You or Your Memory

You or Your Memory
	;
Album	The Sunset Tree
Released	2005
Artist	the Mountain Goats
Length	2:15
Next Track	Broom People

You or Your Memory is the first song on the album The Sunset Tree.

Lyrics[]

I checked into a bargain priced room on La Cienega
Gazed out through the curtains of the parking lot
Walked down to the corner store just before nightfall in my bare feet
Black tarry asphalt, soft and hot
And when I came back I spread out my supplies
On the counter by the sink
I looked myself right in the eyes

St. Joseph's baby aspirin
Bartles and Jaymes
And you or your memory

I ducked behind the drapes when I saw the moon begin to rise
Gathered in my loose ends, switched off the light
And down there in the dark I can see the real truth about me
As clear as day, Lord if I make it through tonight
Then I will mend my ways and walk the straight path to the end of my days

St. Joseph's baby aspirin
Bartles and Jaymes
And you or your memory

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song[]

"This is a song that offers you a Hobson's choice. It's called 'You or Your Memory.'" -- 2005-05-07 - Northsix - Brooklyn, NY
"I looked up the motel in this song on, like, Yelp, to see what people had to say about it. They didn't think it was such a great motel. I don't -- maybe they missed, like, for me, the front office has bulletproof glass. That's pretty cool. And there's a Polaroid picture of a naked lady in the bulletproof glass and it says 'Sexy Movie Five Dollars.' So I don't know what these Yelp people have against this lovely motel that I stayed at in 1988 when I was working at an AIDS hospice." -- 2012-12-17 - The Showbox - Seattle, WA

Things Referenced in this Song[]

La Cienega Boulevard is a major north-south arterial road in Los Angeles, California.
Bartles and Jaymes is a brand of fruit-flavored wine coolers that was first manufactured in the 1980s.

Live Shows this Song Was Played at[]

Videos of this Song[]

The Sunset Tree

Track list: "You or Your Memory" • "Broom People" • "This Year" • "Dilaudid" • "Dance Music" • "Dinu Lipatti's Bones" • "Up the Wolves" • "Lion's Teeth" • "Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod" • "Magpie" • "Song for Dennis Brown" • "Love Love Love" • "Pale Green Things"
Come, Come to the Sunset Tree: "Collapsing Stars" • "High Doses #2" • "The Day the Aliens Came (Hawaiian Feeling)"

You or Your Memory

Contents

Lyrics[]

Comments by John Darnielle About this Song[]

Things Referenced in this Song[]

Live Shows this Song Was Played at[]

Videos of this Song[]

Fan Feed

You or Your Memory

Album	The Sunset Tree
Released	2005
Artist	the Mountain Goats
Length	2:15
Next Track	Broom People