Linda Ronstadt: "I Ain't Saying You Ain't Pretty"

Linda Ronstadt recently with Santana

Linda Ronstadt's memoir will be out September 17th

 by Amelia M.L. Montes (ameliamontes.com)

"I grew up singing Mexican music, and that's based on indigenous Mexican rhythms.  Mexican music also has an overlay of West African music, based on huapango drums, and it's kind of like a 6/8 time signature, but it really is a very syncopated 6/8.  And that's how I attack vocals."  --Linda Ronstadt

They were lyrics I really hadn't heard a woman sing before, and to me, they meant everything.  It was 1967 and Linda was singing “Different Drum.”  I suddenly looked up from my homework, stared at the radio, and heard her words:

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

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

Oh 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

Yes, and I ain’t saying you ain’t pretty

All I’m saying is I’m not ready

For any person place or thing

To try and pull the reins in on me . . .

Linda Ronstadt dressed as una Adelita

The voice was silky strong, the words pragmatic and smart.  She had her reasons to be single.  She knew herself enough and loved herself enough to stand her ground.  The song had originally been written in 1965 by Mike Nesmith (yes, of “The Monkees” 1960s television show), but when Linda Ronstadt sang it, it meant something completely different.  In fact, I've never heard Mike Nesmith sing it (and maybe that’s a good thing). 

Billboard in downtown L.A. announcing her concert, "Living in the USA" at The Forum

Hearing “Different Drum” now with a twenty-first century perspective, it doesn’t seem that revolutionary, but in the 1960s, Ronstadt singing the line, “I’m not ready,” was novel.  There were so many women singing whiny straight love songs at the time.  Even after Ronstadt recorded “Different Drum,” Laura Nyro (whose voice and songs I did and still do like) came out with “Wedding Bell Blues” in 1969 (“But kisses and love won’t carry me, ‘til you marry me, Bill”).  “Save me,” I used to say when that song came on, and I’d quickly change it to something else. 

“Different Drum” was indeed “different” on so many levels.  At age 9, I immediately knew this song would be important for me. I created an image of Linda Ronstadt holding the reins, not being “tied,” following her dreams.  She was beautiful and her looks were familiar to me:  the dark hair, the tenor of her voice that matched that of Amalia Mendoza, Lola Beltrán, Lucha Villa, and others.  

“Mira hija,” mama would tell me, “la Linda es como nosotras.”  “She’s like us because she’s one of 

us.  Es Mexicana."  

It’s not like I hadn’t seen Mexican female singers on TV.  My parents owned a number of female Mexican albums and watched Mexican television which also featured Mexicam female singers.  But Linda Ronstadt was singing on “U.S.” television with other Anglo-American singing stars. She even shared billing with The Doors (and she wasn't impressed at all with Jim Morrison).  

There was Linda on television wearing the kind of hoop earrings mis tias would wear. 

 And she had dark hair like my sister’s shiny dark straight hair.   “Si—la Linda es como nosotras” and with “Different Drum,” she was saying “pues let me be” on so many levels. 

Also—she didn’t change Nesmith’s lyric: “I ain’t saying you ain’t pretty.”  It was the first time I heard “pretty” addressed to a boy.  I assumed, of course, that Linda’s lyrics were addressed to a “boy” who wanted a relationship.  The word “pretty” caught my attention because it encouraged me to create an image of a male who was definitely not mainstream, but queer.  Linda was playing with ideas of gender at a very early period.  She was “different” and “offbeat” and I completely related to her sensibilities.  Much later, in 2003, she said, “Rampant eclecticism is my middle name.” Perhaps her eclecticism was a natural impulse since she had such a wealth of diverse riches from which to draw:  a Mexican, German, English, and Dutch family background; a family who loved singing all kinds of music:  Mariachi, rock, jazz, gospel, rhythm and blues, opera, country, choral, conjunto, various African music.  She took it all in and made it her own.  She also created her own eclectic personal life and has been able to keep a low profile (well, except when she was with Jerry Brown, Jr. perhaps). She's never married (deftly holding on to the reins) and she adopted two children who are now in their teens. 

The album title "Simple Dreams" is now the title of her memoir

Last week, Ronstadt announced she cannot sing anymore due to her Parkinson’s Disease diagnosis.  The recent article in the New York Times (click here) describes, as always, a very strong woman, positive in the face of disease, and humorous as well. The article also discusses her love of literature.  Linda is described as a "voracious reader who can quote Henry James verbatim."  So when Michael Pollen urged her to write a memoir, she hesitated:  "I don't have any craft.  I don't have any skill.  And he said everybody has at least one good story in them that they can pull out."  Michael's words worked.  Simple Dreams:  A Musical Memoir will be coming out September 17th.  

Another reason for writing the book had to do with her financial situation in the face of illness. Yes, she has certainly recorded a number of songs that are still enjoying air time today (just heard "Blue Bayou" on the radio the other day). Yet she did not write most of her songs.  Songs like "Different Drum" (Nesmith) and "Blue Bayou" (Roy Orbison and Joe Melson) are not hers and therefore, she does not receive any royalties from air time.  She made her money from touring and she is unable to do so now.  Perhaps Simple Dreams will open up a new avenue for her in the area of writing.  We shall see.  I look forward to getting my copy.  In the meantime, I'm going to replay Linda singing "Tumbling Dice" (click here to watch!).  I think she sings it much better, the lyrics "tumbling" out of her mouth decisively "different" and totally hotter than Mick Jagger's version.  Orale Linda!  Dale gas!  You just keep on going now with the writing.  Michael Pollen needs to tell her she has much more than one good story.  She has many and we want to read them all.  Here's also a short video (click here) on Linda's eclectic style which include interviews with her and other musicians, producers speaking about her musical legacy.  

“So good-bye I’ll be leaving

I see no sense in this crying and grieving

We’ll both live a lot longer

If you live without me.”  

("Different Drum" final lyric stanza)  

Still beautiful and strong!