You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory

"You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory"

Single by Johnny Thunders
from the album So Alone
B-side	Hurtin'
Released	1978
Format	7", 12"
Genre	Punk rock
Length	3:48
Label	Real Records ARE3
Writer(s)	Johnny Thunders

"You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory" is a song released in 1978 by ex-New York Dolls member Johnny Thunders. The title was taken from a line in the "Better Living Through TV" episode of the sitcom The Honeymooners, and was written for his close friend Fabienne Shine.

Considered by many his signature song, the ballad is said to be about Thunders’ heroin addiction. However, according to Nina Antonia's biography, Johnny Thunders...In Cold Blood, the song was written before he was even a member of the New York Dolls, and years before he had ever tried heroin.

Peter Perrett, from the English new wave band The Only Ones, supplied guitar and backing vocals.