Memory (Reprise) | Cats the Musical

Grizabella (Elaine Page) performs Memory from the 1998 production of Cats.

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Lyrics:
Memory
Turn your face to the moonlight
Let your memory lead you
Open up, enter in
If you find there
The meaning of what happiness is
Then a new life will begin

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About:
Based on T. S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, the show is set amongst a larger- than-life junkyard playground and is alive with our favourite feline characters including Rum Tum Tugger, Mr. Mistoffelees, Macavity, Jennyanydots, Old Deuteronomy, Grizabella and Skimbleshanks.

The Jellicle Cats come out to play on one special night of the year – the night of the Jellicle Ball. One by one they tell their stories for the amusement of Old Deuteronomy, their wise and benevolent leader, who must choose one of the Cats to ascend to The Heaviside Layer and be reborn into a whole new Jellicle life.

[CountryCowboy]

Sometimes, our cat is just meowing in the middle of the night with no apparent reason. I just pretend that she's just singing Memory. Well, probably she is.

[harlslive]

that "touch me! it's so easy to leave me!" gave me fucking goosebumps. absolutely flawless.

[PappyOdaniel]

Elaine just nailed the acting and characterization like no one else could. I’ve seen so many versions of this where the performer is smiling throughout, why would you smile at all during this song?!? Not only that, but every nuance is just perfect. I wouldn’t have changed the thing.

[shiningfennec]

3:33 This single change of microexpression gets me everytime. You can actually see her face light up as she sings the word "happiness", and then, in a split second, it goes back to grief and sadness. Absolutely incredible acting.

[sbb]

YOU CAN SEE THE PAIN IN HER EYES


*CRYS*

[aerielmanla]

can you imagine the amount of goosebumps you'd get hearing that live?

[analuizadefigueiredosouza]

It's touching how at first most cats avoid looking at her but by the end they're all paying attention to what she's singing. Demeter and Bombalurina seem particularly moved, Munkustrap is staring at Old Deuteronomy's reactions, Jellylorum sits still while Victoria approaches Grizabella again.

[marlejacobs]

Memory
Turn your face to the moonlight
Let your memory lead you
Open up enter in
If you find there
The meaning of what happiness is
Then a new life will begin

Memory
All alone in the moonlight
I can smile at the old days
I was beautiful then
I remember
The time I knew what happiness was
Let the memory
Live again

Burnt out ends of smoky days
The stale cold smell of morning
A street lamp dies
Another night is over
Another day is dawning

Daylight
I must wait for the sunrise
I must think of a new life
And I mustn't give in
When the dawn comes
Tonight will be a memory too
And a new day will begin

Sunlight through the trees in summer
Endless masquerading
Like a flower as the dawn is breaking
The memory is fading

Touch me
It's so easy to leave me
All alone with the memory
Of my days in the sun
If you touch me
You'll understand what happiness is
Look, a new day
Has begun

[nellieevison]

Can we talk about Jemima’s “like a flower”?! BEAUTIFUL FLAWLESS AMAZING

[johndeyoung]

The fear in her voice when she sings
*"The memory is fading"*
Is just haunting, she doesn't want to lose it.

[andycharles]

She leaves it all on stage in her performance! Incredible!

[tethryss]

Pay attention at 3:03, that is not a dub, she is holding that note WHILE STANDING UP!
That is incredible.

[cormyat]

Worst thing about the movie is so many people will assume this musical is a horrible, uncanny valley horror experience and miss out on the very real emotional impact of the musical.

[captainbarbossa]

For me it’s the eyes. Elaine Page’s vocals are up there with the best of them, but no one has *ever* emoted with their eyes in this song the way she does. I buy her pain, hurt, desperation, pride, and strength all through her eyes.

They are, after all, the window to the soul.

[cristinasanchez]

This is not the first time I heard this song, but HOLY COW, that "The memory is fading." and "Touch me! It's so easy to leave me..." hit me hard this time.

[michaeldexter]

I've seen it live on stage three times, and I don't think there was a dry eye in the house when Grizabella sang "Memory." But what *really* gets me is when, just after Grizabella collapses in hopeless despair, Jemima stands and begins to sing in that indescribably pure, unbelievably beautiful voice. Brings a tear to my eye ... every. single. time.

[hawkeye]

How is it that these cats look so much better than a movie made 20+ years later?

[drakkonscythe]

Jemima's voice is so pure. Nothing else to describe it as. Pure

[sisyphusofephyra]

This song alone is singlehandedly responsible for this fever dream of a musical success

[mcmann]

It feels like jemima’s voice can’t not be photoshopped. It’s so pure and beautiful that it doesn’t sound real