Linda Paloma

Browne wrote it alone, at the piano, and calls it a California Mexican song. It is sung by a man who longs for a woman in love with someone else, and the title means pretty dove. On The Pretender it is the third track, and in January 1977 it was the B-side of the single Here Come Those Tears Again.

It was recorded at Sunset Sound in 1976, produced by Jon Landau and mixed by Greg Ladanyi. Arthur Gerst arranged it and plays harp, Roberto Gutierrez plays guitarron and violin, and Luis F. Damian plays guitar and vihuela. All three sing behind Browne and add whoops and hollers, and no drums or bass are credited. Van Dyke Parks helped find the musicians, and the liner notes thank him a million times over.

Songfacts hears it as the album's outlier, light and plainly fictional. Paul Elliott of MusicRadar called it a sunny love song with a warm Latin feel, while Alex Hopper in American Songwriter heard a hazy, harp-led retelling of a love gone wrong. Browne has played it on stage some 120 times, sometimes alone, most recently in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2023. Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa recorded it for the 2014 tribute Looking Into You, with Nils Lofgren on nylon guitar and accordion.