"Memo from Turner" | ||||
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Single by Mick Jagger | ||||
from the album Performance | ||||
B-side | "Natural Magic" | |||
Released | 23 October 1970 | |||
Format | 7", 45rpm | |||
Recorded | September 1968, Olympic Studios, London | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 4:09 | |||
Label | Decca Records | |||
Writer(s) | Mick Jagger, Keith Richards | |||
Producer(s) | Jack Nitzsche | |||
Mick Jagger singles chronology | ||||
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"Memo from Turner" | |
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Song by The Rolling Stones from the album Metamorphosis | |
Released | 6 June 1975 |
Recorded | August 1968, Olympic Studios, London |
Length | 2:45 |
Writer(s) | Jagger/Richards |
Producer(s) | Jimmy Miller |
"Memo from Turner" is a solo record by Mick Jagger, featuring the slide guitar by Ry Cooder, from the soundtrack of Performance, in which Jagger played the leading role of Turner, a reclusive rock star. It was re-released in October 2007 on a seventeen-song retrospective compilation album The Very Best of Mick Jagger, making a re-appearance as a Jagger solo effort. After its original release in 1970, it had been included on Rolling Stones compilations, such as Singles Collection: The London Years as a track credited to the Jagger/Richards songwriting partnership. "Memo from Turner" was ranked #92 in the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs list of Rolling Stone.
Two different versions of "Memo from Turner" have been released, and another version is available on bootleg recordings.
The first version, which is not officially released, is a slow, brooding version recorded by members of the band Traffic. It features Steve Winwood on all instruments except drums, which are played by Jim Capaldi. The second version, released on Metamorphosis in 1975 on the Allen Klein Decca/London pre-existing legacy contracts of the Stones 1960s recordings, was a different version recorded by The Rolling Stones in November 1968, and has a looser feel than the released version. This version supposedly features Al Kooper on guitar, and perhaps Keith Richards as well. Either Charlie Watts or Capaldi plays drums on this recording. Credited to "Jagger/Richards", it is not clear how many of the Rolling Stones besides Jagger actually played on it.
The third version of the song, typified by its slide guitar, was the one recorded for the soundtrack to the movie Performance, starring Mick Jagger as the song title's "Turner". It is featured prominently in the movie, with Mick Jagger, as Turner, lip-synching it. This is the more well-known version of the song, as it was released as a solo single by Jagger in England in 1970 and is featured on the later Singles Collection: The London Years. This track was recorded in Los Angeles in early 1970, and uses the vocal track of the first, slow version. The tape of Jagger's vocals was sent to Jack Nitzsche, where all music parts were recorded by Ry Cooder on slide guitar, Russ Titelman (guitar), Randy Newman (piano), Jerry Scheff (bass) and Gene Parsons (drums).