Thirty-five years ago my brother and I fell in love with the same woman. She was between our ages, closer to mine, but he had seen her first. My wife didn’t mind because I loved her “From a Distance” – as I first heard Nanci Griffith introduce Julie Gold’s song to the world.
The songs Nanci wrote and those from other artists that she brought to our experience are the perfection of graceful simplicity. As my wife Nancy & I shuffle through our ITunes library, any of Nanci’s songs are forbidden to be skipped.
Nanci died last Friday. Twenty years ago, I inherited from my brother 4 VHS tapes of Nanci’s concerts or specials. Wonder if I can dust off an old player as I grieve those who dance a little closer to me tonight.
……..I was a child in the sixties
Dreams could be held through TV
With Disney, and Cronkite, and Martin Luther
Oh, I believed, I believed, I believed
Now, I am the backseat driver from America
I am not at the wheel of control
I am guilty, I am war, I am the root of all evil
Lord, and I can’t drive on the left side of the road
It’s a hard life
It’s a hard life
It’s a very hard life
It’s a hard life wherever you go
If we poison our children with hatred
Then, the hard life is all that they’ll know……
“It’s a Hard Life Wherever You Go” by Nanci Griffith, 1989
What a lovely remembering. Blessings as you re-member.
I saw her in concert in Eugene Oregon probably 20 or 25 years ago and have loved her music ever since. I remember dancing joyfully knowing that I would never see any of those people again!