Added: 5 years ago
From: AllanWo
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  • most beautiful love song ever

  • My favorite country love song, along with She Is His Only Need that Wynonna covered. Let's not underestimate the folk genre singers, including artists who deliver simply but beautifully, alone, no over-production, just the woman, her voice, her guitar..like this one.

  • Texas gal.

  • Wow!, what a beautiful woman, a beautiful song and a beautiful voice. I love her confident singing in this particular video clip (at BBC). Nanci's honesty and raw talent really resonate here.

  • the complexity of her music is in it's simplicity

    

  • Everything's all right.

  • It's been a long time since I had something move me that hard.

  • first line still does it for me :) 

  • Such a beautifully unadorned performance. Singers that think that they have to throw in all sorts of grace notes could learn something from her.

  • there never has been and never will be...anyone like Nanci.....

  • @dragonboy718 i think I found the UK version of Nanci Griffiths - check out 15 year old Phoebe Peek a singer songwriter from England - she reminds me so much of Nanci and her songs are beautiful

  • This has always been one of my favorite songs by Nanci. This woman knows how to make a person FEEL.

  • 14 people don't like dancin close

  • I saw Nancy Griffith at the Grass Valley Blue Grass Festival (California) in the mid 80's. It was her and a guy backing her up on guitar (maybe bass). She came out on stage and quickly mesmerized the everyone. I remember looking out over the crowd while she was singing one of her beautiful songs and knew they all fell in love with her just as I did!

  • Happy Birthday aNGel! Been going through a bunch of your videos on your birthday. You still "Stand Me Still" when I hear you sing! 1979 at The Hole in the Wall on the Drag in Austin seem like yesterday (well almost). Thanx for being you <3 ***jerzeejeff***

  • to karen

  • @Sointula2

    In English we call them similes. Usually learn that at school when you're around 10. How old are you? 7?

  • I have been your biggest fan since 1993

  • No woman sings like Nancy. Genius.

  • Love Nanci...... :D

  • Heard this song for the first time by Nanci today. It was enchanting considering I'd only heard the Kathy Mattea version. No hate to Kathy, but this is extraordinary. She's beautiful. Nanci is my hero. 17 and loving it.

  • No she can not be more adorable. I only discovered Nancy Griffith very recently and have already bought a lot of her albums. Of all the female vocalists that I have heard, I love her voice the most. I also love her looks and her intelligence. I also feel that the bookish image that she on some of her albums is so refreshing in our sexualized society.

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  • I was talking to my dad the other day, discussing how the first time I heard this song I was 2 years old. Even more prominent now that every Woolworths store has closed.

  • wow

  • Storytelling of the highest order. Nanci's songs take you deep into the music and holds you there. Magical. How she is not a megastar baffles me.

  • Love this song, thanks fo posting!!! 

  • I heard this song back in Dublin when I was studying at Trinity College, it reminds me a lot of good memories there....

  • Grab your wife or girlfriend and hold her a little tighter and play this song.

  • My mom used play Nanci's music when i was growing up and she has something that most artists don't.

    its not all computerized and auto-tuned,

    its raw talent and

    shes a real person singing with her heart(:

  • I just love her music. To me it presents a whole different historical image of Texas-- real people and places, not stereotypical Country/Western. Whenever I get off the interestates in Texas, I always put her music on.

  • In my mind Nanci plays this song for me sitting out on Mt. Bonnell on a starry summer night in the 70's......:)

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  • Soulful.

  • how can 13 people dislike this?

  • @rafhenlow Simple, 13 (now 14) people have had failed lobotomies.

  • I love this song ...One Fair Summer Evening was the first Nanci Griffith CD I bought we all were so young back then

  • Nice Chickie song.

  • Brilliant song. .... My sister was one of the last 16 year old Woolworth waitresses at the 5 and Dime. Walgreen`s used to have a lunch counter and soda fountain too. I miss those days.

  • @rlegear19 I am now 65, I live in England. I remember as a child being taken into our local Woolworth in Southend, there was a food counter there. Not many, if any, other shops had them at the time. A loooooong time ago.

