In honor of Ed's solo album I thought I'd post this little YouTube clip that I stumbled across:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBIjI2J646s

I hadn't heard a version of just him on guitar in a long time so I thought it was kinda cool

I friggin love that simple little song

I got on board a little later than some of you. It wasn't until Vs. did I realize the depth and the talent of this band. This song is the one that started this decade and a half affair. Ed's solo version is still my favorite.

when/where is this from?

House of Blues, 1999. With C Average.

that was nice, thanks for posting that. am i wrong when i thought i remember reading that this song was originally a "vocal warm up" song that ed wrote and somehow or another the band heard it and really liked it and then recorded it and put it on vs.? i don't know why i think i read/heard that somewhere.

During the recording sessions for Vs. (which took place in NorCal) Eddie was sleeping in some sort of out house or something instead of the main house and he was in there and had been playing Elderly Woman and Stone heard it and said how great it was and encouraged him to record it. The whole band then recorded it and it ended up on the album. I think that's the story - it is in the Rolling Stone article written by Cameron Crowe.

I think I heard that story before but I thought it was more of a guitar warm-up than a vocal warm-up.

From the the 10/18/93 Rockline Interview with Eddie and Jeff:

Caller: I just had one question. I wanted to know on your new album there is a track called 'Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town.' Who's the elderly woman and where is the small town?

Jeff: Deep in Montana, at least that's what I thought.

Eddie: Oh, no, it could be any small town. It could be any old woman, and, umm, basically the title comes from being fed-up with one word titles.

Host: You certainly solved that problem with this one.

Eddie: No. I was just warmin' up. One day when I start singing. Just think if you were losin' your memory and you're kinda being senile and you saw your old boyfriend from long, long ago and he was all hot, driving a nice car and having a real family and you were stuck working in this small town. Small towns are fascinating, like do you try to get out, do you stay there and be a big fish in a small town. You know, I think you should get out.

One of my all time favorites

is there a dvd out there from that show?there are some great quality clips..

One of my favorites aswell. I never get sick of this song, I've never heard a bad live version either.

yep.