"You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory" | |
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Single by Johnny Thunders | |
from the album So Alone | |
B-side | "Hurtin'" |
Released | September 22, 1978 |
Recorded | 1978 |
Studio | Basing Street Studios |
Genre | Punk rock [1] |
Length | 3:48 |
Label | Real Records ARE3 |
Songwriter(s) | Johnny Thunders |
"You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory" is a song released in 1978 by Johnny Thunders, appearing on his debut solo album So Alone and as a single taken from the album. Both the song and album include the guitar work of Peter Perrett of the Only Ones. The title was taken from a line in the "Better Living Through TV" episode of the sitcom The Honeymooners . [2] It is considered by many to be his signature song.
The ballad has been interpreted to be about Thunders' heroin addiction, or about his romance with Sable Starr. However, according to Nina Antonia's biography Johnny Thunders...In Cold Blood , the song was written years before he was a member of the New York Dolls and before he ever tried heroin. [2]
The Ronettes were an American girl group from Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York City. The group consisted of the lead singer Veronica Bennett, her older sister Estelle Bennett, and their cousin Nedra Talley. They had sung together since they were teenagers, then known as "The Darling Sisters". Signed first by Colpix Records in 1961, they moved to Phil Spector's Philles Records in March 1963 and changed their name to "The Ronettes".
Derek and the Dominos was an English–American blues rock band formed in the spring of 1970 by singer-guitarist Eric Clapton, keyboardist-singer Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Gordon. All four members had previously played together in Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, during and after Clapton's brief tenure with Blind Faith. Dave Mason supplied additional lead guitar on early studio sessions and played at their first live gig. Another participant at their first session as a band was George Harrison, the recording for whose album All Things Must Pass marked the formation of Derek and the Dominos.
End of the Century is the fifth studio album by the American punk rock band Ramones, released on February 4, 1980, through Sire Records. The album was the band's first to be produced by Phil Spector, though he had offered the band his assistance earlier in their career. With Spector fully producing the album, it was the first release that excluded original member Tommy Ramone, who had left the band in 1978 but had produced their previous album Road to Ruin. Spector used more advanced standards of engineering, such as high-quality overdubbing and echo chambers. These painstaking methods caused conflict between the band and Spector since the Ramones were accustomed to a quicker recording process. Spector emphasized the production value as well, working with a budget of around $200,000, far exceeding their earlier album sessions.
John Anthony Genzale, known professionally as Johnny Thunders, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence in the early 1970s as a member of New York Dolls. He later played with the Heartbreakers and as a solo artist.
Veronica Yvette Greenfield was an American singer who co-founded and fronted the girl group the Ronettes. She is sometimes referred to as the original "bad girl of rock and roll".
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So Alone is the debut solo studio album by Johnny Thunders, then leader of the Heartbreakers and formerly lead guitarist for New York Dolls. The album was released on October 6, 1978, and was produced by Thunders and Steve Lillywhite. So Alone was preceded by the singles "Dead or Alive" and "You Can't Put Your Arms Round A Memory", the former originally being omitted from the album and later included as a bonus track on the 1992 reissue. The album featured Heartbreakers-members Walter Lure and Billy Rath, as well as several guest musicians, including Phil Lynott, Steve Marriott, Paul Gray, Peter Perrett, Steve Jones, Paul Cook, Mike Kellie, Patti Palladin, and Chrissie Hynde.
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