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Songs about money ($$$$$$$$$$)

mactheturk 01 Aug 00 - 07:54 AM
GUEST,Roger the skiffler 01 Aug 00 - 08:15 AM
Allan C. 01 Aug 00 - 08:16 AM
Wesley S 01 Aug 00 - 09:08 AM
Gary T 01 Aug 00 - 09:27 AM
SINSULL 01 Aug 00 - 09:40 AM
GUEST,Roger the skiffler 01 Aug 00 - 09:49 AM
Mbo 01 Aug 00 - 10:10 AM
Jacob B 01 Aug 00 - 10:15 AM
Mbo 01 Aug 00 - 10:19 AM
Bert 01 Aug 00 - 10:21 AM
reggie miles 01 Aug 00 - 10:25 AM
Mark Clark 01 Aug 00 - 11:12 AM
Barbara 01 Aug 00 - 11:46 AM
Stricks 01 Aug 00 - 12:13 PM
Catrin 01 Aug 00 - 12:21 PM
Sandy Paton 01 Aug 00 - 12:44 PM
Gary T 01 Aug 00 - 01:03 PM
Uncle_DaveO 01 Aug 00 - 01:31 PM
Allan C. 01 Aug 00 - 02:32 PM
Hardiman the Fiddler 01 Aug 00 - 03:28 PM
Giac 01 Aug 00 - 03:48 PM
Jacob B 01 Aug 00 - 04:02 PM
GUEST 01 Aug 00 - 06:06 PM
GUEST,Mickey191 01 Aug 00 - 07:21 PM
Yo 01 Aug 00 - 07:48 PM
Mickey191 01 Aug 00 - 07:52 PM
ddw 01 Aug 00 - 08:11 PM
bflat 01 Aug 00 - 08:16 PM
GUEST,Rich(stupidbodhranplayerwhodoesn'tknowbetter 01 Aug 00 - 09:57 PM
GUEST,Gene 01 Aug 00 - 11:37 PM
Bill D 01 Aug 00 - 11:44 PM
mactheturk 01 Aug 00 - 11:48 PM
GUEST,Barry Finn 01 Aug 00 - 11:55 PM
rangeroger 02 Aug 00 - 12:19 AM
GUEST,franz 02 Aug 00 - 04:43 AM
Giac 02 Aug 00 - 05:58 AM
John Hindsill 02 Aug 00 - 10:17 AM
GUEST,Roger the skiffler 02 Aug 00 - 10:39 AM
Bert 02 Aug 00 - 01:06 PM
Sandy Paton 02 Aug 00 - 01:55 PM
GUEST,Ketil 02 Aug 00 - 09:16 PM
John Hindsill 03 Aug 00 - 12:18 AM
Sandy Paton 03 Aug 00 - 12:31 AM
Yo 03 Aug 00 - 06:02 AM
Catrin 03 Aug 00 - 06:14 AM
GUEST,Roger the skiffler 03 Aug 00 - 10:38 AM
Mark Clark 03 Aug 00 - 11:24 AM
GUEST,Okiemockbird 03 Aug 00 - 12:42 PM
Mbo 03 Aug 00 - 12:48 PM
GUEST,Colwyn Dane 04 Aug 00 - 12:35 PM
The Walrus at work 04 Aug 00 - 01:02 PM
Whistle Stop 04 Aug 00 - 01:19 PM
Snuffy 04 Aug 00 - 06:07 PM
Jim Dixon 19 Apr 15 - 12:31 AM
MGM·Lion 19 Apr 15 - 01:59 AM
MGM·Lion 19 Apr 15 - 02:00 AM
Airymouse 19 Apr 15 - 10:00 AM
Jim Dixon 24 Sep 15 - 02:29 PM
Jim Dixon 24 Sep 15 - 04:53 PM
Joe_F 24 Sep 15 - 06:48 PM
Jim Dixon 24 Sep 15 - 07:52 PM
Jim Dixon 24 Sep 15 - 08:27 PM
Jim Dixon 24 Sep 15 - 10:13 PM
Jim Dixon 25 Sep 15 - 08:17 AM
Jim Dixon 25 Sep 15 - 04:57 PM
Jim Dixon 25 Sep 15 - 05:50 PM
GUEST 25 Sep 15 - 06:26 PM
Jim Dixon 27 Sep 15 - 12:10 PM
Jim Dixon 27 Sep 15 - 10:48 PM
Jim Dixon 29 Sep 15 - 12:32 AM
Jim Dixon 29 Sep 15 - 07:08 PM
Jim Dixon 30 Sep 15 - 02:55 PM
Jim Dixon 05 Oct 15 - 12:51 PM
GUEST,Ken Brock 05 Oct 15 - 02:15 PM
GUEST,Ken Brock 05 Oct 15 - 02:20 PM
Uncle_DaveO 05 Oct 15 - 04:36 PM
Jim Dixon 05 Oct 15 - 09:11 PM
GUEST,Ken Brock 07 Oct 15 - 07:32 PM
GUEST,Ken Brock 07 Oct 15 - 07:33 PM
Jim Dixon 10 Oct 15 - 12:33 AM
Paul Burke 10 Oct 15 - 07:23 AM
Jim Dixon 28 Sep 16 - 08:11 AM
Jim Dixon 28 Sep 16 - 12:11 PM
Ged Fox 28 Sep 16 - 01:15 PM
Jim Dixon 28 Sep 16 - 04:54 PM
Jim Dixon 28 Sep 16 - 05:58 PM
Jim Dixon 07 Oct 16 - 09:42 PM
Jim Dixon 08 Oct 16 - 12:23 AM
Jim Dixon 23 Jan 17 - 01:38 PM
Joe_F 23 Jan 17 - 06:06 PM
Jim Dixon 23 Jan 17 - 08:10 PM
GUEST,Phil d'Conch 23 Jan 17 - 10:32 PM
Jim Dixon 23 Jan 17 - 11:02 PM
GUEST,Pete Kiddle 24 Jan 17 - 03:19 AM
GUEST,Tom Mycock 24 Jan 17 - 09:56 AM
GUEST,jim bainbridge 24 Jan 17 - 10:15 AM
Jim Dixon 24 Jan 17 - 08:16 PM
GUEST,Phil d'Conch 24 Jan 17 - 11:11 PM
Jim Dixon 28 Jan 17 - 09:35 PM
GUEST,.gargoyle 29 Jan 17 - 07:03 AM
Jim Dixon 17 Jan 18 - 01:46 PM
Joe_F 17 Jan 18 - 06:33 PM
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lefthanded guitar 21 Jan 18 - 03:17 AM
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Subject: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: mactheturk
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 07:54 AM

[Many song titles in this thread have been converted to links by a Mudelf.]

As any good folksinger knows, we measure our success by the degree we are enjoying peace, health and love..

As I turn 50, however, I occasionally consider those limited resources of time and MONEY!!!!

I'm I alone here? There are a lot of songs dealing with this topic. What are some of your favorites??

Mac


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 08:15 AM

Greenback Dollar of course!
RtS


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Subject: Lyr Add: IF I DIDN'T HAVE A DIME (from Gene Pitney
From: Allan C.
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 08:16 AM

Well, if you want the truth, one of my all-time favorites was:

IF I DIDN'T HAVE A DIME
(B.Russell/P.Medley)
As recorded by Gene Pitney, 1962.

If I didn't have a dime,
And I didn't take the time
To play the jukebox
Whoa-o-o Saturday night
Would have been a sad and lonely night
For me.

And if you weren't standing there
Ruby lips and golden hair,
Beside the jukebox
Whoa-o-o I'd have lost my chance
To hold you while you danced
With me, umm hum

While the records turned and turned
We danced and learned,
Our hearts had yearned
For this.
Neath the moon we walked
And walked and talked
Of love, and then...we kissed

Now with every sweet caress
Oh my darlin' how I blessed
That little juke box.
Whoa-o-o love songs that they sing
Wouldn't mean a single thing
Even though you're standing there
Ruby lips and golden hair
If I didn't have a dime
And I didn't take the time
To play the jukebox...

repeat above verse

Second to that would be "Me and My Uncle."


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Wesley S
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 09:08 AM

Brother Can You Spare a Dime?


