The Dark End of the Street

[Richard W]

Was listening to this the other day when it came up on my iPod.

What a great song. The way she wails on "if you should see me, and I walk on by" perfectly captures the rising anguish of emotion of seeing and passing by your (illicit!) lover on the street.

As a bonus, the ominous opening guitar and those chiming guitars during the instrumental break awesome. Some gorgeous fingering there.

In my opinion, this is a flawless recording, with Linda, the musicians, and Asher's production at the top of their game.

I don't understand why it's so often overlooked in Linda's canon, because she sings the hell out of it and wrings from it of every drop of angst. It's as good as anything else on Heart Like a Wheel. And it's puzzling that she never, so far as I know, or heard in the seven times I saw her in concert, performed it live.

As a side note, does anyone know how Cissy Houston, Whitney's mother, happened to sing on this album?

[markv]

Mar 25, 2016 10:01:33 GMT -5 Richard W said:

Was listening to this the other day when it came up on my iPod.

What a great song. The way she wails on "if you should see me, and I walk on by" perfectly captures the rising anguish of emotion of seeing and passing by your (illicit!) lover on the street.

As a bonus, the ominous opening guitar and those chiming guitars during the instrumental break awesome. Some gorgeous fingering there.

In my opinion, this is a flawless recording, with Linda, the musicians, and Asher's production at the top of their game.

I don't understand why it's so often overlooked in Linda's canon, because she sings the hell out of it and wrings from it of every drop of angst. It's as good as anything else on Heart Like a Wheel. And it's puzzling that she never, so far as I know, or heard in the seven times I saw her in concert, performed it live.

As a side note, does anyone know how Cissy Houston, Whitney's mother, happened to sing on this album?

This has always been a favorite of mine. I totally agree wth you.

[eddiejinnj]

You are definitely right that she absolutely nails this song. It invites you to the visual in your mind. The guitar rift is imo along with yng is amongst the best in rock. eddiejinfl

[rumba]

Mar 25, 2016 10:01:33 GMT -5 Richard W said:

As a side note, does anyone know how Cissy Houston, Whitney's mother, happened to sing on this album?

Probably something as simple as she was a session singer and it was a gig.

[Belle]

Interesting about Cissy Houston, I was an early fan of Whitney Houston as well, so I'm surprised I never made this connection myself. According to Wikipedia, Cissy was a soul and gospel singer, enjoyed a solo career (won two grammies), and was a session musician--which is where she came into this LR recording. She backed up many other artists as well.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cissy_Houston

A Facebook page calls her Dr. Cissy Houston:

[erik]

Quote by Richard W re. guitar riffs on "The Dark End Of The Street":

As a bonus, the ominous opening guitar and those chiming guitars during the instrumental break awesome. Some gorgeous fingering there.

I believe those riffs are courtesy of Bob Warford, who, like several players Linda has known (Bernie Leadon; John Beland; Clarence White), favors the Fender Telecaster electric guitar, usually with a string-bending device.

[moe]

Here (hopefully) is an early version of "Dark end of the street" from a KSAN live performances recorded almost exactly a year before "Heart like a wheel" was released. It is not nearly as refined as the album version it sounds like they were still fiddling with the arrangement and Linda sounds a bit tentative like she hadn't sung it much before this.  Still it's an interesting data point in the evolution of a great song. If memory serves Warford played on this version.  I also wonder why you don't hear more about Linda performing this tune-knowing what we do about her hypercriticality she most likely didn't feel it was up to snuff-a real shame -this like many others should have been incredibly popular.

By the way whatever you think of Whitney she certainly came from musical royalty---related to Dion and Dee Dee Warwick and Leontyne Price? You can't find a better pedigree!





Well here's the link anyways I have no clue how to insert an actual video....at least the link works!

[simpledream]

one of my all time favourites and fittingly part of the tracks of 'Heart'

[simpledream]

herewith the live link nov 1973 understated compared to the album version ...

[fabtastique]

its a great song, off a classic album Linda at her early best!

[the Scribe]

I made a play list of some of Linda's covers and tried to include the original version (or original artist live version) if I could so a comparison could be made. James Carr's version is at #64. I always prefer the live versions if I can find them. Not always easy.

www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUMq4sB5dsC_qz1UpUn9T3HQp7cFh7Xgr

[Deleted]

DEOTS is one of my favourite HLAW tracks, pure deepcut diamond.

[guest]

it's such a great track, potboiler piano and guitars and the searing vocals.
lyrically, it's unique that she never specifically mentions the sex of the person, there's not a ''he'' in the lyric. she could be singing it to a woman the way the song is written. there's mystery to this track. ''it's a sin and we know that it's wrong but our love keeps coming on strong"- and are they actually doing it in the street? in a parked car? in the bushes? ''in shadows where we don't belong''

oh, my

one of my favorite linda songs

[Deleted]

The genius of HLAW, as with CDMP, HDTW & FLH specifically, is they work so well for play order, song enchantment, Linda's voice enchantment, as beginning to end listening.

This genius, so early in her career, set a very high standard. Many great songs followed on many albums, but HLAW & the 3 others as whole entertainments are at the top.

Trio 1 & "Adieu False Heart" are similar.

[Deleted]

This article by Robert Berg www.stereophile.com/content/when-linda-ronstadt-became-star acknowledges DEOTS (& KMFBA) as the best deep cut(s) from HLAW.