  • @rlegear19

    Have this song on a vinyl 33 record

    I remember the first time I heard Nanci sing this song before the lp was released at a small venu in Houston called Anderson Fair-Brings back memories from the 80s. Remember going to a Woolworth store in Roseneberg Texas as a kid

  • It's just perfection. I grew up listening to one of her live albums. I loved the idea of living in the American countryside (coming form London myself).

  • Absolutely beautiful....

  • This song is so awesome.

  • This song always makes me cry for some reason. I think of my Gram ... and my Grandpa and how hard both of them had worked over their lifetimes.

  • nice. This is more intimate than when I heard it by Kathy Mattea.

  • beautiful...i love you nanci

  • Ageless

  • Nanci is so peaceful and lovely.......

  • I'm old enough to barely remember Woolworth stores, but I remember. Brings back memories of my grandma taking me shopping there and buying me all of the unnecessary plastic objects I wanted. Love this song.

  • Great tune . I remember the old five and dime stores from many years ago. Thanks Nanci, we love you !

  • Some good clean music... even coming from a 23 year old, vet, ricer lol

  • @Morphd

    I screwed up. I gave you the thumbs down. It was meant for the douche- bag above you. Sorry.

  • i love you nanci...you bring tears to my eyes..at reality of life..xxx

  • I swear, it doesn't get any better than this.

  • if an Angel were to come down to show us how a song should be sung...that Angel would simply point out Nanci Griffith and smile...

  • we grew up with this...i love it

  • I saw Nanci a couple of months ago earlier in the year and she was fantastic!!! I waited well after the show to meet her even though it was announced that she would not be meeting fans or signing autographs. It was well worth the wait! Everyone had already left the venue and Nanci came out! We talked, took photos together, she signed my cd's and it was so great! She's still cute and beautiful as ever!!!!! I even got great photos of her during the concert on stage!

  • She once said that the high note she hits is to represent the little ding you would hear when the elevator stops at your floor...for those old enough to remember.little trivia there.

  • @moluvsage

    I remember!.... Ding!

  • I love Nanci and this is one of my favorite songs...

  • its like being stabbed in the heart

  • @Tomkundayo By an emotion.

  • absolutely brilliant - Nanci is one of the great female singer/songwriters

  • is it not obvious that she is an angel ?

  • You are so BEAUTIFUL The only time I saw you I will not ever forget! Sunshine Stadium or near there. I have been transformed to be able to see you again! So eclectic, and when you sang this song, I was the only one who stood up and acted like a FAN! Embarrassing, maybe, but I was 16th row and going nuts with your power and influence in my little teeny tiny life! I LOVE YOU!!!!

  • So very gently beutiful. Thank you.

  • Nanci said the movie based on this song is in the works, looking good!

  • Simple and Beautiful.......simply beautiful !

  • Nanci is absolutely precious!

  • This is the song that got me hooked on her many years ago when I lived in New Hampshire

  • One of the greats, nancy has a gentle power that few can match

  • It is a shame such a great singer was struck with cancer in 1996 but thankfully seems to have beat it. Lets hope she survives for many years so we can hear her sweet voice. She never was properly appreciated for her talent.

  • I attended a concert at the Arlington Town Hall (Massachusetts) in 1983. It was called something like "Women in Music." There were several performers. At the time I had never heard of Nanci Griffith. I had attended mainly to hear another artist. However, I was blown away by Nanci Griffith. I sensed her talent was of the highest caliber. Shortly after that, her albums became the biggest sellers ever (until then) for Rounder Records.

  • This song is truly perfect

  • Saw her in concert in London years ago, she is a great performer. My recording of Five and Dime talks about when she used to stop at the Woolworths between buses in Austen and just had time to "sort through the records and wink at the boys". She says that the gituar "ping" in the song reminds her of the sound of the elevator in Woolworths.

  • She really is like magic.

  • She is just amazing!!:) saw her in concert recently...still has every spark of magic she ever had!:)

  • Lovely, so peaceful.

  • Can she be more adorable? Good God.

  • @ingscram She's an angel

  • We are going to see her next Thursday at The Birchmere in Alexandria, Va!

  • I saw Nanci and the Blue Moon Orch. in a place called Logo in Hamburg, Germany in the '80. She was sooo good. Superior ! ! !

