With
this week’s look into the lyrics of “Money,” the eighth track on the 6th
Annual DGA Family and Friends Crawfish boil, we’re nearing the end of the CD.
After this week we’ll only have two more songs to cover: “Irene” and “Somebody
Told Me.”
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| Pink Floyd and Money |
There are lots of songs titled “Money.”
Pink Floyd’s song from their Dark Side of
the Moon album is probably the most famous. That song highlighted its
corrupting and pervasive nature: “Get a good job with more pay and your O.K. /Money
it's a gas/ grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.” Monty Python’s
version satirized the communist world by claiming that “you can keep your
Marxist ways for it’s only just a phase.” According to Eric Idle, money would
always win out. In the Broadway show, Cabaret,
the Emcee reminds the audience that “money, money, is what makes the world
go ‘round, world go ‘round.” This “Money” song, by Warren Prejean and the
Zydeco Rhythm and Blues band is, in fact, none of these songs. Rather it is a
cover of a famous Motown song. The Beatles, the Doors, and the Rolling Stones
have all recorded their own versions of this Detroit classic. In the late
1970s, The Flying Lizards, an experimental rock band from England, had the
biggest hit of their careers when they performed their own version of “Money.”
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| A young Berry Gordy |
This “Money” song was authored by Berry
Gordy and Janie Bradford. Gordy, most famously, was the founder of the Motown
record label. He discovered and helped popularize artists like The Supremes,
Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight, The Commodores, Stevie Wonder, and the Jackson 5.
Many of the most famous African American musicians in the 1960s and 1970s
crossed Gordy’s path at some point in their careers. In 1960, Barrett Strong,
an up and coming Motown singer released the first version of the song, which
rose to number two on the R&B charts. The song became the first hit of Gordy’s
Tambla album company (which preceded the more famous Motown records).
Disagreement soon arouse between Gordy and Strong over the authorship of “Money.”
The first release of the song included Strong’s name as a writer. Gordy,
however, claimed that Strong’s name appeared as the result of a clerical error.
The two men have battled over the issue repeatedly. In 1963, Gordy successfully
had Strong’s name removed. In 1987, when Gordy went to renew his copyright,
Strong’s name was added back on, only to be removed again the following year.
In
1963, the Beatles recorded their own version of “Money.” It was the final song
on their second UK album, With the
Beatles. In 1979, the British new wave band, The Flying Lizards, recorded
their own take on the song. It reached number five in the UK and number fifty
on the Billboard Hot 100. Like many of
the other famous songs about money, this one is relatively straightforward.
Like most (if not all of us), the singer wants money. He cares little about
things that free, recognizing that money opens doors and makes everything in
life, just a little bit easier. Below is the Flying Lizards' version because it's too weird to pass up.
Money
The best things in life are
free
But you can give them to the
birds and bees
I want money
(That's what I want)
That's what I want
(That's what I want)
That's what I want
(That's what I want)
That's what I want
(That's what I want)
You love gives me such a thrill
But your love won't pay my
bills
I want money
(That's what I want)
That's what I want
(That's what I want)
That's what I want
(That's what I want)
That's what I want
(That's what I want)
Money don't get everything it's
true
But what it don't get I can't
use
I want money
(That's what I want)
That's what I want
(That's what I want)
That's what I want
(That's what I want)
That's what I want
(That's what I want)
I want money
I want lots of money
In fact I want so much money
Give me your money
Just give me money
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