They called him “The Storyteller”. One of Tom T. Hall’s most famous songs, “That’s How I Got To Memphis”, promises a story right in its title. We go in expecting to find out how the narrator reached the titular destination.
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But Hall pulls the rug out from us a bit. We don’t quite find out the itinerary of his trip. But we do discover how the contents of his heart sent him on this desperate journey.
The “Memphis” Blues Again
How does a song become a standard within a specific genre so that artists keep coming back to cover it? Well, it has to be extremely well-written, obviously. “That’s How I Got To Memphis” by Tom T. Hall clears that hurdle, no problem.
But it also has to stay relevant over a long stretch of time. It’s hard to say how much foresight Hall had in this respect. “That’s How I Got To Memphis”, which he released in 1969, was one of a bushelful of songs he was writing around that time, both for others to record and as vehicles for Hall himself to tackle as an artist.
Yet it’s somewhat striking that he didn’t include too much in the way of specifics that might have dated the song down the road. Instead, he sticks to the narrator’s urgency to find his lost love. That dogged determination is balanced out by the possibility that he might never find her.
“That’s How I Got To Memphis” wasn’t a hit for Hall when he released it on the album Ballad Of Forty Dollars & His Other Great Songs. But time has boosted its reputation, as has the fact that it’s been covered umpteen times over the years.
Exploring the Lyrics of “That’s How I Got To Memphis”
“That’s How I Got To Memphis” features a somewhat ingenious structure. Each verse delivers a pair of lines before Hall resolutely repeats the refrain. The way that he sings the chorus suggests that the narrator isn’t ashamed or regretful about his decision. A couple of two-line middle eights provide context.
It’s also clever how Hall essentially answers the implied question of the title in the first lines. “If you love somebody enough,” he sings. “You’ll follow wherever they go.” Simple, straightforward, and yet undeniably powerful.
He begs the person he’s addressing for information on her whereabouts. “I’ve got to find her and find out the trouble she’s in,” he sings, adding some intrigue to the tale. Luckily, he has other ways of locating her. “If you tell me she’s not here,” he opines. “I’ll follow the trail of tears.”
In the second middle eight, he explains how she often threatened to return to Memphis whenever they’d be at odds. He explains that he’s running on fumes, no sleep, no food, but unrelenting nonetheless: “I’ll never rest till I find out why she had to go.”
The narrator finally lets some cracks in his steadfast façade show in the final verse. “Thank you for your precious time,” he says. “Forgive me if I start to cryin’.” Tom T. Hall’s “That’s How I Got To Memphis” breaks our hearts because this guy’s intrepid efforts won’t necessarily result in a happy reconciliation, if he manages to find her at all.
Photo by Country Music Hall of Fame
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