Memory — This Friday’s Song

This Friday’s song is “Memory” from the musical Cats. This bittersweet ballad is the most famous song from the 1981 Andrew Lloyd Webber show. The character Grizabella sang the song. She was the “Glamour Cat.” She once led a more glamorous life, and now that she is older, she struggles to be accepted back into the tribe of Jellicle cats. Parts of the song are sung in several parts of the show. This version is the full one from a 1998 performance by Elaine Paige. Paige originated the role of Grizabella in the original  West End production of Cats.

I chose “Memory” for this Friday’s song because Teresa and I saw Cats in Miami on New Year’s Eve in 2008. This was a little more than a month after we first met. It was the first Broadway musical we saw together. We had a wonderful night. Ryan stayed with Teresa’s family while we went to the show. He and I drove back down to the Keys that night right after midnight. There were fireworks for as far as you could see the whole 25 mile ride down to the stretch. I called Teresa to tell her about it. It was an almost magical ending to a wonderful evening.

I added “Memory” to my iPad playlist that weekend. I didn’t realize how true these words would be for me…