Hey gentle folk,readers of my blog.It is the middle of a warm good summer.The gentle breezes of a summer make think of.....the romance of a mid summer's day. I was listening to the radio on the way to work with a soft breeze grazing past my face and heard this fine tune of Nanci Griffith's.It is about" romance in the five and dime".Music can and does carry one away.I began thinking about the five and dime of my childhood summers .After a hot day at the beach swimming in a cool wavy lake, my grandmother Sally would take me to Woolworth's, the "nickel and dime store" as Sally said, to pIck out lanyard.I remember the soft slippery squeaky feeling of the summer colors of lanyard strands in my little sweaty hands.I remember picking out sky blue and lemon yellow and practicing the box stitch.Woolworth's had a pop corny , rubbery smell to it.Sally would buy me ice cold chocolate milk to cool off.It was the kind of chocolate syrup that clung to the bottom and sides of a frothy glass.Those were rich warm happy days of summer.My romance at the time was that of a child for her grandmother that provided her with the happiest of a summer day.It is interesting to see where the mind travels when listening to a tune .Summer does lead to feelings of greater ease and receptivity,so so welcomed....
(Nanci Griffith)
Rita was sixteen years... hazel eyes and chestnut hair
She made the Woolworth counter shine
Eddie was a sweet romancer, and a darn good dancer
They'd waltz the aisles of the five and dime
[Chorus:]
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 sale tonight at this five and dime
Eddie played the steel guitar and his mama cried 'cuz he played in the bars
And kept young Rita out late at night
So, they married up in Abilene... lost a child in Tennessee
Still, that love survived
[Chorus]
One of the boys in Eddie's band... took a shine to Rita's hands
So, Eddie ran off with the bass man's wife
Oh' but he was back by June... singin' a different tune
And sportin' Miss Rita back by his side
[Chorus]
Eddie traveled with the barroom bands... till arthritis took his hands
Now he sells insurance on the side
Rita's got a house to keep... dime store novels and a love so sweet
They dance to the radio late at night
[Chorus]
[Repeat 1st verse]
They'd waltz the aisles of the five and dime
They'd waltz the aisles of the five and dim
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lovely Emma! I remember when I first got into this song--it was in summer--actually the summer I was in Israel. On long bus rides when the sun went down we'd pass mountains and I'd listen.
ReplyDeleteyes, music stirs up the memory to recall places, people, textures,smell, touch in such vivid ways as if it is almost happening again right now again.it makes me wonder about the notion of time and space, what really is past, present and future.music somehow makes those boundaries porous....
ReplyDeleteI love your description of Woolworth's- with Sally and the frothy milk-glass. You know--you should think of writing a memoir!! You should. It would be just as compelling if not more than any of the other memoirs out there like "Eat, Pray, Love" or something. Think about it.
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