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Gary T
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 09:27 AM

Little Richard did it, and it was the theme song to the movie "Dollars". I'm not sure of the title--might be "Money, Money, Money" or "Money's on My Mind" or "Dollars" or "Theme From Dollars"........


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: SINSULL
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 09:40 AM

"Money Makes the World Go Round" (Cabaret)


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 09:49 AM

Well, if we're moving away from folk there's

the R&B number "Money (That's What I Want)" covered by the Beatles.

Abba did one called "Money, Money, Money", I think.

"Sing a Song of Sixpence",

"Pennies from Heaven",

"Ten Cents a Dance",

"Five Pennies" ...
RtS


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Mbo
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 10:10 AM

Hoo wa! I LOVE "You Owe Me Money" by The Bad Examples! And "Money" by Pink Floyd.

--Matt (Money...it's a HIT!)


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Jacob B
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 10:15 AM

You Never Give Me Your Money, from the Beatle's Abbey Road album.

Out of college
Money spent
See no future
Pay no rent
All the money's gone
Nowhere to go

Every job I got the sack
Monday morning, turning back
Yellow lorries slow
Nowhere to go


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Mbo
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 10:19 AM

Dang I was gonna say that one, Jacob! I was just singing that song yesterday (no pun intended). Love it!

--Matt (1234567 all good children go to heaven)


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Bert
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 10:21 AM

I've got sixpence


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: reggie miles
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 10:25 AM

Willie Dixon's "Dead Presidents" is one I've enjoyed and Blind Willie McTell's "Last Dime Blues" is another of my favorites. Maybe because I've been there so often, (down to my last dime or just plain broke), these songs seem to ring a special chord in me. I've always enjoyed performing them.


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Mark Clark
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 11:12 AM

The blues are full of great references to money. Junior Wells used to sing:

People come and ask me, how does a poor man do,
Sews patches on his clothes, stuffs newspapers down in his shoes.

And Brownie McGhee's "Pawn Shop Blues":

I asked the pawn shop man, what are those three balls doin' on the wall,
He said I'll bet you two to one buddy, you don't get your stuff outta here at all.

Pete Seeger used to sing:

Times are gettin' hard boys, money's gettin' scarce,
Times don't get no better boys, I'm bound to leave this place,
I'll take my true love by the hand, and lead her through the town,
Sayin' goodbye to every one, goodbye to everyone.

Hoyt Axton: "Greenback Dollar."

Woody Guthrie: "Do Re Mi."

Eleven Cent Cotton and Forty Cent Meat

Too Old To Work (And Too Young To Die)

Pay Day At Coal Creek

Money Honey

Rip It Up ["I'm a fool about my money, don't try to save..."]

Ten Cents a Dance

Boy this could become a long thread.

- Mark


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Barbara
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 11:46 AM

Malvina Reynolds's Magic Penny and Money Crop


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Stricks
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 12:13 PM

I like the classic, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out", as performed by various artists from Bessie Smith to Eric Clapton.

"if I ever get my hands on a dollar again,
I'm gonna squeeze it and squeeze it 'til the old eagle grins..."

I also like the more obscure "Money Talks" by Jason and the Scorchers.

"if money talks, why don't it speak to me,
I need the conversation it's plain to see..."


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Catrin
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 12:21 PM

[WAITING FOR A TRAIN]

I haven't got a Nickel
Not a penny can I show
Get off, get off, you railroad bum
And close the boxcar door

(or something like that)

Catrin (I can hear the tune though, in my head)


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 12:44 PM

THINGS ABOUT COMIN' MY WAY:

Ain't got no money,
Can't buy no grub,
Backbone and navel
Doin' the belly-rub.
Now, after all my hard travellin',
Things about comin' my way.

DONE LAID AROUND: (and others)

Lost all my money but a two-dollar bill,
Two dollar-bill, Lord, a two-dollar bill.
Lost all my money but a two-dollar bill,
Now I'm on my long journey home.

BUSTED by Harlan Howard (sung by Johnny Cash, et al):

My bills are all due and the baby needs shoes,
And I'm busted.
Cotton is down to a quarter a pound,
And I'm busted.
I've got a cow that went dry,And a hen that won't lay,
And a big stack of bills, Gettin' bigger each day.
Tomorrow they'll haul my belongin's away,
'Cause I'm busted.

FOUR PENCE A DAY:

The ore is waiting in the tubs, The snow's upon the fell.
Canny folk are sleeping yet, But lead is reet to sell.
Come, my little washer-laddie, Come, let's away,
We're bound down to slavery For four pence a day!

TEN AND NINE by Mary Brookbank:

Oh, dear me, the mill is running fast,
And we poor shifters cannae get no rest.
Shiftin' bobbins, coarse and fine,
They fairly mak' you work For your ten and nine.

Sandy (rushing off -- more later...)


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Gary T
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 01:03 PM

Catrin, I believe those lines are from "Waiting For a Train", by Jimmie Rodgers. First line goes "All along the water tower, waiting for a train" or something like that.


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 01:31 PM

It makes no diff'rence where you are
Get the mo--o--oney!
It makes no diff'rence where you are
Mah ho--o--oney!
A nickel is a nickel, and a dime is a dime;
A dollar is a dollar most any old time
It makes no diff'rence where you are
Get the mo--o--o--oney!


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Allan C.
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 02:32 PM

Another major favorite of mine is "Seven Daffodils":

I haven't got a fortune to buy you pretty things
But I can give you moonbeams for necklaces and rings
And I can show you morning upon a thousand hills
And kiss you and give you seven daffodils.


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Hardiman the Fiddler
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 03:28 PM

I personally like, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out," as was mentioned above, but my second favorite has not yet been mentioned. It is usually played every April 15th "The Taxman" as done by the Beatles.

My third current favorite about money is "Manage the Miser." "Manage the Miser" is found in English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish Fiddle Tunes by Robin Williamson (Oak Publications) A lugubrious tune from Playford, it captures exactly how I feel when I pay the bills each month.

There's a great quote from "The Portrait of Usury," by Thomas Lodge: "The chiefest ornament of his face is that his nose sticks in the midst like an ornament in terrace work, here and there embellished and decked with verucae for want of purging with agaric. His mouth is always mumbling as if he were at his matins, and his beard is bristled like a sow that had the lousy, and over his throat there hangs a bunch of skin like a money bag.

Well said, Thomas Lodge!

Hardiman


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Giac
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 03:48 PM

Five Penny Nickel, by Tompall and the Glasers.

In fairness, though, I'm not sure it was ever in general circulation. A college roommate, who had "gone with" one of the brothers, had the 45 rpm record and played it -- a lot. Think it was on country singer Marty Robbins's "Robin" label, but wouldn't swear to it. I did grow to like it and can only remember one verse, or maybe it was the chorus:

Got a five-penny nickle with a hole in the middle,
And a one bus fair uptown,
Got an ache in my heart and I don't know where to start
'Cause my good gal let me down.

Maybe you had to hear it to appreciate it. There were some good minor chords (or one) and as a 17-year-old would-be folksinger, I was duly impressed.


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Jacob B
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 04:02 PM

I don't know if the following is accurate or not, but I read it once:

The biggest hit song of 1929, right before the Great Depression, was By The Sea. It contains the line, "Ma is rich, Pa is rich, so now what do we care."

The next year, the big hit was a song called I've Got Five Dollars.

The next year, the big hit was Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime.

And the year after that, the big hit was I've Got Plenty of Nothing.


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 06:06 PM

James Taylor's...."Money Machine"

...took a strong hit, from the money machine...


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: GUEST,Mickey191
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 07:21 PM

You had plenty money -1922
you let other women make a fool of you.
Why don't you do right? like some other men do?
Get out of here, and get me some money too.
You're sittin' 'round wond'rin' what it's all about
and all you've got to offer is a drink of stout
why don't you do right like some other men do?

By The Great : Miss PEGGY LEE,


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Yo
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 07:48 PM

I've seen some good ones here. I'd like to add :

-How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live? (Alfred Reed)

-Pay Bo Diddley

-People sure act funny (when they get their hands on the money)

All performed by David Lindley.

Yo.


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Mickey191
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 07:52 PM

like some other men do -get out of here and get me some money too. I forgot the last line till i saw it posted.


