Linda Ronstadt, Long Long Time: the lyrics & the meaning

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Long, Long Time is a song released by the American singer Linda Ronstadt in 1970. It was a big success in those days, remaining in the Billboard top 100 for 12 weeks. Still, the main reason why the song became again popular in the present day is for Episode 3 of the HBO series The Last of Us: the episode, titled exactly Long, Long Time, uses that song as a musical motif that accompanies the relationship between Bill and Frank, two side characters of the story. If you want to know more about the lyrics and the meaning, if you are curious about what’s behind that famous line “love will abide,” you are in the right place: in this article, you’ll find an analysis of the song and the full lyrics at the end.

You can stream Linda Ronstadt’s Long Long Time in its full version below.

Long Long Time

Long Long Time: the song lyrics & their meaning

Long Long Time is a song about a love relationship that never began. In the lyrics, Linda Ronstadt confesses that she is deeply in love with a man, but he never returned it. Therefore, she reflects on all the aspects of love that she will never know, missing a love story that never was.

In the first line of the song, “love will abide,” Linda expresses the awareness that all the things people say about love will remain unknown to her: she never had the chance to live the love story she wanted, so she sings her innocence, her ingenuity about what love is.

Love will abide
Take things in stride
Sounds like good advice
But there’s no one at my side

And time washes clean
Love’s wounds unseen
That’s what someone told me
But I don’t know what it means

We discover the truth when we get to the chorus: Linda tried her best to make that love happen but never succeeded. What’s left is the feeling she has for him, which is still alive, but unrequited. And she believes it will stay so for a long time.

‘Cause I’ve done everything I know
To try and make you mine
And I think I’m gonna love you
For a long, long time

She’s also aware that the man she loves never gave her illusions: she even warned her that she better not fall in love with him, but it didn’t help. Linda describes her pain as a price to pay for the love she feels. One day, he will go away, and nothing will be left for her.

Wait for the day
You’ll go away
Knowing that you warned me
Of the price I’d have to pay

This is the real meaning of the lyrics inside Long Long Time: I love you, and I’ll still love you for a long time, although you never let this feeling flourish in a real story. I miss all the beautiful things of love I never got, and I can’t even blame you because you always warned me that this would happen. A sad song, which represents a perfect accompaniment for the love story between Bill and Frank in The Last of Us: a story of requited love, in fact, but with a lot of resistance coming from Bill.

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The complete lyrics

Love will abide
Take things in stride
Sounds like good advice
But there’s no one at my side

And time washes clean
Love’s wounds unseen
That’s what someone told me
But I don’t know what it means

‘Cause I’ve done everything I know
To try and make you mine
And I think I’m gonna love you
For a long, long time

Caught in my fears
Blinking back the tears
I can’t say you hurt me
When you never let me near

And I never drew
One response from you
All the while you fell
All over girls you never knew

‘Cause I’ve done everything I know
To try and make you mine
And I think it’s going to hurt me
For a long, long time

Wait for the day
You’ll go away
Knowing that you warned me
Of the price I’d have to pay

And life’s full of flaws
Who knows the cause?
Living in the memory
Of a love that never was

‘Cause I’ve done everything I know
To try and change your mind
And I think I’m going to miss you
For a long, long time

‘Cause I’ve done everything I know
To try and make you mine
And I think I’m gonna love you
For a long, long time