All The Way From Memphis is one of Ian's most well-known tunes from both the studio release and his live concerts. It is a homage to rock 'n' roll roots from Memphis and in the piano intro especially to The Killer, Jerry Lee Lewis. Live Ian has said live that the original rock and roller Jerry Lee Lewis told him there is only one thing to do when the music is low; you have to turn the sound up again! How appropriate it is that Sun Records signed Ian with Defiance Part 1 as he also recorded Ghosts as a tribute to early rock 'n' roll and the city of Memphis.
The song is mostly true and based on the 1972 Mott The Hoople concert in Memphis. This was Ian's famous invasion of Graceland that he relates in Diary of a Rock 'n' Roll Star. The foray didn't prove entirely successful but Ian got the song out of the experience.
Hunter was not happy with the Memphis mix from Mott so he was happy to do it again and perform live as well. Understandably, Ian objected to the Mott version as a single but the CBS UK Head Dick Asher put it out as soon as Hunter's back was turned on a US tour. It went Top Ten. Ian says he can be a poor judge of his own work.
The track was originally a Mott The Hoople song but Ian has consistently performed it live in concert officially from 1979-2004. It has become a staple of his live act as he moves to piano while playing it live. The studio version relates "she rides the train to Oreoles" (or Oriole) but when Luther Grosvenor (aka, Ariel Bender) played in the band Ian substitutes "Ariel" for Oreoles," otherwise he sings the original version. The Liverpool docks and the Oreoles were poetic license. Some of the lyrics are true and some fictionalized. Over the years, Hunter also changes the politically incorrect "spade," a mildly derogative word for a black male, to the neutral word dude.
More importantly, the song is a paean to the aspirations and the desperation of rockers seeking success. Hunter references the Beatles, "From the Liverpool docks to the Hollywood Bowl," noting their origin and their famous Bowl appearance, insightfully identifying a rocker's internal thoughts of pursuing success at any cost, "As your name gets hot so your heart grows cold. 'N you gotta stay young man, you can never be old." Age is something Ian understands first hand since early in his career he struggled to be in the band Mott The Hoople at the old age, at least for rock, at 29 years old. Hunter also lamented the coldness of the music business most famously in his Diary of a Rock 'n' Roll Star. He also consistently identified the limitation of stardom in Diary and elsewhere as in his lyric: "'N you look like a star but you're really out on parole!" As Hunter has struggled for recognition he popped the bubble off the rock lifestyle since it was not all that it was cracked up to be. You may be in a band, on tour, and recording, but you are not making any money. More than anyone else in the history of popular music Ian has honestly revealed what the rock lifestyle is really like.
Kjetil Bjerkestrand weirdly but fascinatingly reinterpreted the song for the Strings Attached project.
Also recorded at the Park West, Chicago IL 22nd June 1979 on Collateral Damage.
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All The Way From Memphis
(Ian Hunter)
Forgot my six-string razor - hit the sky
Half way to Memphis 'fore I realised
Well I rang the information - my axe was cold
They said she rides the train to Oreoles (or, Oriole)
Now its a mighty long way down the dusty trail
And the sun burns hot on the cold steel rails
'N I look like a bum 'n I crawl like a snail
All the way from Memphis
Well I got to Oreoles y'know - it took a month
And there was my guitar, electric junk.
Some spade said "Rock'n'rollers, you're all the same.
Man that's your instrument." I felt so ashamed.
Now its a mighty long way down rock'n'roll
Through the Bradford Cities and the Oreoles
'N you look like a star but you're still on the dole
All the way from Memphis
Yeah it's a mighty long way down rock'n'roll From the Liverpool docks to the Hollywood Bowl
'N you climb up the mountains 'n you fall down the holes
All the way from Memphis
Yeah its a mighty long way down rock'n'roll
As your name gets hot so your heart grows cold
'N you gotta stay young man, you can never be old
All the way from Memphis
Yeah its a mighty long way down rock'n'roll
Through the Bradford Cities and the Oreoles
'N you look like a star but you're really out on parole!
All the way from Memphis
All The Way From Memphis (live 18th June 1979) | 7:21 | Originally a Mott The Hoople track. This live version (recorded at the Agora, Cleveland OH) is on the 30th Anniversary issue of You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic. Not on the box set. |
All The Way From Memphis (live 22nd June 1979) | 7:17 | This live version (recorded at Park West, Chicago IL) was issued on Collateral Damage. Not on the box set. |
All The Way From Memphis (live 5-11th November 1979) | 3:33 | This live version (recorded at The Roxy, Los Angeles CA) was originally issued on Welcome to the Club, and is also on the compilations The Best of Ian Hunter, The Collection, From The Knees Of My Heart and Shades of Ian Hunter. |
All The Way From Memphis (live 22nd November 1979) | 6:12 | This live version (recorded Hammermith Odeon, London England) was originally issued on If You Wait Long Enough For Anything, You Can Get It On Sale (box set only). |
All The Way From Memphis (live 19th April 1980) | 4:17 | This live version (recorded Rockpalast TV Show, Grugahalle, Essen Germany) was originally issued on Live At Rockpalast (not on the box set). |
All The Way From Memphis (live 11th September 1981) | 4:13 | This live version (recorded Dr. Pepper Music Festival, Pier 84, New York NY) was originally issued on the Ian Hunter Rocks video (VHS/Laserdisc only). The video (DVD) can also be found on It Never Happened (box set only); the audio can be found on From The Knees Of My Heart (not on the box set). |
All The Way From Memphis (live 15th February 1989) | 4:55 | This live version (recorded The Dominion, London England) was issued on BBC Live in Concert. |
All The Way From Memphis (live 29/30th January 2002) | 5:28 | This live version (recorded Sentrum Scene, Oslo Norway) was issued on Strings Attached. |
All The Way From Memphis (live 28th May 2004) | 5:38 | This live version (recorded The Astoria, London England) was released on The Truth, The Whole Truth and Nuthin' But The Truth and on Behind The Shades and Greatest Hits Live In London. Not on the box set. |