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: ddw
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 08:11 PM

A couple nobody's mentioned — Dylan's Ballad of Hollis Brown, which is more about lack of money than money itself, and One Meat Ball — the best version of which, IMHO, is done by Josh White.

david

Oh, and Simon & Garfunkel's Richard Cory, even if it is more about happiness than having lots of coin.

ddw


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: bflat
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 08:16 PM

Got a lot of Money. Not some rich ----. Got no happiness. Money stinks. Would rather laught. Would rather be just happy!Sad isn't it?


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: GUEST,Rich(stupidbodhranplayerwhodoesn'tknowbetter
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 09:57 PM

Keller Williams has a song called Stinky Green


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: GUEST,Gene
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 11:37 PM

(Love makes the world go round, but) MONEY GREASES THE WHEEL/Ferlin Husky


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 11:44 PM

Coulter's Candy has money all thru it...pennies & bawbees.


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: mactheturk
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 11:48 PM

"It's Money That Matters", by Randy Newman

"Never Enough", by David Wilcox

"Payday Blues", Dan Hicks


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: GUEST,Barry Finn
Date: 01 Aug 00 - 11:55 PM

[The Coast of Peru]
"All you who'd want money, I'd have you to go
Off the coast of Peru where the whalefish do blow"

[Wings of a Gull]
"We've slaved away for 4 years of our lives
And earned bout 3 lb 10".

[Pay Me My Money Down]
"Pay me, pay me, pay me my money down"
"Your money young man is no object to me,
Pay me the money down"

Ok I'll pass the buck. Barry


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: rangeroger
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 12:19 AM

Already mentioned; Woody Guthrie's Do Re Mi

"Money for Nothing" Dire Straits

rr


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: GUEST,franz
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 04:43 AM

I kinda like Tom Paxton's "I'm Changing My Name to Chrysler" from Pete and Arlo's "Together Again".

Also "Green Stuff" by the Blues Band.


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Giac
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 05:58 AM

For more about money, apparently by a blues fan, see this site:

clicky


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: John Hindsill
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 10:17 AM

There is a calypso song, "Mister, Pay Me Me Rent"

Clyde McPhatter & Drifters, "Money Honey (If You Want to Get Along With Me)"

In the early '50s there was a hip song, a sort of talking blues, which used most of the known slang words for money. The last line of each stanza was, "Give me money, money, money, money, money." I believe Phil Harris may have been one of the recorders of the song. ["Money"]

But the all time best songs about money and acquisitiveness belong to Eartha Kitt, "Santa Baby" and "C'est Si Bon".


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 10:39 AM

John, that Phil Harris reference rings faint bells in my CRS-infected head, I think I remember hearing it as well. I've just looked at the tracks on the Phil Harris CDs available on Amazon and All-Music Guide and don't recognise it there (the Possum Song is there though!). Anyone else remember it?
RtS


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Bert
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 01:06 PM

Ah yes John, Eartha Kitt! She also did 'Old Fashioned Millionaire' ["Just an Old-Fashioned Girl"]


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 01:55 PM

Didn't Belafonte (among others) sing:

["I'm Just a Country Boy"]
I am a poor country boy;
Money have I none.
But there's silver in the stars,
And gold in the morning sun, sun,
Gold in the morning sun.

A verse from a roustabout song ["Rowdy Soul"] in Wheeler's book:

Come here, dog, and get your bone.
Tell me which shoulder you want it on.
A penny off and a penny on;
One more load and I'll be gone!

One verse in "Stay on the Farm" says:

You may talk of the mines of Australia;
They're loaded with gold, without doubt.
But there's plenty of gold on the farm, boys,
If only you'll shovel it out!

From Jean Thomas' Ballad Makin' in Kentucky ["Push Boat"]:

Workin' on a push boat,
Fifty cents a day;
I buy a dress for Cynthie Jane,
Drink the rest away.

Here's the second verse of "Where the Ghost River Flows:"

When I started to farm, my friends declared, "Pete,
You're bound to get rich, if you stick to the wheat.
You can see for yourself the riding is done;
The farm is the place where the dollars are won."
Many years I have farmed, but now, at life's close,
Let me ride in the hills where the Ghost River flows.

George Korson collected this one from David Morrison (aged 81) at Finlayville, Pennsylvania: ["Two-Cant Coal"]

Oh, the bosses' tricks of '76
They met with some success,
Until the hand of God came down
And made them do with less.
They robbed the honest miner lad
And drunk his flowin' bowl,
Through poverty we were compelled
To dig them two-cent coal.

"Waters of Tyne" includes this verse:

Oh, where is the boatman? I'll pay any money,
And you, for your trouble, rewarded shall be,
If you'll ferry me over the Tyne to my honey,
And I will remember the boatman and thee.

Frank Proffitt sang:

Farewell to hoeing in the corn,
Goodbye to cutting hay.
I'd rather go and make my dough
On the W. P. and A.

More later.

Sandy


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: GUEST,Ketil
Date: 02 Aug 00 - 09:16 PM

Looking for Money

Hard luck Willie, grabbed his axe
Went up on the porch and started to hack
He chopped up the porch and he chopped up the steps
Sayin' money, oh, money I'll find you yet

I'm lookin' for money, I'm lookin' for money
I'm lookin' for money but I can't find none nowhere

there is more but I can't remember it ;) Off a Rounder collection, I think by The Chicken Chokers


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: John Hindsill
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 12:18 AM

A few of more: "My Name Is Morgan but It Ain't J.P." - Chad Mitchell Trio, NLCR, others with reference to NOT being J.P. (not Jaye P) Morgan.
"Three Coins in the Fountain"
"The Dollar & the Pound", a calypso
"Matilda, Matilda" - 'She took me money and run Venezuela.'
"Salvation Army Song" - 'Put a nickel on the drum, save another drunken bum'


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 12:31 AM

Have we actually overlooked:

Seven cent cotton and forty cent meat,
How in the world can a poor man eat?
Flour up high and cotton down low,
How in the world can we raise the dough?
Clothes wore out, shoes run down,
Old slouch hat with a hole in the crown,
Back nearly broken and fingers all sore,
Cotton gone down to rise no more.

Sandy


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Yo
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 06:02 AM

Steve Millers : Take the money and run. Mercury Blues starts with: "If I had money, I'll tell you what I'd do" Yo. P.S. Mactheturk, do you read all this, and what are you gonna do with it? (just curious)


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Catrin
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 06:14 AM

Anybody remember Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks?

["Payday Blues"]

I got my paycheck today
I think I'll spend it like a crazy fool
Or I'll give it all away
Something like the golden rule

I won't tell 'em at the bank
What I'm gonna do with all my dough
I'll just smile and tell 'em 'thanks'
'Cos its better that they shouldn't know

Payday, its never been like this
Payday, but where is my happiness?

Other verses are about how he's so unhappy 'cos his girl's left him.

A wonderful song!

Catrin


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 10:38 AM

Sandy, you've reminded me of another song I used to know and have now forgotten (I'm Just a Country Boy...)
Is that the title? couldn't see it in the DT. All the verses would be nice...
RtS (the DT & Forum have reminded me of so many songs I haven't thought about for years!)


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Mark Clark
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 11:24 AM

T-Bone Walker, known to professional guitarists of the 50's as the "Granddaddy of Rock & Roll," wrote in his great composition, Stormy Monday:

The eagle flies on Friday, Saturday I go out to play,
Sunday I go to church, I kneel down and pray.
(Lord, have mercy.)

      - Mark


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: GUEST,Okiemockbird
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 12:42 PM

The Ballad of Dennis Karjala contains the following two stanzas:

But when the nineteen extra years were nearly past and done,
those same proud barons then returned with cash to Washington.
"We want another twenty years, we hate the public domain.
And here's some cash that you can use to fund your next campaign."

and:

"Oh Congressmen, you are deceived! the lords of Hollywood
have made you to forget your oath to serve the common good."
"Hush you, Dennis Karjala, your egghead words are rash.
We'll listen to the film-lords, and to their ready cash."

Songs about the Mudcat's copyright troubles, such as "The Mudcat came back", (click here and scroll down) are of course indirectly about money.

T.


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Mbo
Date: 03 Aug 00 - 12:48 PM

"Put Yer Money Where Yer Mouth Is" by Oasis.


