“Thanks for the Memory”: Hear an epic, virtual duet! Hope, Rainger, and Robin, vs. Sinatra, Rainger, and Robin (recordings)

Re-posted by Nicholas Stix

“Thanks for the Memory”: Hear an epic, virtual duet! Hope, Rainger, and Robin, vs. Sinatra, Rainger, and Robin (recordings)

If there’s a sadder duet, I don’t know it. It’s Bob Hope and the lovely Shirley Ross, playing a recently divorced couple who run into each other at the bar on an ocean liner, in The Big Broadcast of 1938. The song would be Bob Hope’s musical signature for the rest of his life (1903-2003), and beyond.

Once sound came in at the end of 1927, the big studios came up with every pretext imaginable do at least three things:

1. Do Vaudeville-style comedy sketch pictures (one of the first pictures I ever saw was one such, Paramount’s International House, from 1933 (“Grand Hotel of Comedy,” featuring W.C. Fields, Burns & Allen, et al.);

2. Do all-star cavalcades (e.g., MGM’s Grand Hotel in 1931 and Dinner at Eight in ‘33); and

3. Do collections of musical sketches, like this one.

“Thanks for the memory”: Shirley Ross & Bob Hope (The Big Broadcast of 38)
222pj222
130,033 views Aug 19, 2011

“There are many lyrics available to this song. It seems that no singer repeated the same lyrics twice. Here is one of the results I found on Internet.

“Note: Not the same words that they say on this video.

“Thanks for the memory” (Leo Robin/Ralph Rainger) - Shirley Ross and Bob Hope (The Big Broadcast of 1938).

Thanks for the memory,
Of rainy afternoons,
Swingy Harlem tunes,
And motor trips, and burning lips,
And burning toast and prunes,
How lovely it was!

Thanks for the memory,
Of candlelight and wine,
Castles on the Rhine,
The Parthenon and moments
On the Hudson River Line,
How lovely it was!

Many’s the time that we feasted,
And many’s the time that we fasted,
Oh, well, it was swell while it lasted,
We did have fun, and no harm done…

And thanks for the memory,
Of sunburns at the shore,
Nights in Singapore,
You might have been a headache,
But you never were a bore,
So thank you so much.
Thanks for the memory,
Of sentimental verse,
Nothing in my purse,
And chuckles when the preacher said,
“For better or for worse,”
How lovely, it was.

Thanks for the memory,
Of lingerie with lace,
Pilsner by the case,
And how I jumped the day you trumped,
My one-and-only ace,
How lovely it was!
We said goodbye with a highball,
Then I got as “high” as a steeple,
But we were intelligent people,
No tears, no fuss,
Hooray, for us!

So, thanks for the memory,
And strictly entre-nous,
Darling, how are you?
And how are all the little dreams
That never did come true?
Aw’flly glad I met you, cheerio, and toodle-oo,
And thank you, so much.







There’s a story I’m sure some of you are familiar with. At the end of the line (during the 1990s), the man long known as “The Voice” (1915-1998), was touring with a much younger, Italian comic, who would open for him. One night, The Voice went silent in mid-song.

He forgot the words. He mumbled apologies, and sounded ready to pack it in, and not just for the night.

The Italian comic started rehearsing a talk to give to The Man. “It’s alright, Mr. S. You had a great run.”

Suddenly, a voice boomed from the cheap seats. “It’s alright, Frank! And you know why? Because we love you!” We love you, Frank!

Mr. S roused himself, and ever the trouper, went on with show, and never missed another lyric or note.


55,960 views Jul 26, 2018
Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group
“Thanks for the Memory” · Frank Sinatra She Shot Me Down 1981 Frank Sinatra Enterprises, LLC
Released on: 1981-01-01
Producer: Don Costa
Lyricist: Leo Robin
Composer: Ralph Rainger


Late in his career, Sinatra asked Leo Robin to write new lyrics for him. The kid from Hoboken was about 65, and although he was married to his fourth and last wife, former Vegas show-girl Barbara, he was still acting out his “lonely guy” persona.