Episode 3 of HBO’s popular post-apocalyptic series The Last Of Us features (and was named after) Linda Ronstadt’s Grammy-nominated 1970 ballad “Long Long Time,” from her second album Silk Purse.
“Long Long Time” soundtracks a crucial scene in the episode. Not long after the Cordyceps pandemic outbreak, survivalist Bill (Nick Offerman) discovers an uninfected stranger, Frank (Murray Bartlett), caught in one of the traps he’s set outside his fortified home town. After reluctantly helping Frank out of the hole and giving him a fine meal of rabbit and Beaujolais in his home, Frank gleefully but courteously wanders over to Bill’s piano and starts flipping through the stash of sheet music. Ditching several unappetizing composers, he settles on The Best of Linda Ronstadt.
“This is you,” says Frank, flipping through the book and sitting down at the keys. “Oh my God, that’s my favorite.”
He begins to play and sing along to “Long Long Time” before Bill quickly takes over in protest of Frank’s jaunty performance, singing the opening lines in a gruff, pained, but reverent voice.
Ronstadt’s song prompts Frank to gauge and confirm Bill’s sexuality, as moments later, the two of them share a passionate kiss that starts a decades long relationship. In this sense, “Long Long Time” is the catalyst for their relationship and everything that follows.
Written by Gary White, Ronstadt’s song actually concerns unrequited love, but in The Last Of Us, Bill stops before the second and third verses, which include much more explicitly pained lyrics about “a love that never was.” So, by cutting off the song here, the show keeps the burgeoning romance on a positive track, avoiding the ruin Ronstadt sung about.
After a moving episode that tracks the life Bill and Frank share, from their first meeting to their deaths not long before the arrival of Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), things end on a suitably poignant note.
After Joel has read the letter Bill’s left for him and they’ve topped up on supplies, Joel and Ellie set out for the road in Bill’s truck. In the glove box, Ellie finds a tape with “mix for Bill” written on the side, and she slots it into the car’s player over Joel’s objections. But as soon as the music starts playing he changes his mind. “Oh no, wait,” he says. “No, leave it. Leave it, this is good, this is Linda Rondstadt.”
As they drive away from the home Bill and Frank shared for decades, we hear the original version of “Long Long Time”, the song Bill and Frank played for each other on the piano all those years ago. It’s a fitting reminder of how much Joel and Bill have in common (something Bill underlines in his letter), but also a poignant throwback to the start of Bill and Frank’s relationship.
“Long, Long Time” opened a lot of doors for Linda Ronstadt while she established her solo career. The song charted in the Top 20 in Canada and earned Ronstadt a Grammy Award nomination for Best Contemporary Female Vocal Performance. She was nominated alongside Bobbie Gentry (“Fancy,”) Anne Murray (“Snowbird,”) and Diana Ross (“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”)