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: GUEST,Colwyn Dane
Date: 04 Aug 00 - 12:35 PM

G'day, My 2 percent worth is:-

Bad Penny Blues
I Found a Million Dollar Baby
Dreamer With A Penny
Silver Dollar
We're in the Money
A Penny A Kiss, A Penny A Hug
Dollar Princesses
Three Coins In The Fountain
All For A Shilling A Day
I.O.U.

Toodle-pip.


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: The Walrus at work
Date: 04 Aug 00 - 01:02 PM

How about:

"Poverty Knock"
"Thirteen Pence a Day"
"The Absent-Minded Beggar"
(will you kindly drop a shilling in my little tambourine
for a gentleman in khaki headed south)

Walrus


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Subject: RE: Songs about $$$$$$$$$$
From: Whistle Stop
Date: 04 Aug 00 - 01:19 PM

"Money Changes Everything" by Cyndi Lauper.


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Subject: Lyr Add: M-O-N-E-Y (trad. Suffolk)^^
From: Snuffy
Date: 04 Aug 00 - 06:07 PM

M-O-N-E-Y
As recorded by Gordon Syrett on the various-artists album "Many a Good Horseman: Traditional Music Making from Mid-Suffolk" (2009)

It's money that makes some air to go,
It's a saying old but true,
That when you've got the ready cash
Your friends will stick like glue.
But when your purse is empty
Those friends you thought sincere
Will proudly turn upon their heels,
And quickly disappear.
It is then that you'll murmur to yourself,
"I must have been a fool
To let those artful fellows
Make me their ready tool."
But if fortune smiles on me again,
You bet I will reply,
And the only one that I will trust
Is my m-o-n-e-y.

CHORUS:
M-o-n-e-y.
That is the stuff to bring you joy.
When you've got the L.S.D.
Everybody seems so free.
Folks you've never seen before
Flock around you by the score.
Girls to win your love will try,
For your m-o-n-e-y.


Now the parson preaches in the church,
But he does not do it free.
The lawyer too will give advice,
But he always wants his fee.
The butcher, too, will smell a rat
If funds are getting low,
And if you want your meat on credit
He'll quickly tell you no.
Your wife will be cold and distant.
To please her you may try.
But she won't be easy till she gets
Your m-o-n-e-y.

Collected 1982 from Gordon Syrett, at Mendlesham Green, Suffolk.

MIDI file: MONEY.MID

Timebase: 480

Tempo: 160 (375000 microsec/crotchet)
Key: G
TimeSig: 4/4 48 8
Name: M-O-N-E-Y
Text: S:Gordon Syrett
Tempo: 100 (600000 microsec/crotchet)
Start
0000 1 62 127 0479 0 62 000 0001 1 71 127 0239 0 71 000 0001 1 71 090 0239 0 71 000 0001 1 71 090 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 69 090 0479 0 69 000 0001 1 67 090 0479 0 67 000 0001 1 67 127 0239 0 67 000 0001 1 67 090 0239 0 67 000 0001 1 66 090 0959 0 66 000 0001 1 62 090 0239 0 62 000 0001 1 62 090 0239 0 62 000 0001 1 72 127 0239 0 72 000 0001 1 72 090 0719 0 72 000 0001 1 74 090 0479 0 74 000 0001 1 69 090 0479 0 69 000 0001 1 71 127 1439 0 71 000 0001 1 71 090 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 71 127 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 72 090 0479 0 72 000 0001 1 71 090 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 69 090 0479 0 69 000 0001 1 67 127 0239 0 67 000 0001 1 67 090 0479 0 67 000 0001 1 64 090 0959 0 64 000 0001 1 62 090 0239 0 62 000 0001 1 71 127 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 72 090 0479 0 72 000 0001 1 71 090 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 69 090 0479 0 69 000 0001 1 67 127 1439 0 67 000 0001 1 62 090 0479 0 62 000 0001 1 71 127 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 71 090 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 69 090 0479 0 69 000 0001 1 67 090 0479 0 67 000 0001 1 67 127 0479 0 67 000 0001 1 66 090 0959 0 66 000 0001 1 62 090 0479 0 62 000 0001 1 72 127 0479 0 72 000 0001 1 72 090 0479 0 72 000 0001 1 74 090 0479 0 74 000 0001 1 69 090 0479 0 69 000 0001 1 71 127 1439 0 71 000 0001 1 71 090 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 71 127 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 72 090 0479 0 72 000 0001 1 71 090 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 69 090 0479 0 69 000 0001 1 67 127 0479 0 67 000 0001 1 67 090 0479 0 67 000 0001 1 64 090 0479 0 64 000 0001 1 62 090 0479 0 62 000 0001 1 71 127 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 72 090 0479 0 72 000 0001 1 71 090 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 69 090 0479 0 69 000 0001 1 67 127 1439 0 67 000 0001 1 62 090 0479 0 62 000 0001 1 71 127 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 71 090 0239 0 71 000 0001 1 71 090 0239 0 71 000 0001 1 69 090 0479 0 69 000 0001 1 67 090 0479 0 67 000 0001 1 67 127 0239 0 67 000 0001 1 67 090 0239 0 67 000 0001 1 66 090 0959 0 66 000 0001 1 62 090 0479 0 62 000 0001 1 72 127 0479 0 72 000 0001 1 72 090 0479 0 72 000 0001 1 74 090 0479 0 74 000 0001 1 69 090 0479 0 69 000 0001 1 71 127 1439 0 71 000 0001 1 71 090 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 71 127 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 72 090 0479 0 72 000 0001 1 71 090 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 69 090 0479 0 69 000 0001 1 67 127 0239 0 67 000 0001 1 67 090 0479 0 67 000 0001 1 64 090 0959 0 64 000 0241 1 71 127 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 72 090 0479 0 72 000 0001 1 71 090 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 69 090 0479 0 69 000 0001 1 67 127 1439 0 67 000 0001 1 62 090 0239 0 62 000 0001 1 62 090 0239 0 62 000 0001 1 71 127 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 71 090 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 69 090 0479 0 69 000 0001 1 67 090 0479 0 67 000 0001 1 67 127 0239 0 67 000 0001 1 67 090 0239 0 67 000 0001 1 66 090 0959 0 66 000 0001 1 62 090 0479 0 62 000 0001 1 72 127 0479 0 72 000 0001 1 72 090 0479 0 72 000 0001 1 74 090 0479 0 74 000 0001 1 69 090 0479 0 69 000 0001 1 71 127 1439 0 71 000 0001 1 71 090 0239 0 71 000 0001 1 71 090 0239 0 71 000 0001 1 71 127 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 72 090 0479 0 72 000 0001 1 71 090 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 69 090 0479 0 69 000 0001 1 67 127 0239 0 67 000 0001 1 67 090 0479 0 67 000 0001 1 64 090 0719 0 64 000 0001 1 62 090 0239 0 62 000 0001 1 62 090 0239 0 62 000 0001 1 71 127 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 72 090 0479 0 72 000 0001 1 71 090 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 69 090 0479 0 69 000 0001 1 67 127 1439 0 67 000 0000 1 71 127 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 62 090 0239 0 62 000 0001 1 64 120 0479 0 64 000 0001 1 62 090 0239 0 62 000 0001 1 71 127 1439 0 71 000 0001 1 71 127 0239 0 71 000 0001 1 72 090 0239 0 72 000 0001 1 71 090 0239 0 71 000 0001 1 64 120 0479 0 64 000 0001 1 71 090 0239 0 71 000 0001 1 69 120 0479 0 69 000 0001 1 68 090 0239 0 68 000 0001 1 69 127 0959 0 69 000 0481 1 72 127 0479 0 72 000 0001 1 69 090 0239 0 69 000 0001 1 66 120 0479 0 66 000 0001 1 62 090 0239 0 62 000 0001 1 72 127 0239 0 72 000 0001 1 69 090 0479 0 69 000 0001 1 66 120 0719 0 66 000 0001 1 67 127 0239 0 67 000 0001 1 67 090 0239 0 67 000 0001 1 67 090 0239 0 67 000 0001 1 69 120 0239 0 69 000 0001 1 69 090 0479 0 69 000 0001 1 71 127 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 76 090 0239 0 76 000 0001 1 74 120 0719 0 74 000 0001 1 71 127 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 67 090 0239 0 67 000 0001 1 62 120 0239 0 62 000 0001 1 67 090 0479 0 67 000 0001 1 71 127 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 67 090 0239 0 67 000 0001 1 62 120 0719 0 62 000 0001 1 71 127 0239 0 71 000 0001 1 74 090 0479 0 74 000 0001 1 72 120 0479 0 72 000 0001 1 71 090 0239 0 71 000 0001 1 69 127 0239 0 69 000 0001 1 69 090 0479 0 69 000 0001 1 64 120 0719 0 64 000 0001 1 72 127 0479 0 72 000 0001 1 69 090 0239 0 69 000 0001 1 66 120 0239 0 66 000 0001 1 62 090 0479 0 62 000 0001 1 72 127 0239 0 72 000 0001 1 69 090 0479 0 69 000 0001 1 66 120 0719 0 66 000 0001 1 74 127 0479 0 74 000 0001 1 74 090 0239 0 74 000 0001 1 76 120 0239 0 76 000 0001 1 74 090 0479 0 74 000 0001 1 72 127 0239 0 72 000 0001 1 69 090 0479 0 69 000 0001 1 67 120 0719 0 67 000
End

This program is worth the effort of learning it.

