1. Caught a plane from L.A. this morning. Gave away everything that I own. She'll be kissing a poor boy this evening, Never missing those things she's never known.
Ch.Pretty mansions weren't made to be loved in. Big blue diamonds have no feelings at all. And a rich man has no friends to speak of, But the paintings that hang on his wall.
2. I never told her that I was a rich man. She won't know now, because it's all gone. And she can love me for just who I am And not for the things that I own.
I heard this tune on a jukebox in, I guess, 1973, and never forgot it. I remembered the chorus almost intact, and sang it for anyone I though might have heard it -- even for Dick Curless whom I mistakenly thought had recorded it -- but no luck. Then, recently, using Google, I found it on a collector's website and bought it for $7, including shipping. It's a great feeling when you finally track one down like that.
It is a song very much of its time. I believe the early 70s were the era of the Flying Burrito Brothers Sin City, when the joke used to be "If God doesn't destroy Los Angeles, he owes Sodom and Gommorah an apology."
But it's also timeless enough to still be a great tune.