The Rolling Stones released their album 'Black and Blue' in 1976 and it was the follow up album to 'It's Only Rock 'n' Roll'. This album marked a few changes in personnel and style... they were recruiting a new guitarist to replace Mick Taylor and Ronnie Wood was one of the recruits that played on it and eventually joined the band. Musically, the Stones added some funk and reggae to their arsenal with this album. For some reason it wasn't received that well critically... Okay, it isn't 'Beggars Banquet' or 'Exile on Main Street' but for me personally, it is one of my favourite Rolling Stones albums. Although it charted well and even had a hit single "Fool to Cry" it now seems like a lost or long forgotten classic. "Memory Motel" at more than seven minutes long was never going to be anything but an album track... but it is one of their finest moments. A beautiful ballad with both Mick and Keith sharing the vocals. I suppose you could call it a road song about touring America (Boston, Baton Rouge and Texas to name a few places) but the theme is more of an obsession with a particular girl after a one night stand in a motel. She sang to him "you're just a memory" but she was a memory he could not get out of his head. The tour carried on but the partying stopped and the extrovert turned into an introvert... was she real? If Mick didn't really go through that pain... then give the guy a fucking Oscar.
Hannah honey was a peachy kind of girl
Her eyes were hazel and her nose was slightly curved
We spent a lonely night at the Memory Motel
It's on the ocean I guess you know it well
It took a starry night to steal my breath away
Down on the waterfront her hair all drenched
in spray
Hannah baby was a honey of a girl
Her eyes were hazel her teeth were slightly curved
She took my guitar and she began to play
She sang a song to me, stuck right in my brain
You're just a memory of a love that used to be
You're just a memory of a love that used to mean so
much to me
She got a mind of her own and she use it well, yeah
Well she's one of a kind
got a mind
She got a mind of her own, yeah, and she use it mighty fine
She drove a pick-up truck painted green and blue
The tires were wearing thin she done a mile or two
And when I asked her where she headed for
(Back up to Boston I'm singing in a bar)
I got to fly today on down to Baton Rouge
My nerves are shot already the road ain't all that smooth
Across in Texas is the rose of San Antone
I keep on a feeling that gnawing in my bones
You're just a memory (just a memory) of a love that used to mean so
much to me
(just a memory)
You're just a memory of a love that used to mean so
much to me
You're just a memory girl, you're just a sweet
old memory
And it used to mean so much to me
Sha la laa la
Sha la laa la
Sha la laa la
Sha la laa la
You're just a memory of a love that used to mean so much to me
She got a mind of her own and she use it well
Mighty fine she's one of a kind
She got a mind of her own
She's one of a kind and she use it well
On the seventh day my eyes were all aglaze
We been ten thousand miles and been in fifteen states
Every woman seemed to fade out of my mind
I hit the bottle and I hit the sack and cried
What's all this laughter on the twenty-second floor?
It's just some friends of mine and they're busting
down the doors
It's been a lonely night at the Memory Motel
You're just a memory girl just a memory
And it used to mean so much to me
You're just a memory girl you're just a memory
And it used to mean so much to me
You're just a memory girl you're just a sweet old memory
And it used to mean so much to me
You're just a memory of a love that used to mean so
much to me
She's got a mind of her own and she use it well yeah
Well she's one of a kind
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