To download the March 10 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here

ABC format:

X: 1
T:M-O-N-E-Y
M:4/4
L:1/8
S:Gordon Syrett
A:Suffolk
N:Recorded at Mendlesham Green 1982
D:Many a Good Horseman VTVS01/0
K:G

Q:200
D2|
BBB2 A2G2|GGF4 DD|cc3 d2A2|B6 B2|
B2c2 B2A2|GG2E4 D|B2c2 B2A2|G6 D2|
B2B2 A2G2|G2F4 D2|c2c2 d2A2|B6 B2|
B2c2 B2A2|G2G2 E2D2|B2c2 B2A2|G6 D2|
B2BB A2G2|GGF4 D2|c2c2 d2A2|B6 B2|
B2c2 B2A2|GG2E4 z|B2c2 B2A2|G6 DD|
B2B2 A2G2|GGF4 D2|c2c2 d2A2|B6 BB|
B2c2 B2A2|GG2E3DD|B2c2 B2A2|G6 z2||
M:6/8
Q:150
B2D E2D|B3-B3|BcB E2B A2^G|A4z2 |
c2A F2D|cA2 F3|GGG AA2|B2e d3|
B2G DG2|B2G D3|Bd2 c2B|AA2 E3|
c2A FD2|cA2 F3|d2d ed2|cA2 G3||

Wassail! V ^^


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Subject: Lyr Add: MY LAST DOLLAR (from Bert Williams)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 Apr 15 - 12:31 AM

From the sheet music at UCLA:


MY LAST DOLLAR
Words by Charles Bayha, music by Chris Smith. ©1921.
"Introduced by Bert Williams"

1. When all my good luck turns to bad,
And I am weary, blue and sad,
The best friend that I ever had
    Is my last dollar.
When all in, down and out I feel,
And to my pals I then appeal,
Who is it stakes me to a meal?
(Hm?) My last dollar.

CHORUS 1: I'm no low-down beggar; I'm the honestes' man in town.
Those that ain't got, can't get nothin'; that's a saying true I have found.
The best I get is sympathy; it ain't no use to holler,
'Cause when I'm broke, no one helps me out but my last dollar.

2. I once was stung by old Bill Wart.
I sure did sue that gamblin' sport!
I'd take my father into court
    For my last dollar.
Though I'm no cheapskate, so 'tis said,
A free big-hearted man instead,
A hold-up guy must shoot me dead
    For my last dollar.

CHORUS 2: I'm no big bad bully; I'm the peacefulles' man in town.
Any time that I've been cheated, I am penitentiary bound.
To lose my money fair and square would never make me holler,
But I won't stand to be buncoed out of my last dollar.


You can hear Bert Williams sing this song at the Internet Archive. He embellishes the lyrics with lots of patter.


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Subject: RE: Songs about money ($$$$$$$$$$)
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 19 Apr 15 - 01:59 AM

Goodness me! -- unless I missed it, nobody seems to have reminded us that I don't think much of it, it can't buy me love {Lennon/McCartney 1964]

≈M≈


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Subject: RE: Songs about money ($$$$$$$$$$)
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 19 Apr 15 - 02:00 AM

["Buy Broom Besoms"]

Besoms for a penny
Besoms for a plack


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Subject: RE: Songs about money ($$$$$$$$$$)
From: Airymouse
Date: 19 Apr 15 - 10:00 AM

Don't forget "Paper of Pins"


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Subject: Lyr Add: IF MONEY GREW ON TREES (The Toppers)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Sep 15 - 02:29 PM

The Toppers sound like Ink Spots wannabes—but they do it well. This is my transcription. Voice 1 is a tenor and sounds young. Voice 2 is a bass and sounds older.


IF MONEY GREW ON TREES
As recorded by The Toppers, on "Stompin' at the Savoy: Harlem Nocturne, 1944-1947"

If money grew on trees,
Heaven knows that I would live a life of ease.
I'd travel ev'rywhere,
Live just like a millionaire.

If money grew on trees,
I would find a fortune floating in the breeze.
I wouldn't mind working hard,
Raising money in my own backyard.

I'd buy a million dollars worth of flashy clothes,
Strut down old Broadway.
I wouldn't squeeze a dollar till it hollered.
If it hollered, I'd throw it away.

I'd live just like a king.
On each finger I would wear a diamond ring.
Then life would be a joke,
'Cause I never would be broke
If money grew on trees.

SPOKEN PATTER, OVER MUSIC:
VOICE 2: You know what?
VOICE 1: What? What's that?
VOICE 2: If money grew on trees—
VOICE 1: Boy, if it did! Hm-mm-hmm!
VOICE 2: Boy,—
VOICE 1: What?
VOICE 2: I'd live a life of ease,—
VOICE 1: A life of ease!
VOICE 2: Travel ev'rywhere, you know.
VOICE 1: On a freight train!
VOICE 2: No! Like all the rest o' them millionaires, you know.
VOICE 1: Oh, I see: like me! Yes, yes.
VOICE 2: You know, if money grew on trees,—
VOICE 1: Tell me more, boy; tell me more!
VOICE 2: Boy,—
VOICE 1: What?
VOICE 2: I'd find a fortune floatin' on the breeze.
VOICE 1: Floatin' on the breeze!
VOICE 2: Yep. I wouldn't mind workin' hard,—
VOICE 1: No?
VOICE 2: That is, raisin' the money in my own backyard.
VOICE 1: Oh, oh, I see what you mean.
VOICE 2: That ain't no crime, is it?
VOICE 1: No, it ain't no crime.
VOICE 2: You know what, son?
VOICE 1: What? What?
VOICE 2: I'd buy myself a million dollars—
VOICE 1: A million!
VOICE 2: Worth of flashy clothes.
VOICE 1: Top hats and tails and such.
VOICE 2: Boy, I'd strut down old Broadway.
VOICE 1: Ah, Broadway!
VOICE 2: You know what? I wouldn't squeeze a dollar—
VOICE 1: Uh-huh.
VOICE 2: Till it hollered,—
VOICE 1: Yes.
VOICE 2: 'Cause if it hollered,—
VOICE 1: Uh-huh.
VOICE 2: I'd [be] like Mr. Savoy.
VOICE 1: What'd he do?
VOICE 2: Throw it away!
VOICE 1: My, my!
VOICE 2: I'd live just like a king.
VOICE 1: You mean like me, and all them cats.
VOICE 2: Yeah, boy.
VOICE 1: I know what you mean, yeah.
VOICE 2: And on each finger, just like you, I'd have a great big diamond ring.
VOICE 1: Let's see, let's see, that's—that's generosity, Jack!
VOICE 2: Life would be a joke—
VOICE 1: Yeah!
VOICE 2: 'Cause I never would be broke. That is--
VOICE 1: [SINGS] If money grew on trees.