  • Rita was 16 years,

    hazel eyes and chestnut hair

    She made a Woolworth

    counter shine

    And Eddie was a sweet romancer,

    and a darn good dancer

    And they waltzed the aisles

    of the Five and Dime...

    So they married up in Abilene,

    lost a child in Tennessee

  • Still that love survived.

    'Cause they'd sing

    Dance a little closer to me

    Dance a little closer now

    Dance a little closer tonight

    Dance a little closer to me

    It's closing time,

    and love's on sell tonight

    at this Five and Dime

  • I first saw Nanci in the 80s on Austin City Limits, singing this song and the lovely Gulf Coast Highway.

    Funny how one can fall in love with the sound of simple songs, simply sung.

    Nanci is one of our greatest national treasures, and it's sad that she hasn't received the attention and fame she deserves. I understand the Brits and other Europeans are crazy about her.

    Always smiled at the way she made the ding ding of the elevator, and one could see the old Five and Dime in one's mind.

  • I remember one of her appearances on ACL in the '80's. they used to simulcast on public radio. I was driving and listening to the show when she told a funny story about writing this song; she said she was crushed when she left home and found out there was a five-and-dime in every other town, too. I laughed so hard I nearly drove off the road!

  • I keep laughing at your cute story - one more neat thing to file away under Nanci Griffith.

    Thanks for making my day! :-)

  • I was in Ireland in '90 and she was all over the radio then, my sister in Dundalk still loves her

  • Amen

  • :-)

  • beautiful song

  • Recently saw her at McCarter Theater in Princeton, NJ-terrific show-greaty voice and a genuinely shy woman. Lovely and real, an American treasure.

  • Actually, the connection between the American and British Woolworths had been broken a long time ago - I worked in a British Woolworth's in 1993 and was told that the US Woolworths were a separate company.

  • were is nanci gone were does she live?

  • I believe she's still touring and creating music. I also believe she lives in Austin, Texas.

  • I just listened to a recent interview in which Nanci said she lives in Nashville now, right off of Music Row.

  • I think she's married and living in London (UK!)

  • . . . love Nanci , great song - great preformance ! ! !

  • I can't hear this without welling up.

  • Angels let alot of stardust fall on Texas

    should be known as

    Whole lot star state

    Thanks Nanci see you soon at my friendly neighborhood Theatre

  • man oh man djm9063....you need to take a chill pill .....I hate liberal bullcrap probably more than you do but I love music so much that I can put politics out of my head very easily to enjoy wonderful music...maybe its because I play guitar and drums , but you really need to separate the good from the bad ....many tunes that I absolutely love are from liberal musicians that I wouldnt give the time of day to . You need to step outside the political box and crack a cold beer and enjoy the music

  • djm9063 Let it be known as you lay in pain with know relief in sight you will wonder why why. Karma Karma. You are clearly a demented human. Enjoy your demise.

  • very well said browne335 ......hell is indeed waiting for him.............what must it be like to live with such anger ....oh well , i've thought about him way too much already to give a flying crap .....rot in hell dmj9063 rot in hell.......

  • Such a pure, clean, original voice.

  • Beautiful! I agree that Nanci has a sweet, tender quality about her. Wonderful video.

  • My favorite Nanci song...........I don't know what it is about her that is so pure and tender........but you just want to wrap your arms around her.....:)

  • she s just so warm and loving

  • I turned 22 on Oct. 21st, 2000. I was working a shitty job in Nashville, but had a friend from school who was living with me time which made it enjoyable. We went to Brown's Bar to watch the first game of the Subway Series that night. Long story short, we ate greesey burgers and drank our wallet's worth when the bartender told us, "Boys, Ms. Nanci Griffith just bought everyone's tab."- I had no idea who she was at the time, but my friend did and was very grateful (I do admit, she looked famous).

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  • I loved her live concert from London, broadcast by radio 2, in 1990. She told a great tale about the Woolworth and the elevator sound. A joy to listen to. I recorded it and played it for years on cassette. Lost it years ago. Wish I could get another copy or find a dvd of the concert. What a lovely songwriter and lady. Very pretty too.

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  • She just rocks. There is a great version of this she does with Darius Rucker but I can only find audio, no video.

  • what year was this?...i can't tell

  • I love the intro she gives to this song about the Woolworth elevator tone and "useless plastic items".

