I think it's safe to say "Faithfully" has taken its place among the greatest power ballads ever, but it's also proven to be like good wine. Time passes, and in the new burgeoning historical context of songs that once were just radio friendly hits, it ripens, deepens and opens up. There's a richness to it that has claimed real estate in my mind beyond just a power ballad. Elegant and eloquent, at times musically stunning, it speaks to everyone's longing and devotion, for whatever or whomever, that must bear the onslaught of not just physical distance, but years becoming decades, decades becoming a lifetime.
"Through space and time..." indeed.
"Two strangers learn to fall in love again / I get the joy of rediscovering you..."
#293) "Long, Long Time" by Linda Ronstadt - I like the song too, one of those early 70s ditties that drizzled out of my parents radio in their bookstore when I was four, but it's really all about the voice. Here you have a lovely woman singing a lovely song with a perfectly blended command of control, pitch and power. Ronstadt's voice was an instrument, as opposed to a weapon, which is an approach too many otherwise talented female singers get distracted by these days - the need to bellow and explode. Ronstadt just sang. Pitch perfect.
"And I think it's gonna hurt me for a long, long time..."