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Subject: Lyr Add: A DOLLAR AIN'T A DOLLAR ANYMORE
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Sep 15 - 04:53 PM

A DOLLAR AIN'T A DOLLAR ANYMORE
Words and music by Elton Britt, Michael Stoner, and Denver Darling. ©1946.*

I. As sung by Pete Seeger, Tom Glazer, Lee Hays & Hally Wood on "Power to the People: Protest Songs"

1. I was feelin' kind o' hungry so I thought I'd buy some bread.
I went into the corner grocery store.
I took out the usual money, but the grocer shook his head
'Cause a dollar ain't a dollar anymore.

CHORUS: Oh, a dollar bill don't buy what it used to,
Don't buy what it used to, don't buy what it used to.
A dollar bill don't buy what it used to,
'Cause a dollar ain't a dollar anymore.

2. Now I live in a rooming house; my room is awful small.
As a matter of fact, it's only two by four.
Then the landlord raised my rent, and now I'm living in the wall,
'Cause a dollar ain't a dollar anymore.

3. Here's a lesson in arithmetic: now one and one makes two,
And it is true that two and two makes four,
But when the prices get higher, why, arithmetic's a liar,
'Cause a dollar ain't a dollar any more.

4. From the tree that grows in Brooklyn to the Gulf of Mexico,
From Florida out to the western shore,
We'll grab reaction by the collar; "Fight with P.A.C.**" we'll holler,
'Cause a dollar ain't a dollar anymore.

5. So if you want to learn a lesson, if you really want to see,
If you want to solve your problems by the score,
Fight your economic battles with the good old P.A.C.**
'Cause a dollar ain't a dollar anymore.

II. Additional verses sung by Oscar Brand on "Pie in the Sky":

3. Now my coat got worn an' ragged and my shirt began to wilt.
Ev'ry time I moved, my britches tore.
They've been patched so many times now that I look like granny's quilt.
A dollar ain't a dollar anymore.

4. When Friday came I stood on line to get my salary.
The teller laughed until his sides were sore.
"What with dues and fines and taxes you've got nothin' minus three.
A dollar ain't a dollar anymore."


* Composer credits from the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries. Billboard Magazine indicates that Denver Darling made an early recording of this song. However, I haven't heard that recording and I don't know whether those words correspond to the ones posted here.

** The CIO-PAC, Congress of Industrial Organizations' Political Action Committee, which was active in the presidential and congressional elections of 1946.


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Subject: Lyr Add: LIED VON DER BELEBENDEN WIRKUNG DES GELDE
From: Joe_F
Date: 24 Sep 15 - 06:48 PM

LIED VON DER BELEBENDEN WIRKUNG DES GELDES
Words, Bertolt Brecht; music, Hans Eisler

Niedrig gilt das Geld auf dieser Erden
Und doch ist sie, wenn es mangelt, kalt
Und sie kann sehr gastlich werden
Plötzlich durch des Gelds Gewalt.
Eben war noch alles voll Beschwerden
Jetzt ist alles golden überhaucht
Was gefroren hat, das sonnt sich
Jeder hat das, was er braucht!
Rosig färbt der Horizont sich
Blicket hinan: der Schornstein raucht!
Ja, da schaut sich alles gleich ganz anders an.
Voller schlägt das Herz. Der Blick wird weiter.
Reichlich ist das Mahl. Flott sind die Kleider.
Und der Mann ist jetzt ein andrer Mann.


SONG OF THE INVIGORATING EFFECT OF MONEY

Upon this earth we hear dispraise of money,
And yet, without it, earth is very cold.
And it can be warm and friendly
Suddenly through the power of gold.
Everything that seemed so hard to bear
In a gleaming golden glow is cloaked.
Sun is melting what is frozen.
Every man fulfils his hopes.
Rosy beams light the horizon.
Look on high: the chimney smokes!
Yes, all at once this world seems quite a different one.
Higher beats the heart, the glance sweeps wider.
Richer are the meals, and clothes are finer.
Man himself becomes another man.


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Subject: Lyr Add: DOLLAR DOWN BLUES (Barbecue Bob)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Sep 15 - 07:52 PM

DOLLAR DOWN BLUES
As recorded by Barbecue Bob (R. Hicks), 1928.

Dollar down, mama, dollar ev'ry week.
Dollar down, there, mama, dollar ev'ry week.
Dollar down, there, mama, dollar when we meet.

Walked this town all over, hon, before I stopped.
Walked this town all over, gal, before I stopped.
Well, the first I went was a furniture shop.

The clerk he asked me: "Can I wait on you? (2x)
I think you'll need something in the line of furniture."

He says: "All right, Bobby, what can it be? (2x)
I says: "That old bed and rocker, it's somethin'; let me see."

I said: "Listen here, furniture man; how you gon' make my note?
Hey, hey, furniture man." This what he repeats:
"Just a dollar down, dollar ev'ry week."

I started back home, mama, walkin' on down the street.
I started back home, walkin' on down the street.
I met a li'l ol' brown, sure looked good to me.

She said: "Hello, Bobby; Bobby, can't you speak?" (2x)
I said: "A dollar down, mama, dollar ev'ry week."

Ev'ry Monday morning, somebody knocks on my do'. (2x)
That ol' furniture man tryin' to get what I owe.


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Subject: Lyr Add: A DOLLAR DOWN (from Louis Jordan)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Sep 15 - 08:27 PM

A DOLLAR DOWN
Words and music by Jesse Stone
As recorded by Louis Jordan, 1954.

A dollar down and a dollar when I'm caught—
Yeah, Lord, I'm stuck with all this mess I bought.
Ev'ry time somebody knocks,
I tip to the bathroom in my socks
On account o' that dollar down and a dollar when I'm caught.

Yeah, a dollar down and a dollar when I can.
Mm-hm-hm, Lord, I hate that easy credit plan.
Though my baby's dressed to kill,
It keeps me strugglin' with these bills
On account o' that dollar down and a dollar when I'm caught.

I found a man's place on the avenue.
He said: "Come in, boy; what can I do wi' you?"
I said: "All I've got is a dollar and a dime.
I'd like to get a little ol' stuff on time."

He grabbed me and shoved me through the door
And loaded me down with ev'rything in the store.
Picked fifteen things and started to leave,
When I heard him say as he grabbed my sleeve:

"Your teeth may grin and your eyes may shine,
But you can't cut out till these papers been signed."
Just about noon I started to write.
When I staggered home it was near midnight.

Woke late next mornin' and lost my dime,
So I ran to my job tryin' to make time.
I fell in the door out o' breath and tired.
The boss picked me up and said: "Boy, you're fired."

On account o' that dollar down and a dollar now and then.
Yes, I ain't had a buck since, le' me see, since Lord knows when.
I get lots an' lots o' mail
Sayin' I'm headed straight for jail
'Cause I can't pay a dollar down and a dollar when I'm caught.


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Subject: Lyr Add: DEAD PRESIDENTS (Willie Dixon)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Sep 15 - 10:13 PM

DEAD PRESIDENTS
Written by Willie Dixon
As recorded by Little Walter, 1963.

CHORUS: Them dead presidents,
Them dead presidents,
Well I ain't broke but I'm badly bent.
Ev'rybody loves them dead presidents.

1. A little bitty Lincoln can't park the car.
Washington he can't go too far.
Jefferson is good; play the track
If you think it gonna bring some big bread back.

2. Hamilton on ten can get you straight,
But Jackson on a twenty is really great,
And if you talkin' 'bout a poor man's friend,
Grant will get you out o' whatever you're in.

3. A hundred-dollar Franklin is really sweet.
Five-hundred McKinley is the one for me.
If I get a Cleveland, I'm really set.
A thousand-dollar Cleveland is hard to get.


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Subject: Lyr Add: EVERYBODY'S GOING FOR THE MONEY (Koerner)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 25 Sep 15 - 08:17 AM

EVERYBODY'S GOING FOR THE MONEY
As recorded by Spider John Koerner on "Raised by Humans" (1992)

Well, ev'rybody's goin' for the money.
Well, they're thinkin' it makes the world go round.
This old world it keeps a-turnin' on and on,
Yeah, when you're layin' underneath the ground.

Somebody's got a hold on ya.
Yeah, they got a hold on your ev'ryday life,
A hold on your friends and your relatives too,
Yeah, they got a hold on your children and your wife.

Hey, they sell you on the television,
And they sell you on the radio.
They'll sell you any old way that they can.
Yeah, they come knockin' on your front door.