    Something about the melacholy tone of the music against the sweetness of her voice...gets me everytime.

    Incredible talent.

    Thanks for posting!

  • Does the introduction have the same chords as Perry Como's classic 'Catch a Falling Star'?

  • this is perfection...that's all i can say

  • ...this is such a beautiful song sung by a beautiful lady.

  • Funny thing about this tune...I can't listen to it without tearing up. great tune.

  • Nanci, you are a Goddess to me.

  • About fifteen years ago, I had a case of cassette tapes containing my favorite, intense, face-melting heavy metal. Metallica, Nuclear Assault, etc...

    It also contained _One_Fair _Summer_Evening_

    I loved it no less than all the others. This track is just as good a reason as any why. Or maybe 'The Wing and the Wheel". Or "Troubled Fields". Or...

    What a talented lady.

  • For years I always wondered about the "elevator bell". Now I know!!! Good song.

  • When my sister relocated to Dallas back in the early 1990's, I drove with her & her two kids from Northern California, along Highway 40 thru Arizona, New Mexico, Texas. Had never been to that part of the country. Played this CD along the way and fell in love with the Southwest & Nanci Griffith. This song reminds me of that beautiful trip. Thank you for posting!

  • omg! i cried the 1st time i saw her in the royal albert hall. most magical night.

  • i've seen her live and ...i cried. i like the refrences to karen and emily, but she is better than either.. easily

  • It just occurred to me that Nancy has the same talent as Karen Carpenter.. she sings naturally without need for much inflection, a natural beautiful talent.

  • I love her. im 24 and english and was introdued to her in a degree level music writing course...never looked back...beautiful pure voice.xxxx

  • Oh m'gosh. Had anyone else noticed she looks EXACTLY like Emily DIckenson?

    And if Dickenson WERE to come back, might it not be as a singer-songwriter - one say, just like Nancy Griffith?

  • A friend and I left BC heading for LA. We tried to drive straight down I5 without anything other than gas and snack stops taking turns at the wheel. We got as far as Bakersfield. After 20 hrs of driving we had to take a break. The only radio station we could receive was playing this song. It was 1am and it seemed like the warm August breeze off the desert was carrying the song and Nanci the tune. That was the very moment I became a songwriter. Thanks for 23 years of inspiration Nanci!

  • It`s funny that this song made you a songwriter because she wrote it as her final homework assignment in a song writing workshop in Canada.

  • and my torch will burn bright

    in the darkness of the night

    but not for any fancy

    for none can ner replace my nancy..

  • there is nothing else to say about Nanci Griffith except that God set her upon this earth to touch all of our lives and souls with her gift for painting truthful and spiritual portraits of Americana. She is a national treasure, and her songs have come to rest in my spirit as naturally as my need to breathe. Hers is the most beautiful of all folk voices, and her songs mean as much to me now as they did twenty years ago. I love you Nanci!!!!!!

  • your thoughts about nanci are so true...while i have been beaten and pounded by life and its losses she has two of the alltime full bore romance of life songs, Love At The Five and Dime and Going Once, Going Twice,Going Gone....Theres a light out in the harbor....these songs and her performance of them are God sends to say love is still real, it could happen, maybe my soulmate is out there somewhere....very few others can move me like this.....

  • i read your comments .... so beautiful i wish i had something to say , i 1st heard her about 20 yrs ago i love her so much her songs are so meaningful esp her early songs im english but she has irish roots as do i , love 5 n dime makes me wanna curl up in bed in my duvet n feel warm n listen to her all night as i do quite often , god shes so gooooooood

  • thanks for your reply. I first heard Nanci as a teenager, and it was "There' a Light Beyond these Woods Mary Margaret" that drew me into her world, and made her voice a part of my heart. This song also makes me want to curl up, but in a corner booth at the old Woolworth's in my hometown (gone for years) with a warm cup of coffee and a Truman Capote love story in my hands. Even though I am not in love and have not been for years, I am in love all over again when I hear this.

