This is one of the hardest songs for even the best singers to handle. Ronstadt's legendary pipes demonstrate how a heart breaks with a deafening sound, and her version of "Down So Low" stands nicely beside the magnificent Tracy Nelson's. Our Linda may never sing again, but we've been lucky to have had her for a few decades.
Although this is one of my all-time favorite songs by one of my all-time favorite singers oh, I prefer the version by Etta James you owe it to yourself to give it a listen!
This is THE female rock artist of our lifetime. An incredible power... We all know she can sing ANYTHING, but every damn thing she sings blows me away!
Her voice may have been stilled but what a music legacy we still have, put on one of her records close your eyes and you will find yourself in heaven. Keep singing in your mind linda memories are a beautiful thing all our ❤️ 🫶🌹
I saw Linda with this same lineup about 8 months before. Unbelievable concert but she didn’t sing Down So Low. I’ve read that singing this song really drained her because how hard it is to perform. It’s my favorite video of her performing.
Linda has been my favorite since i was 11 years old ( Simple Dreams). Her voice has no match. I get chills when i listen to her. Nobody compares to her
Yes, Tracy Nelson wrote and sang this song and quite well...in fact it is excellent but Linda takes it to new heights with her vocal range and abilities where others, including Tracy, can't. Not sure why we can't just like both artists versions. Linda and Tracy are friends. Their rendition of Rock Salt and Nails is sublime. They would do well to record together. No need to tear either of these women down to build up the other. They stand on their own as outstanding talents.
Glorious powerful stuff. That is singing your heart out. Nobody did it quite so naturally, so authentically as Linda. There is the reason she is beloved by fellow musicians - rare enough even more for a woman in the male dominated rock world. The best songbird on the planet.
As always...I went looking for comfort, and stumbled upon Linda R. My heart is torn, I knew i loved him, realized today it wasn't enough to make it through this world. This is the mastery of blues, and strength. As only a woman can know. 32 years later, and she still has it going on. Amen girl...sing it for me, won't ya? Thank ya big big.
OMG! I can't believe this song is on here. I wasn't even looking for it, I just happened to find it by accident. Damn, I have loved this song since I was a kid and had not heard it in so long. Thank you for posting. She has one of the best live voices of any female singer alive.
I love how it just goes dark so she doesn't have to smile and thank audience but just relax for a minute to bathe in the breathtaking beauty of what she's just executed!!!! (and audience can compose itself too).
@@lnl3237 thanks for your thoughts. She could sing anything because her technique was so good. She sang from that "speaky" place with no pressure on the cords. I'm learning that late in my studies 🎵
@@J9black Just had to respond one more time. Was not surprised to read that you are a serious student of singing. Actually, watched the excellent documentary on Ms. Ronstadt last night as I found it uploaded on RU-vid. It was only after seeing it last September in the theater, that I began watching RU-vid. I tried finding the full videos of the performances shown in the film. RU-vid has been quite an eye-opener for me. I have noted that often times, commenters inject politics, offer opinions about a singer's personal life or appearance, and banter about (not always civilly! ) which singer has a better voice or version of a particular song. I am neither a trained singer nor musician, and at 63, I am not likely to be pursuing a career in either. However, I have always loved to sing, and sang well enough in my younger days, that three friends risked having me sing at their weddings. The creative process fascinates me. I am always drawn to "commenters" like you, who analyze the style and substance of Ms. Ronstadt's artistry. Your "speaky voice" observation resonated with me; regardless of her age or the genre in which she is singing, I always feel Ms. Ronstadt is effortlessly communicating a story, an emotion, or a mood. She creates an intimate space that we enter into when she sings. As she articulated in her memoir and the film, she did sing for the same reasons a bird sang. I wish you all the best in your continued studies and pursuits. Please keep commenting on other posts of Ms. Ronstadt's performances, and please know that one of the "thumbs up" your comment receives will be mine!
Shes got, without question, the broadest range of musical styles in her body of work, and she pulls everyone of them off with integrity and excellence. I love this album, never heard her sing this live before. Fabulous, thanks so much for sharing.
Saw her sing this in concert at Academy of Music, NYC in 1976. Had never heard the song before, but I was feeling the goosebumps, particularly in last two minutes. Incredible performance. This was around the same time, and she seems to be wearing the same or similar peasant blouse. Amazing singer.
Still gives me chills after almost 40 years. One of the greatest of all time now fighting the battle of her life. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.