I think I will buy me a wonderful car,
Yes, and a TV and a stereo.
I will drive and I'll watch and I'll listen all the time.
I won't have to think anymore.

Now that we got ev'rything that we want,
I'll tell you something you might know:
It won't be long until this way o' life is gone.
Is it better that way? Don't you know?

Why sing a song about money?
Why sing about anything at all?
Take your life in hand now and steal it from the man
Before they send you to the wall.

Yes, and ev'rybody's thinkin' 'bout the money,
Thinkin' it makes the world go round.
This old world it keeps a-turnin' on and on,
Hey, when you're layin' underneath the ground.


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Subject: Lyr Add: MONEY'S GETTING CHEAPER (J Witherspoon)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 25 Sep 15 - 04:57 PM

MONEY'S GETTING CHEAPER
As recorded by Jimmy Witherspoon, 1948.

Money's gettin' cheaper; prices gettin' steeper,
Found myself a woman but I just couldn't keep 'er.

CHORUS: Times getting tough and tough.
Yes, things getting rough and rough.
Well, I make a lot o' money, but I just keep spendin' the stuff.

Walked down to the market, asked the butcher for a pound,
Couldn't buy a pork chop when I laid my money down.

Politicians tellin' folks: cut down their meat.
Why don't they cut down the prices and let the people eat?

I can't afford to live, but I guess I'll have to try.
Undertakers got a union and it costs too much to die.


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Subject: Lyr Add: MONEYLAND (Del McCoury)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 25 Sep 15 - 05:50 PM

MONEYLAND
As recorded by The Del McCoury Band on "Moneyland" (2008)

1. Now it's a pity to see when the land of the free
Turns out to be nothing but a free-for-all.
If you got big dough, you're freer than most,
'Cause your freedom goes up with the size of your bankroll.
You can buy a judge or a bribe or a thug
Or a bomb or a shredding machine.
You can buy your way through, into, and onto
Any ticket or TV screen.

CHORUS: It's a money disease.
It's a thing called greed,
And it feeds on those who need the money most in Moneyland.
Oh, it ain't so funny if you ain't got the money in Moneyland.

2. Now a corporate crime, you just do a little time,
Pay a little fine, and then you're in the clear.
Murder and robb'ry, caused by snobb'ry,
Doesn't mean a thing; it just falls on deaf ears.
Money is the thing we all sweat for.
It's what some dreams are made of.
But then there's those who want it all
And enough is never enough.

CHORUS

Ah-wooh! Money, money, money, money, money!
Ah-wooh! More, more, more, more, more!
Ah-wooh! Money, money, money, money, money!
Oh, it ain't so funny if you ain't got the money in Moneyland.

BREAK

3. Now a piece of the action is the main attraction.
Get a big house, fast car; honey, you've got class.
What'll it get me? How much? What's mine?
Are the only questions anybody seems to ask.
Now who got beat, got fought, got bled,
And who got burned today?
Who got fixed, got fooled, got framed,
And who got in the way?

CHORUS

Ah-wooh! Money, money, money, money, money!
Ah-wooh! More, more, more, more, more!
Ah-wooh! Money, money, money, money, money!
Oh, it ain't so funny if you ain't got the money in Moneyland.
Oh, it ain't so funny if you ain't got the money in Moneyland.


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Subject: Lyr Add: MONEY (THAT'S WHAT I WANT)
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Sep 15 - 06:26 PM

MONEY (THAT’S WHAT I WANT)
Written by Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford
As recorded by Barrett Strong, 1959.

1. The best things in life are free,
But you can give them to the birds and bees.

CHORUS: I need 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).

2. Your love give me such a thrill,
But your love don't pay my bills. CHORUS

3. Money don't get everything, it's true,
But what it don't get, I can't use. CHORUS

Money (that’s—what I want)
Lots o’ money (that’s—what I want)
Whole lot o’ money (that’s—what I want)
Uh-huh (that’s—what I want)
Uh-huh-uh-uh-uh (that’s—what I want)
Oh, yeah (that’s—what I want)

Money (that’s—what I want)
Lots o’ money (that’s—what I want)
All that mean green (that’s—what I want)
Yeah...[REPEAT AD LIB. AND FADE]


Also covered by The Beatles (1964)


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Subject: Lyr Add: I SCRAPED MY KNUCKLE (Reggie Miles)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 27 Sep 15 - 12:10 PM

Reggie Miles posted these lyrics himself at the Just Plain Folks forum. I figure he won't mind having them here also.


I SCRAPED MY KNUCKLE
As recorded by Reggie Miles on "These Old Shoes"

I scraped my knuckle
Tryin' to pry up a nickel,
That was stuck in the tar,
Run over by a car,
In the middle of the road.
And things don't ever seem to get better.
Damn! This is gettin' old!

Now I don't mean to bore ya,
With another sad story,
'Bout a good man who can't get a break.
Who thought that sooner or later,
His luck would change, for heaven's sake.

I tried everything I could.
It didn't do any good.
Nothin's turnin' out like it should.
And I don't know how much more of this
This poor man can take.

It ain't my choosin'
Seems I only win at losin'
It's enough to drive a sober man to drink.
Hey, beer tender! Keep it full.
While I sit here and think.

All these dead end jobs
They leave me feelin' kind of robbed—
Nothin' to show for the time that I've spent.
I don't even have enough left over
To pay the landlord's rent.

You call this livin'?
All I do is all the givin'
And I don't get a thing in return
Except another sad song
About a good man gettin' burned.

I know it sounds funny
But I ain't got no money
And these blues they're a-wearin' me down.
That's why I'm scratchin' like a hen for a worm
In this asphalt ground.

And that's how I scraped my knuckle
Tryin' to pry up a nickel,
That was stuck in the tar,
Run over by a car,
In the middle of the road. [this verse 3x]


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Subject: Lyr Add: WHY DON'T YOU DO RIGHT (Joe McCoy)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 27 Sep 15 - 10:48 PM

WHY DON'T YOU DO RIGHT
Words and music by Joe McCoy.
As recorded by Peggy Lee with Benny Goodman's Orchestra, 1942.

You had a-plenty money nineteen-twenty-two.
You let other women make a fool of you.

CHORUS: Why don't you do right like some other men do?
Get out o' here and get me some money, too.

You're sittin' down wond'rin' what it's all about.
You ain't got no money; they will put you out.

If you had prepared twenty years ago,
You wouldn't be wand'rin' now from door to door.

I fell for your jivin' and I took you in.
Now all you got to offer me's a drink o' gin.


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Subject: Lyr Add: IT'S MONEY THAT MATTERS (Randy Newman)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 29 Sep 15 - 12:32 AM

IT'S MONEY THAT MATTERS
As recorded by Randy Newman on "Land of Dreams" (1988)

Of all of the people
That I used to know,
Most never adjusted
To the great big world.

I see them lurking in book stores,
Working for the public radio,
Carrying their babies around in a sack on their back
Moving careful and slow.

It's money that matters.
Hear what I say:
It's money that matters
In the USA.

All of these people are much brighter than I.
In any fair system they would flourish and thrive,
But they barely survive.
They eke out a living.
They barely survive.

When I was a young boy,
Maybe thirteen,
I took a hard look around me,
Asked: "What does it mean?"

So I talked to my father; he didn't know.
And I talked to my friend; he didn't know.
And I talked to my brother; he didn't know.
And I talked to everybody that I knew.

It's money that matters.
Now you know that it's true.
It's money that matters,
Whatever you do.

I talked to a man
Lived up on the county line.
I was washing his car
With a friend of mine.

He was a little fat guy
In a red jumpsuit.
I said: "That looks kind of funny."
He said: "I know it does too."

"I got a great big house on the hill here,
Great big blonde wife inside it,
And a great big pool in my backyard,
Another great big pool beside it.

"Sonny, it's money that matters.
Hear what I say:
It's money that matters.
In the USA.

"It's money that matters.
Now you know that it's true.
It's money that matters,
Whatever you do."


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Subject: Lyr Add: FEED THE BIRDS (TUPPENCE A BAG) (Sherman/
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 29 Sep 15 - 07:08 PM

FEED THE BIRDS (TUPPENCE A BAG)
Words and music by Richard M. Sherman & Robert B. Sherman.
From the Disney film "Mary Poppins" (1963)
As recorded by Julie Andrews

Early each day to the steps of St Paul's
The little old bird woman comes.
In her own special way to the people she calls:
"Come buy my bags full of crumbs.

