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Post by MokyWI on Mar 16, 2013 9:23:27 GMT -5
I am watching Roy Orbison's special from the late 1980's, the one with Raitt, Warnes, Browne, Springsteen, Souther, Tom Waits and K.D. Lang backing him up. I can't remember if we have ever talked about this special, or Linda's none participation in this project. Ronstadt seemed like would have fit perfect in his band for the night, yet she was not. Does anyone know if Linda was considered by Orbison's team to take part in the special, "Blue Bayou" is the second song into the set? "Blue Bayou" was never a huge hit for Orbison, or at least I don't think it was, not like it was for Ronstadt...oh wait...Elvis Costello is in the houseband as well...maybe that had something to do with it. Was Costello still selling his "asshole" image by bashing Ronstadt in the late 1980's?
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Post by erik on Mar 16, 2013 11:33:02 GMT -5
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2013 13:32:37 GMT -5
As noted previously, Elvis Costello was playing the bad boy during that era, including hurling racial slurs at the late great Ray Charles. He supposedly was so out of control that Bonnie Bramlett hauled off and belted him one, which Elvis later agreed he had coming..
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Post by sliderocker on Mar 16, 2013 14:08:06 GMT -5
I remember watching the Roy Orbison special way back when, but also remember not being all that taken with it. I thought it would've been better if it had just been Roy alone with none of the tribute stars taking part. They were unnecessary.
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jimi
A Number and a Name
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Post by jimi on Mar 16, 2013 16:58:49 GMT -5
Well, it's really some sort of myth here that Roy's own version af Blue Bayou wasn't a hit. it went to no. 3 in Britain and stayed in the top 20 for 12 weeks, and it was a no. 1 hit in Australia. Internationally it was a million seller. A few of Linda's 70s hits had been big hits in Britain in the sixties, like Just One Look and I Can't Let Go which were both no.2 hits for the Hollies there. I know they had previously been done by other artists, but you get the idea that Peter Asher (who had been big in the British charts in the sixties himself) - consciously or unconsciously looked to those successes for ideas for Linda's material. And in all cases they were perfect choices and perfect matches for Linda's voice and style at the time. My only regret is that she didn't sing more Orbison songs  |
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Post by erik on Mar 16, 2013 17:56:20 GMT -5
Quote by Jimi:
In Roy's original version, "Blue Bayou" just broke the Top 30 in the U.S., peaking at #29 in November 1963. And in truth, it was the B-side to "Mean Woman Blues", which wasn't even written by Roy (it was originally written in 1957 by Claude Demetrius for Elvis' film LOVING YOU), but which got to #5. Roy's career, which had been dormant after "Oh Pretty Woman" in 1964, was revived at least in part because of Linda's cover of the song.
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Post by the Scribe on Mar 18, 2013 11:07:47 GMT -5
As noted previously, Elvis Costello was playing the bad boy during that era, including hurling racial slurs at the late great Ray Charles. He supposedly was so out of control that Bonnie Bramlett hauled off and belted him one, which Elvis later agreed he had coming.. Bad boy or not he repented for the money. People don't change their bigoted stripes that easily. I am sure he was carefully taught bigotry by his parents and peers. Really no excuse for that. |
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Post by MokyWI on Mar 18, 2013 14:00:46 GMT -5
I agree with ronstadtfanz that bigotry IS TAUGHT IN THE HOME and once it's learned it's hard to erase. Those who learn that type of thinking have also been trained NOT to think for themselves, fixing that kind of mental damage takes willingness to question face value. Something the ignorant have no time for...quick judgement is much easier. When it comes to Costello, I find his comment about Ray Charles hard to forgive. I suspect Elvis Costello was selling his bad boy image and took it too far because of being a bit intoxicated. Why in hell would he say something like that is my question? The Ronstadt comments he made I can live with, calling someone the N word if you are a white person, that scares me, and his rant about Ray Charles can't be explained away because he was intoxicated, some part of him REALLY felt the "N" in his statement at that time IMO...I like Costello's music but once I heard what he said about Charles I couldn't tune him in any longer. Being young and foolish, intoxicated...that does not wash clean.
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Post by sliderocker on Mar 19, 2013 4:37:01 GMT -5
I agree with ronstadtfanz that bigotry IS TAUGHT IN THE HOME and once it's learned it's hard to erase. Those who learn that type of thinking have also been trained NOT to think for themselves, fixing that kind of mental damage takes willingness to question face value. Something the ignorant have no time for...quick judgement is much easier. When it comes to Costello, I find his comment about Ray Charles hard to forgive. I suspect Elvis Costello was selling his bad boy image and took it too far because of being a bit intoxicated. Why in hell would he say something like that is my question? The Ronstadt comments he made I can live with, calling someone the N word if you are a white person, that scares me, and his rant about Ray Charles can't be explained away because he was intoxicated, some part of him REALLY felt the "N" in his statement at that time IMO...I like Costello's music but once I heard what he said about Charles I couldn't tune him in any longer. Being young and foolish, intoxicated...that does not wash clean. I agree somewhat that bigotry is taught or learned in the home, but it can be learned in other places and with other people too: in schools, from teachers and friends, in the work place, in the military - anywhere there is someone who doesn't like someone because of the color of their skin or the length of their hair or whatever it is that turns a person off about someone else. One shouldn't assume someone's bigotry was picked up in the home or that the parents are to blame - the poison can come from the oustide just as much as it can come from within. And sadly, even within the black community, the n-word is used freely, and in the black community, there are those who are prejudiced against whites (and who still sling "Honky" at a white person), Mexicans and Indians. Prejudice isn't limited to any one race. As for what Costello said about Charles, his comment isn't yours or mine or anyone else's to forgive, except to the one for whom the barb was aimed at and he's dead. And I can't recall if anyone ever asked him about Costello's comment or what he thought about it. I think Charles himself made some negative comments about other artists as well (including the original Elvis) and there was no widespread furor from anyone demanding Charles retract his comments. (How can someone retract their comments anyway? Once they're out there, they're out there and can't be taken back.) But, if Costello was drunk, from what I've seen with people who are drunk (I once worked at a bar), people will do all sorts of things when drunk they wouldn't do when they are sober, and they wouldn't remember it. That can include some pretty wild things, some mean and nasty things as well as having too loose of a tongue. |
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Post by the Scribe on Mar 19, 2013 17:44:41 GMT -5
When people drink (or do drugs) they lose their inhibitions and will say things they actually believe or feel no matter where they picked it up from. There are always bad seeds though but I think that is the exception.
Maybe Linda had a conflict for that show and couldn't be there. Had she shown up she may have stolen the show even if briefly and maybe they were trying to avoid that.
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Post by Partridge on Mar 19, 2013 22:51:15 GMT -5
Since at the time of this show, Roy Orbison had stated in the Rolling Stone interview that his favorite version of a song he wrote was Linda's Blue Bayou, he most likely would not have
been averse to her being on the program. Certainly a duet with Roy and Linda would have
been the highlight. Maybe they wanted to highlight only Roy. I only saw the program once
and it seemed that way. But the godawful Elvis Costello ruined it for me.
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