Nick Offerman Once Covered a 1970s Linda Ronstadt Classic—and It Was Amazing

Nick Offerman did Linda Ronstadt proud. While playing Bill on HBO’s The Last of Us, the actor covered Ronstadt’s “Long, Long Time,” a song she released in 1970.

“I have not been hired to sing in a Broadway musical. But I happen to be married to someone who’s done many Broadway musicals,” Offerman told USA Today of Megan Mullally. “She was my coach and teacher.”

“For the rehearsal hours put into it, I was using, for better or worse, the skills Mother Nature gave me,” he added. “For obvious reasons, we weren’t going for the Michael Bublé side of my toolbox.”

@sidsriram

I was watching the latest episode of #thelastofus and was pleasantly surprised listening to Nick Offerman sing Linda Ronstadt’s classic that I recently covered, “Long, Long Time” Felt serendipitous

♬ original sound – Sid Sriram

Gary White penned the track, which was a single off Ronstadt’s sophomore album, Silk Purse. Upon its original release, the Grammy-nominated song peaked at No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100. It remained on the chart for 12 weeks.

Linda Ronstadt Addresses “Long Long Time” Resurgence

After Offerman’s performance of the song aired, Ronstadt’s song saw a 4,900 percent increase in streams on Spotify alone.

After “Long Long Time” appeared in The Last of Us, Ronstadt emailed The Los Angeles Times about how she was feeling in the wake of the renewed interest.

“My first reaction was that I was really glad for Gary White, who will get a windfall from this,” she said of the songwriter. She went on to note that the track “means a lot” to her, and is “still one of my favorites.”

“Long Long Time” isn’t the only song that’s seen a bump in popularity after a TV feature. Stranger Things has been responsible for several resurgences, including that of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” and Metallica’s “Master of Puppets.”

In a rare statement at the time, Bush gushed over how the song was given “a whole new lease of life by the young fans who love the show.”

“It’s all really exciting!” Bush wrote of the song’s renewed success. “Thanks very much to everyone who has supported the song.”

In an interview with the BBC shortly thereafter, Bush added, “I thought that the track would get some attention. But I just never imagined that it would be anything like this. It’s so exciting. But it’s quite shocking really, isn’t it? I mean, the whole world’s gone mad.”

Photo by Amanda Edwards/Getty Images for SAG-AFTRA Foundation