Libby Titus was (and still is) to my mind an exotic creature: tall, fragile, beautiful, always dressed in the most remarkably gorgeous designer clothes, and she wore them like a noble, tragic waif. Compared to her I felt like, and was a geek even though I too had some pretty high level fashion myself. Libby was close to Maria Muldaur, and Carly Simon ( the famous reference to her in one of her songs), and had been the partner of Dr. John, Levon Helm, and the wife of Donald Fagen.
We were close in those days, both of us struggling in wild Hollywood, and we spent a great deal of time together. I absolutely loved Libby and even tried to produce a record on her years before I became a producer.
I wrote Long Hot Summer Nights about us: a slight fable in which we would dress up in our finest, she tall and lean, me short and funny—and travel around town in her ragtop Benz, flirting with all the boys of Hollywood.
The song was included on my last album for Warner Brothers: Strange Company, produced up in Seattle by Mike Flicker. It became a sizable summertime hit up in the northwest. That album was the beginning of my exploration into rock and orchestral music together, and was a blast to make.
I’ll always remember my times with Libby as sweet, good, fun, and inspiring. I hope she’s well living back east, and I hope she’s living in splendor.
Long Hot Summer Nights was a good story, even if we didn’t really switch the men at the end….