Whenever I hear this, I know that there is no other vocal that is a gut wrenching and powerful as this is. Nothing else comes close. The performance of a lifetime. And she knew it while she was signing it.
hotajax, I couldn't agree more. She's still far and away the single greatest female vocalist of all time. But it's so much more than simply having the greatest voice and skill, with her it's the raw emotional soul energy that's pouring out of her. You can tell that she means and feels every word she sings, that it's coming from her soul. As exemplified in this soul-stirring, otherworldly performance, her singing is transcendant, almost spiritual. The highest form of art which seems to sum up all at once the vastness yet the fragility of the human soul and the human experience in this world, the whole range of the deepest human emotions; love, fear, hope, despair, etc...
Kris Beal: Maybe the performance of a lifetime for someone else. For Linda, it was just another day's work. She was this good all the time. And nobody else came close.
Song written by Tracy Nelson. Her original performance of this song, written after a break up with musician Steve Miller, is equally as powerful as Linda's cover.
Regardless of musical genre, you can't go further as a vocal performer. Everytime I enjoy these live treasures of her, I wonder how it must have been backing her on stage: one of a kind dreamy singer to any professional player I guess.
When I discovered You Tube, I though, just maybe, someone had saved the perfomances of Lind Ronstadt at her absolute peak of popularity in the mid to late 1970's. Boy, was I pleased to discover this clip of her "Hasten Down The Wind" tour filmed (yes, filmed) in Germany. With absolute power in her vocals, and one of the best bands assembled (including the great Waddy W. alternating on the Fender Strat and Gibson SG), this girl tore it up every night she took the stage. Thanks for the clip!
Wow -- all I can say is magnificent !! In the 70's I saw her in concert 7 times... she always was unbelievable .. every time ! One of the best .. ever !! Thanks for posting !!
She is truly an artist with a voice that you would no longer be able to hear in the present tense. Her singing technique and how she can reach all tones with ease is unbelievable. Bravo Linda, you are a fantastic artist.
I wss speechless when I heard this live as a teenager- and now - deeply believe Linda's live version is as stuning a vocal performance as ever ben performance.
This electrifying performance proves (to me) that Linda could have had easily added the blues to the list of musical genres she conquered. As far as I have heard, this is as close as she came, but it was clearly there for her if she had wanted it. I think she tended to avoid songs and genres she didn't feel a very solid bond with stemming back to her childhood. This was the profound artistic integrity that shaped her career and for which she was well known.
I recently re-purchased the album on vinyl after a 40-year break. "The Tattler", "Someone to Lay Down Beside Me" and, of course, "Down So Low". Stellar!
Aretha had a voice, but she did not have the versatility that Linda had. There was nothing, nothing that she could not sing. Linda was in a class by herself. Love you Linda.
I wish all those reactors reacting to her main stream hits like Blue Bayou would react to this performance of her singing “Way Down Low”. There’s so many reacting to her mainstream hits. Only a couple reacting to this one. And it’s too bad. This is such outstanding performance. One for the ages. When she goes, media will most likely highlight in their news of her passing with a couple of her “hit songs” like Blur Bayou. Thank goodness though there’s youtube, as per chance a few may come across this soulful performance and truly understand her brilliance one of the most magnificent singers of all time! God Bless Linda Ronstadt! 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
As emotional avalanche. No note, no gesture is prepared or assumed. Linda delivers pure authentic pain and sorrow in an amazing live performance. Thanking someone out there that this was preserved. Among the finest video captures of a female vocalist, singing her heart out, ever.
gruntball Yes...agree....how versatile and pure the sound of her voice was. I only wish she was still singing today!! I have idolized her since my teens! I read her interesting book Simple Dreams last year and I was so entertained and learned a lot about other groups too, like the Eagles. Didn't know she got them started. I think Hasten Down the Wind was my favorite album.
These moments from Linda in the seventies are so stunning. Emotional music up there with the greatest sounds ever made by a popular singer. No one came close then and certainly no one even tries now. Just surrender.
I was all of 4 years old when she recorded this. I am sooooo ever thankful to my mom for raising me with such a beautiful voice around me. Even today..all these years later..this music is not only a core of my being, but my saviour as well. Thanks mom...not much more I can say but this is perfection that my generation, nor those that follow can ever master. Nothing like true rock blues to express ones self.
Just to agree with the last 2 commenters: .. knock down a brick wall -- hit it out of the park... That's it. Ayyyyyyeeeeeeeee... shivers up and down the spine. Tasteful accompaniment indeed, first just good piano, gradually building up and out to brass.
I think this live version is even better than the one on the album. Sounds better without the choir that the album had. It is tremendously powerful, and my fave of ALL of her songs!
I am delighted that others are singing this song, and I do love Linda R., but Tracy Nelson's original of this song on Living with the Animals has blown me away for 30+ years. I've driven many miles blasting it out at my windshield!
I've been a big fan of Linda's since the 60's (all us women wanted to "be" her), and still . . . . . . . . you listen to this after so many years and. . . . .Wow. . . . just WOW!