  • i hope you and i both find love , mary margaret is such a lovely beautiful song about friendship and feelings that last so long , most of her songs are so beautiful i listen to them when i feel down and they pick me up , she is so wonderful

  • Thanks for the posting. I emphatise with Reluctant5 - loved Wollies (associated with my childhood and beyond!) I too associated Nanci's song with this, and rummaged through reams of old tapes and CDs to find it, unsuccessfully, so I too recalled, and sang it "in my head". Well TG that Wollies is surviving in Germany, would love to visit sometime - moreso seeing Nanci again soon, hopefully in London, have missed you a "long, long time".

  • One of my favourites of Nanci's songs. Amazingly beautiful! Thank you for posting.

    Sad to hear Woolworths busted in the UK, I always loved this shops. But I was also happy to read that Woolworths in Germany is not in danger. So Nanci if you should be missing Woolworths stores please come to Germany. And if you could do a concert there I would be a very happy man.

  • Oddly, Woolworths in the UK is not related to the US company. They simply copied the name and added the "s" back in the days when you could get away with that kind of thing!

  • No more Five and Dimes in Engalnd. Just been into Woolworths for the last time. I sung this song in my head has a tribute to Woolies. It was either that or stealing a jelly baby from the Pick 'n' Mix and those days should be long gone.

  • If you like Ms. Griffith, I recommend James McMurtry. Similarly dense and lyrical songwriting.

  • You betcha! McMurtry is fantastic - his lyrics remind me of the complexity of Townes Van Zandt, Paul Simon and Marc Cohen and a few others.

  • Great song writing . A four minute novel put to music by a fabulous singer. I love this gal.

  • Nanci is my hero.I grew up not knowing her very closly because she is my step-aunt and live in another state.She took care of my grandfather even though he was not blood until the very end.I wantto extend my gratitude to her and love because she is greater than anyone could emagine as a person.Nanci,I grieve so deeply with you with the passing of my grandfather and will hold the song 'Beautiful'as sacred forever. with nothing but respect and love,your neice christine mihelle.

  • She's a sweetheart, sounds like an angel, and this is one of my favorites of hers

  • the first line always gives me goosebumps :)

  • Brad Porcellato here inviting everyone to view some of my Youtube videos. Im a singer / song writer from New Westminster BC. I am currently recording my first CD at the Arc of the Universe Studio. The videos are just me and my guitar unplugged playing the songs as they were written. The studio effort is much more polished but its nice to hear songs in their organic state. Thanks for listening, I appreciate your comments. Brad Porcellato

  • I lived in Austin throughout the '80s, and nothing takes me back to that time like Nanci's music.

  • All for the love of unnecessary plastic objects. Nanci gives me goose bumps. God bless her.

  • I first heard this song on my cable network's Sirius Folk channel, right around Christmas and fell drop-dead in love with it. Forgot all about it a month or so later which is weird cuz I absolutely loved the song. Well, it's close to that time of year again and it popped into my memory this morning. So I Googled it and found this video. JOY!! I've not seen a video of it, just heard the song. This is truly a joyous find for me! As a 44 yr old "tuff guy" this song breaks down the facade. Love it!

  • I firs saw Nanci on Austin City Limits back in the eighties. She did the whole version of Love At The Five And Dime. Telling about the little ping. I wish someone would post that version.

    P>S> I fell head over heels in love with her that night

  • Oh thats one to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Lovely to hear a love song about a love that lasts..

  • Amazing, as good as it gets. Gives me goose bumps.

  • The little "ping" she keeps playing throughout the tune is meant to represent the "ping" of the elevator in the Woolworth store she use to go to as a girl. AS she says "We just had time to dig through the record bins, wink at the boys and get back on the bus". Delightful.

  • I never knew the ping ment that. Always gave me goose bumps. Thanks for the wise words.

  • what a beautiful voice. kathy matteo (SP?) did a great version, but why not the original from the songwriter? it's fantastic.

  • This is really special... very lovely! It's great fun to slowdown an existing rhythm ... play around with it a bit... see what works. This one really worked WELL. Love this to bits!

    Thank you David for this share.

  • So many great songs to choose from but I love this performance and the lyrics of this song demonstrate what a great story teller Nanci Griffiths is

  • God bless Nanci :)

    I hated her music initially when a friend introduced me to it (due to severe childhood Country and Western overexposure), but the sheer quality of her songwriting won me over.

    Now she's one of my most listened artists. Go Nanci :)