"Memo from Turner" is a 1970 song by Mick Jagger. It was released as a single from the soundtrack of Performance, in which Jagger played the role of Turner, a reclusive rock star.
History The musicians backing Jagger on "Memo from Turner" included Ry Cooder on slide guitar, Russ Titelman on guitar, Randy Newman on piano, Jerry Scheff on bass, and Gene Parsons on drums.
The lyric "the man who works the soft machine" may be a reference to the William S. Burroughs novel The Soft Machine.Palmer, Robert. "William Burroughs: Rolling Stone Interview", Rolling Stone. May 11, 1972. Anthologized in Rolling Stone Book of the Beats (Hyperion, 1999) and Conversations with William S. Burroughs (University Press of Mississippi, 1999).
A previously unreleased version of the song, credited to the Rolling Stones, was included on the 1975 compilation album Metamorphosis.
Critical reception Critic Robert Christgau said that "Jagger's version of Jagger–Richard's scabrous, persona-twisted 'Memo from Turner' is his envoi to the 60s."
Richie Unterberger of Allmusic wrote that on the song, Jagger uses a "drawling speak-sing voice for the lyrics, spinning bizarre mini-snapshots of decadent, cruel gangster behavior... The music isn't grim, though; it's more in a sly, ironic happy-go-lucky vein, as if to illustrate the callous, carefree glee gangsters take in such antics. It's not a celebration of the gangster mentality, though, so much as a subtle, mocking look at its decadence, with hints of repressed homosexuality and almost gruesome imagery of dog-eat-dog behavior."
"Memo from Turner" was ranked No. 92 on the Rolling Stone list 100 Greatest Guitar Songs.. Retrieved 24 January 2011. "Guitar virtuoso Ry Cooder, who played on the Stones' Let It Bleed, accused Keith Richards of stealing his open-G tuning technique on singles like 'Honky Tonk Women'. Cooder's jittery slide guitar defines Jagger's first solo recording, which was written for his film role as a decadent rock star in 1970's Performance."
References
External links "Memo from Turner" at Discogs (list of recordings)