The Bob Hope Show (and Bob Hope Specials)

Thanks For The Memory, written by Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin, Arranged by: Gordon Jenkins.  Originally from the film Big Broadcast of 1938.

Original Air Dates: 1953 - 1956 (NBC) - The Bob Hope Specials continued through to the final one in 1996. That last special completed 60 years on NBC Radio and Television for him.

Bob passed away on July 27, 2003, just a few short months after his 100th birthday. The Guinness Book of Records considers him to be the most honored entertainer ever with well over 2000 awards.

Thanks for the memory:
Of things I can't forget, journeys on a jet,
Our wond'rous week in Martinique and Vegas and roulette.
How lucky I was.

And thanks for the memory:
Of summers by the sea, dawn in Waikiki.
We had a pad in London but we didn't stop for tea;
How cozy it was.

Now since our breakup I wake up
Alone on a gray morning-after.
I long for the sound of your laughter,
And then I see the laugh's on me.

But, thanks for the memory:
Of every touch a thrill. I've been through the mill.
I've lived a lot and learned a lot, you loved me not and still;
I miss you so much.

Thanks for the memory:
Of how we used to jog even in a fog,
That barbecue in Malibu, away from all the smog -
How rainy it was.

Thanks for the memory:
Of letters I destroyed, books that we enjoyed,
Tonight the way things look, I need a book by Sigmund Freud -
How brainy he was.

Gone are those evenings on Broadway.
Together we'd go to a great show.
But now I begin with the Late Show,
And wish that you were watching, too.

I know it's a fallacy:
That grown men never cry, baby, that's a lie.
We had our bed of roses, but forgot that roses die.
And thank you so much.

It became common for Bob and his writers to change the lyrics to fit the occasion, events of the show, and/or political nature of the time.