From a Distance
| "From a Distance" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Nanci Griffith | |
| Published | 1987 |
| Writer(s) | Julie Gold |
| Language | English |
| "From a Distance" | |
|---|---|
| Single by Nanci Griffith | |
| from the album Lone Star State of Mind & One Fair Summer Evening | |
| Released | 1988 |
| Format | Cassette |
| Genre | Country |
| Length | 4:10 (Lone Star State of Mind); 4:37 (One Fair Summer Evening) |
| Label | MCA |
| Writer(s) | Julie Gold |
| Producer(s) | Tony Brown & Nancy Griffith |
| "From a Distance" | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Single by Bette Midler | |
| from the album Some People's Lives | |
| Released | 1 October 1990 |
| Genre | CCM, pop |
| Length | 4:37 |
| Label | Atlantic |
| Writer(s) | Julie Gold |
| Producer(s) | Arif Mardin |
| "From a Distance" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by Cliff Richard | ||||
| from the album From a Distance: The Event | ||||
| B-side | Lindsay Jane II | |||
| Released | 1 October 1990 | |||
| Recorded | 16–17 June 1989 | |||
| Label | EMI | |||
| Writer(s) | Julie Gold | |||
| Producer(s) | Cliff Richard | |||
| Cliff Richard singles chronology | ||||
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| "From a Distance" | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Single by Various artists | |
| Released | 2011 |
| Length | 4:05 |
| Writer(s) | Julie Gold |
| Producer(s) | Steven O'Riordan |
"From a Distance" is a song written in 1987 by American singer-songwriter Julie Gold. Gold was working as a secretary at the time for Home Box Office and writing songs in her free time. Gold's friend, Christine Lavin, introduced the song to Nanci Griffith who first recorded it for her 1987 album, Lone Star State of Mind. It quickly became a favorite of Griffith's fans around the world.
The song also became subject of many interpretations with the most famous being the Bette Midler version.
Julie Gold has stated that she believes in an immanent and beneficent God, and also thinks that people have a right to interpret the song any way they want, as with all art. She has stated that the song is about the difference between how things appear to be and how they really are.
Nanci Griffith recorded it first in her 1987 album Lone Star State of Mind. Nanci Griffith told the story that in 1986, a songwriter Julie Gold had sent her the song asking Griffith what was wrong with it, as Gold had sent it to so many artists and record companies but none wanted to record it. Griffith had answered that she loved it so much the moment she heard it and that she really wanted to hear it performed personally by Gold herself. Thus was established a good relationship between the two with Griffith being the first to record "From a Distance" in her Lone Star State of Mind album. Although the Griffith version became very popular, the song failed to chart until Bette Midler covered it.
Griffith performed it live many times from that day on and a version of her live performance done on August 19 and 20, 1988 at the Anderson Fair, a Houston, Texas club and long known for featuring folk artists in an intimate setting, appeared in her live album One Fair Summer Evening.
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