Ten Favorite Linda Ronstadt Guest Appearances: Empty Handed Heart (#1b)

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That's right, this top ten will have eleven songs. I'm sorry, I just couldn't pick between these two songs for the top dog. Given that they're by the same artist, from the same album, it's no surprise. And, of course, both feature a shining guest vocal appearance by Linda Ronstadt. So I'll post both songs and let you pick which one you prefer. Here's the first one. #1b: Empty Handed Heart - Warren Zevon As I said yesterday, Linda's performance in "Lion in the Winter" is, in my opinion, the best vocal performance she ever gave as a backing vocalist. This one is the most significant and vital to the song. Forty years ago this month Excitable Boy was released. The single, "Werewolves of London," and the critical reviews made Warren Zevon a media darling for two months. It was too much, fueling his already bad alcohol problem even worse. As he later would tell David Letterman, his consumption was "a couple of quarts of vodka a day" during that time. Amazingly, he survived that. His marriage did not. He wrote this song about the dissolution of his marriage. He described recording it as "a nude scene that's necessary in a movie," and said that he "cleared the studio" of other musicians while he sang it. You can hear the heartbreak clearly. Then Linda enters. Taking the role of Zevon's ex-wife, she sounds off the accusations that ended the marriage. Most painful: "You said you'd always be in love with me." I saw Zevon twice on the Bad Luck Streak tour in 1980. He didn't do this song. It was just too personal. Empty Handed Heart Written by Warren Zevon Recorded by Warren Zevon From Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School, 1980 Leave the fire behind you and start: