The Rolling Stones :: “Memo From Turner”
Monday, March 31st, 2008
In honor of Martin Scorsese’s soon to be released Rolling Stones performance film/documentary, Shine A Light, let’s take a moment to appreciate one of the band’s most often overlooked gems.
Actually, as the sleeve above indicates, this song, while credited to Jaggers/Richards, was released as a Mick Jagger solo single in 1970 to coincide with the release of the film Performance, in which Jaggers co-starred as a past-his-prime rock star who gives safe harbor to a gangster on the run.
As a matter of fact, Jaggers may be the only Stone featured in this particular recording. Legend has it that Keef refused to participate as a sign of his displeasure that Mick’s love scenes in the film with his then girlfriend Anita Pallenberg were a little too, ummm, realistic. Instead, you have some very tasty slide guitar work from none other than Ry Cooder. Production comes courtesy of the legendary Jack Nitzsche.
An earlier, unfinished version of “Memo From Turner” actually featuring the Stones later appeared on the band’s odd’n’sods collection Metamorphasis. Anyone heard that version?
(Note to self: must add Performance to Netflix queue.)
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Mick Jagger, Memo From Turner
