Album: Mott (1973)

Charted: 10

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• Forgot my six-string razor hit the sky
  Half way to Memphis 'fore I realized
  Well I rang the information my axe was cold
  They said she rides the train to oreoles
  
  Now it's 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 it's 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 it's 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 it's 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 Writer/s: IAN HUNTER
  Publisher: BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 11

• Bill from Sunshine State FloridaGreat song, early 70's rock and roll, but no matter how you play it, headphones, or big reference speakers, small system, it is one of those many early rock hits that is so noisy, just so much modulation or emphasis on certain instruments, or too many at one time, that it sounds like a mess, if they had toned it down a little bit and separated some of the more forward instruments that sax solo, though great, would sound a little bit less "grotesque". I am sure it sounded great live, but you had to be there!
• Andrew from EnglandThe lyrics: it's not "oreoles", it's "REO", as in Regional Entertainment Organisation, a booking facility in the UK, hence "Through the Bradford cities and the REOs". Makes sense now, dunnit ? :-)
• Michael from BostonAndy MacKay's sax bit is dynamite....I am a big Roxy fan,and I know his blowing blindfolded....I didn't need to be told it was he...there are a million David Sanborn clones out there...hard for a rock sax to find their own voice...but some do
• Tim from MinnesotaOne of my favorite uses of music in a movie involves this song. At the beginning of the 1974 Martin Scorcese film "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" Alice's son Tommy is lying on the floor with his stereo speakers positioned on each side of his head, playing "All The Way From Memphis" at window-rattling volume. Terrific movie. Great song.
• Michael from Illinois, IlI'm sorry but the grotesque sax solo is one of
  the greatest things I've ever heard...the guitar
  fades into the end of the sax solo
• Sean from Farmingdale, NyMott just did a series of reunion concerts in the UK this month.
• Lester from New York City, NyI'm a big fan of Mott the Hoople's. Mick Ralphs is one of my favorite guitar players, and Mick sang lead on many of Mott's best songs.
• Jak from Phelan, Cano one know who Ian Hunter is hes just playing in little clubs now which is good for me so i can se him a lot but he is a complete genius. especially his new album Shrunken Heads.
• Pilgrim from Vb, VaThey had their day in the sun. "All The Young Dudes" sounded like a mix between the Beatles and "All The Way From Memphis" was catchy. I just can't stand that screeching saxaphone at the end of this song. I want to go postal and shoot everything in sight when I hear it to make that noise stop. How screwed up do you have to be to think that that garbage Andy Mackay from Roxy Music is playing sounds good and even resembles music?
• Pilgrim from Vb, VaThey had their day in the sun. "All The Young Dudes" sounded like a mix between the Beatles and "All The Way From Memphis" was catchy. I just can't stand that screeching saxaphone at the end of this song. I want to go postal and shoot everything in sight when I hear it to make that noise stop. How screwed up do you have to be to think that that garbage Andy Mackay from Roxy Music is playing sounds good and even resembles music?
• Allie from A Little Ol' Town In, MiWhy doesn't anyone know about Mott the Hoople? My boyfriend is a classic rock person just like me but he doesn't know about Mott. MOTT THE HOOPLE ROCKS!!!!!!

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