Lyr Add: Are You Making Any Money (Herman Hupfeld)

Subject: Lyr Add: ARE YOU MAKING ANY MONEY?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 13 Oct 08 - 12:04 PM

I was reminded of this old song from the 1930's in a recent thread about "Money" in songs and finally tracked down a version of it on the web; it doesn't appear to have been posted to the Digital Archives or mentioned previously in the threads. My mother still sings the first verse like this and I'm not sure where she got it:

You make love swell,
You makes love dandy;
You make swell molasses candy,
But tell me, honey, are you making any money?
That's all I want to know!

Here's how Romona Davies sang the song on the soundtrack of "Moonlight and Pretzels" as (1933). Re-released as The Great Depression: American Music in the '30's, © 1993


ARE YOU MAKING ANY MONEY

You make time, and you make love dandy,
You make swell molasses candy,
But, honey, are you making any money?
That's all I want to know!

You make fun, and you could make trouble,
You make mistakes, and that goes double,
But, honey, are you making any money?
That's all I want to know!

You make dates and you make trains,
I can get that through my head.
It's a cinch, in a pinch, you could make breakfast,
Even make the bed.

You make good when you make a promise,
No, I'm not a Doubting Thomas,
But, honey, are you making any money?
That's all I want to know!

But, honey, are you making any money?
That's all I want to know!

There's supposed to be another version recorded by Chick Bullock & His Levee Loungers in the 1930's but I can't seem to find it. Maybe someone else will have better luck.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Making Any Money
From: Charley Noble
Date: 14 Oct 08 - 08:52 AM

refresh number 1

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Making Any Money
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 15 Oct 08 - 02:06 PM

ARE YOU MAKIN' ANY MONEY? Was written by Herman Hupfeld, who also wrote AS TIME GOES BY and several lesser-known songs.

RedHotJazz.com has the Paul Whiteman/Ramona [Davies] recording you transcribed, but alas, it doesn't have the Chuck Bullock one. In fact, it doesn't even have The Levee Loungers listed as a band. (It does have Chuck Bullock performing as a vocalist with several other bands, but that doesn't help.)

Allmusic.com lists a couple of albums that contain the Chuck Bullock version: "Great Depression: American Music in the '30s", 1993; and "Songs of the Depression: Boom, Bust & New Deal", 1999.

I listened to a sound sample, and the lyrics correspond closely to what you already posted.

The Online 78 rpm Discography Project says Bullock & the Levee Loungers recorded ARE YOU MAKIN' ANY MONEY on 09/16/33 and it was released on the Conqueror label, 8217.

Hey, I guess it's time we dusted off some of those depression-era songs. We may be needing them over the next few years.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Are You Making Any Money
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 13 Oct 13 - 07:25 PM

Spotify has ARE YOU MAKING ANY MONEY?, as recorded by Chick Bullock & His Levee Loungers, from the album "The Great Depression: American Music in the 30's" (1993).

I listened, and lyrics are identical to those posted above, except that it has this additional bridge, which comes after the quatrain that begins "You make good when you make a promise":

You got to hand it to the fair sex; they're anything but slow.
They're revolutionizing romance, each Romeo should know.
They don't want to hear about the moonlight, or the flowers, or the spring.
Here's the little question they will ask you when you flash that famous ring:

[After that, the whole thing repeats from the top.]