Just Like Ronnie Said

Ronnie Spector, who passed away at 78 (not RPMs), had a raw, fresh, full of life sound that skipped merrily past time and era. It jumped from her work on “Be My Baby” and a series of follow-up smashes in the early 60s with the family Ronettes, to her solo career and her reprise in 1987 with Eddie Money in “Take Me Home Tonight (Just Like Ronnie Said).” Her joyful vocals merrily scaled the heavily produced P-Spectored “wall of sound” and gave us a sense of abandon yet tension that made every listen to a Ronnie song a fresh experience. While her personal life had its challenges, she always seemed to overcome them, and be a source of resilience, confidence, and inspiration. She shared with us a sense of hope because the “Best Part of Breaking Up Is When You’re Making Up.” Her notes of optimism will never be stilled.

As a Post Script, long-time WaPost rocker writer Chris Richards wrote at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../ronnie-spector.../ and appreciated Ronnie's "Be My Baby" as a "hit single where the blood-pounding drums quickly gave way to a voice that seemed to yearn on behalf of humanity....,and while it surged with euphoric youth-crush desire, it had cosmic wisdom, too — an almost precognitive awareness of the paradox within this highly combustible teen love thing that lives in our memories for the long ride." Ronnie may have gotten that "teen love thing" "for the long ride" from Frankie Lyman who lived just 15 blocks from Ronnie in upper Manhattan. Her voice lessons were listening to Frankie and the Teenager's records and practicing his vocal parts over and over again as described in a 2010 interview with the legendary NY DJ, Dennis Elsas at: https://wfuv.org/content/ronnie-spector-2010... Happy listening for the long ride.