It’s interesting, isn’t it, how Bob Hope (who turns 100 today) came to be associated so firmly with the song “Thanks for the Memory” – and in turn, the song took on a meaning unlike it had when it started out.
We all associate the song with feelings of warmth and remembrance, a way of saying goodbye. Yes, that’s part of the song’s focus – but did you ever listen to the actual, original recording of it with Bob Hope and Shirley Ross? Well, here’s your chance. Listen carefully to the song, and you’ll discover that it’s actually a bittersweet story of a couple who are splitting up, an ode to a failed love.
[Listen to “Thanks for the Memory”]
Yes, this really is a touching, sad song when sung properly — or, as the prelude to a separated couple’s reuniting, as Bob and Shirley do in the film.
Bob Hope, requiescat in pacem.