how you do that trick / The one that makes me scream, she said / The one that makes me laugh, she said") in their last night together, after Riley vanished for three weeks and before she moves to Atlanta QZ with the Fireflies ("Why are you so far away, she said / Why won't you ever know that I'm in love with you?").
Nothing against Ellie's music taste, but she was desperately in need of new music in Episode 7. That's what Riley provides in their scene in the Halloween store inside the mall, showing her how good Etta James is with "I Got You, Babe". At that moment, they are already aware that that will be their last night together, but choose to enjoy it. The lyrics reflect a relationship that has endured good times and bad ones, too, but gets over them together - how relationships in general should be, right? It's in that scene that the girls share their first kiss, too, after dangerously dancing on top of the glass counter.
Yep, another A-ha song. This time, it plays after the opening credits on the season finale, "Look For The Light", but not how you might expect. It's the song Anna (Ashley Johnson) sing to her newborn daughter, Ellie, after they both survive a Clicker attack while Anna was giving birth. Marlene (Merle Dandridge) finds the two of them, as Anna lulls Ellie to sleep singing "The Sun Always Shines on TV", showing that A-ha runs in Ellie's blood. The music video ends with singer Morten Harket becoming a drawing and being forced to leave his loved one, much like Anna, who was bitten by the Clicker, is forced to leave her daughter before turning into a Clicker herself.
In Episode 6, "Kin", Joel and Ellie finally find his brother Tommy living in a commune in Jackson, Wyoming. The dynamic duo has a fight the night before leaving for the University of Eastern Colorado. They know they now share a strong bond but are both afraid of what it might do to them since both have endured so much loss already. In the end, they make up and head to the university together, accepting their roles in each other's lives and their father-daughter dynamics. "The Path (A New Beginning) is a song by Gustavo Santaolalla, and is part of the original game soundtrack, bringing a hopeful feeling as Joel and Ellie go on their path together. The song is also the closing song of Season 1, playing when Joel and Ellie arrive in Jackson and over the credits of the last episode, "Look For The Light". Even after everything that happened in Salt Lake City, this song still manages to make the season end on a hopeful note.
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Post by the Scribe on Aug 20, 2023 0:19:12 GMT
Why The Last of Us Picked That Linda Ronstadt Song The story behind "Long, Long Time," the song that broke all of our hearts. www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a42705769/the-last-of-us-linda-ronstadt-bill-frank-song/
Headshot of Josh RosenbergBy Josh RosenbergPUBLISHED: JAN 30, 2023
While Linda Ronstadt’s “Long, Long Time” likely won’t become a TikTok trend like Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” in Stranger Things, or The Cramps’s “Goo Goo Muck” from Wednesday, HBO’s The Last of Us still knows the power of choosing the right song. www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a40444690/stranger-things-running-up-that-hill/ www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a42158045/wednesday-dance-scene-netflix/ www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a42689986/the-last-of-us-episode-3-peter-hoar/
Placed in the heartbreaking third episode of the post-apocalyptic survival series, Ronstadt’s 1970 ballad is not only thematically important—but its lyrics are critical to the story, too. lyrically. When Bill (Nick Offerman) allows another man, Frank (Murray Bartlett) into his home after three years of isolation, he reveals his loneliness after somberly playing "Long, Long Time" on the piano. The track marks the beginning of their long relationship, featuring sentimental lyrics in the chorus like, “I think I'm gonna love you for a long, long time,” and “I think I'm gonna miss you for a long, long time.” www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a42687278/the-last-of-us-episode-3-recap/
more from episode three
the last of us How 'The Last of Us' Director Made It Happen www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a42689986/the-last-of-us-episode-3-peter-hoar/
the last of us Recap: A TV Moment We Won't Forget www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a42687278/the-last-of-us-episode-3-recap/ the last of us
Bill and Frank Were Much Different in the Game www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a42691787/how-do-bill-and-frank-die-in-the-last-of-us/
“I had the thought that this would happen, that there was a song that would be played, and that we would be surprised by who was good at it and who was bad at it,” showrunner Craig Mazin told IndieWire. “I remember saying to [creator] Neil [Druckmann], ‘I’m not sure what the song is, I just know that it has to be this incredibly sad song about yearning for love, and never getting love, and just making your peace with the fact that you will always be alone. But it can’t be on the nose. And it can’t be a song that we all know.'” After texting Seth Rudetsky, a buddy he had who hosts Sirius XM's On Broadway, Mazin “described what I needed and within 30 seconds, it was [incoming text noise] ‘Long, Long Time by Linda Ronstadt,’” he recalled. “I kinda remembered that song. I played it and was like, ‘Oh, my. There it is.'” www.indiewire.com/2023/01/last-of-us-linda-ronstadt-bill-frank-song-1234803718/
According to Mazin, “The whole idea was to hit the highlights of moments in your life where love means something different.” Bill and Frank’s story in Episode Three of The Last of Us is very different that their story in the video game the series is based on, but Mazin remembered Druckmann telling him that there was room for improvement when it came to expanding on the source material. “’Even if a character doesn’t make it in our show,’” Mazin recalled Druckmann saying, “’these guys had a happier ending than they did in the game.’” www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a42691787/how-do-bill-and-frank-die-in-the-last-of-us/
The episode was beloved by fans of the video game adaptation and heralded on social media as one of the best portrayals of a gay couple on television. The detour also teaches its main character to not let his heart harden. “I used to hate the world, and I was happy when everyone died,” Bill writes in his last letter to Joel (Pedro Pascal). “But I was wrong, because there was one person worth saving.” No matter what happens next in The Last of Us, it was an hour of television that will stay with us for a long, long time.
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Headshot of Josh Rosenberg JOSH ROSENBERG ASSISTANT EDITOR
Josh Rosenberg is an Assistant Editor at Esquire, keeping a steady diet of one movie a day. His past work can be found at Spin, CBR, and on his personal blog at Roseandblog.com.
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