Memory (song)

"Memory" is a show tune from the 1981 Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "Cats" sung by the character Grizabella, a one-time glamour cat who is now a shell of her former self. The song is a nostalgic remembrance of her glorious past and a declaration of her wishes to start a new life. Sung briefly in the first act and in full near the end of the show, "Memory" is the climax of the musical, and by far its most popular and well-known song.

The lyrics, written by Trevor Nunn, were based on T. S. Eliot's poems "Preludes" and "Rhapsody on a Windy Night".

Lloyd Webber, fearing that the tune sounded too similar to a work of Puccini, asked his father's opinion. According to Lloyd Webber, his father responded, "It sounds like a million dollars!"

Notable artists who have made the song popular include Elaine Paige (the original Grizabella), Barbra Streisand, Betty Buckley (first to play Grizabella on Broadway), Barry Manilow, Simone Simons and Petula Clark.

The song's climax is in the key of D-flat major, the composer's favorite.

The song is often incorrectly referred to as "Memories"; the correct title is the singular "Memory".

With lyrics in Swedish by Olle Bergman, Kikki Danielsson covered the song on her 1982 album "Kikki" as "Minnet" (translated: "The memory").

"American Idol" contestant Jason Castro sang this song on the show's seventh season.

A rendition of the song can be found in the 2003 comedy film "School Of Rock" .

External links

* [http://www.poetry-archive.com/e/rhapsody_on_a_windy_night.html Rhapsody on a Windy Night] and
* [http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/107.html Preludes] the T. S. Eliot poems that inspired the lyrics to Memory