"Come feed the little birds; show them you care,
And you'll be glad if you do.
Their young ones are hungry; their nests are so bare!
All it takes is tuppence from you.

"Feed the birds, tuppence a bag!
Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag!
Feed the birds," that's what she cries
While overhead her birds fill the skies.

All around the cathedral the saints and apostles
Look down as she sells her wares.
Although you can't see it, you they are smiling
Each time someone shows that he cares.

Though her words are simple and few,
Listen, listen; she's calling to you:
"Feed the birds, tuppence a bag!
Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag!"


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Subject: Lyr Add: CAN YOU USE ANY MONEY TODAY? (I. Berlin)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 30 Sep 15 - 02:55 PM

CAN YOU USE ANY MONEY TODAY?
Words and music by Irving Berlin
From the Broadway musical, "Call Me Madam" (1950)
As sung by Ethel Merman.

Money, money, money, money, money, money!
Can you use any money today?
Money, money, money, money, money, money!
Nice new bills that we're giving away!
There are photographs on ev'ry one:
Lincoln, Grant, and Washington,
Or you might like the ones with Henry Clay.
Can you use any money today?

Two million, four million, six million, eight million, ten!
Take what you want; when it's gone you can come back again.
Bills that haven't been printed yet,
You can have them by the sack—
Coins that haven't been minted yet,
That you never have to give back.
Money, money, money, money, money, money!
Uncle Sam puts it right on the line,
And if we ever run out of checks for him to sign,
You can have mine,
All of mine.
You can have mine.

Money, money, money, money, money, money!
Can you use any dollars today?
Money, money, money, money, money, money!
We've so much that it gets in our way.
In our treas'ry there's a mighty sum:
Millions we've subtracted from
The envelopes that hold our take-home pay.
Can you use any money today?

Home in the States underground there's a cave full of gold.
Back up a truck and we'll fill it with all it can hold.
Take ten million and please don't fuss
If you find it can't be spent.
You can lend it right back to us
And we'll pay you seven percent.
Money, money, money, money, money, money!
Uncle Sam puts it right on the line,
And if that fellow with whiskers ever should decline,
You can have mine,
All of mine.
You can have mine.


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Subject: Lyr Add: MONEY TREE BLUES (Willie Dixon)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 05 Oct 15 - 12:51 PM

MONEY TREE BLUES
As recorded by Willie Dixon on "Poet of the Blues" (1998)

My baby, she's got a money tree.
My baby, she's got a money tree.
If she don't shake for you, she'll surely shake for me.

Her little ol' money tree, it ain't out in the woods,
But ev'ry time she shake it, makes me feel so good.

My baby she got a money tree.
If she don't shake for you, she'll surely shake for me.

Well I'm goin' and get my tree; if it don't bear green,
I'll be the meanest man that you have ever seen.
I'll cut the money tree down, dig up the trunk,
Cover up the hole, burn up the stump.

My baby, she got a money tree.
If she don't shake for you, she'll surely shake for me.

I love my money tree.
I love my money tree.
I love my money tree for my money.
I love my money tree.
I love my money tree for my money.
I love my money tree 'cause my money tree is so good to me.


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Subject: RE: Songs about money ($$$$$$$$$$)
From: GUEST,Ken Brock
Date: 05 Oct 15 - 02:15 PM

Kander and Ebb wrote two different songs about Money for Cabaret (stage (1967) and film). The first is "Money" and the second is "Money, Money".

"Four Pounds a Day" parody version of Four Pence a Day recorded by The Ian Campbell Folk Group.

"The Pound is Sinking" by Paul McCartney, from Tug of War

"The Face on the Dime" by Harold Rome, from Call Me Mister (1946) The mercury dime had just been replaced by FDR.

"Money, Money, Money" by Jule Styne and E. Y. (Yip) Harburg, from Darling of the Day (1968).

"Music! Music! Music! (Put Another Nickel In)"

"Fidelity Fiduciary Bank" by the Sherman Brothers, from Mary Poppins

"Hector's Song" and "Scylla and Charybdis", about a commodities market scam, from The Golden Apple (1954) by Jerome Moross and John Latouche

"What's the Use?" by Leonard Bernstein and one of many lyricists, from Candide (1956)


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Subject: RE: Songs about money ($$$$$$$$$$)
From: GUEST,Ken Brock
Date: 05 Oct 15 - 02:20 PM

"Taxman" by George Harrison, by The Beatles, on Revolver.
I want to point out that the 1954 recording of "Scylla and Charybdis" on the Original Broadway cast of The Giolde Apple is much abriged, as is the entire score, to fit on a single lp. A 2cd, virtually complete recording was made a few months ago and I was fortunate to see the production (In Irvine, TX, USA), from which it was made.


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Subject: RE: Songs about money ($$$$$$$$$$)
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 05 Oct 15 - 04:36 PM

A couple shorties:

Get the Money!

It makes no diff'rence where you are
Get the muh-uh-uh-ny!
It makes no diff'rence where you are,
Mah Huh-uh-uh-ny!
A nickel is a nickel and a dime is a dime
A dollar is a dollar 'most any old time!
It makes no diff'rence where you are
Get the Muh-uh-uh-uh-ny!

and

Throw a nickel on the drum
   (A Salvation Army Song, allegedly)

Throw a nickel on the drum
Save another drunken bum,
Throw a nickel on the drum
And you'll be saved!
Salvation Army!
Salvation Army!
Throw a nickel on the drum
And you'll be saved!

Dave Oesterreich


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Subject: Lyr Add: GIVE ME MY MONEY / GIMME MY DIME BACK
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 05 Oct 15 - 09:11 PM

GIVE ME MY MONEY a.k.a. GIMME MY DIME BACK
As recorded by the Blue Ridge Playboys, 1936.

I want my dime back.
Give me my change back.
I want my dime back now.
I want my ten cents.
Give me my money.
I want my dime back now.
Now I've got a gal, lives 'cross the lake,
Shakes and shimmies like a rattlesnake.
I've got a gal who lives upon the hill.
She won't do it but her sister will.
I want my money back.
Give me my change back.
I want my dime back now.

I want my ten cents.
Give me my dime back.
I want my dime back now.
I want my money.
Give me my change back.
I want my ten cents back.
Now three and three's six; six and three's nine.
You give me some o' yours; I'll give you some o' mine.
The monkey and the baboon playin' in the grass,
The monkey told the baboon he played too fast.
I want my ten cents.
Give me my dime back.
I want my dime back now.


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Subject: RE: Songs about money ($$$$$$$$$$)
From: GUEST,Ken Brock
Date: 07 Oct 15 - 07:32 PM

At the link is the text to The Golden Apple as performed on Broadway in 1954. This differs from the off-Broadway version and the version authorized today in the final two pages. "Hector's Song", about various temptations, including money, occurs about 2/3 of the way through and begins with the line "Now we will have our revenge on them". "Scylla and Charybdis", which involves a commodities market scam, is about 3/4 of the way through and begins with the question "Want to be an empire builder?". http://archive.org/stream/goldenapplemusic00moro/goldenapplemusic00moro_djvu.txt


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Subject: RE: Songs about money ($$$$$$$$$$)
From: GUEST,Ken Brock
Date: 07 Oct 15 - 07:33 PM

here's the link as a blue clicky: text to Broadway version of The Golden Apple


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Subject: Lyr Add: THE BLATHRIE O'T
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 10 Oct 15 - 12:33 AM

From Thirty Scots Songs for a Voice and Harpsichord (Edinburgh: R. Bremner, 1757), page 8-9:


BLATHRIE O'T.

When I think on this warld's pelf,
And the little wee share I have o't to myself,
And how the lass that wants it is by the lads forgot,
May the shame fa' the gear, and the blathrie o't.

Jockie was the ladie that held the pleugh,
But now he's got gowd and gear eneugh.
He thinks nae mair of me that weirs the plaiden coat.
May the shame fa' the gear, and the blathrie o't.

Jenny was the lassie that mucked the byre,
But now she is clad in her silken attire,
And Jockie says he loes her, and swears he's me forgot.
May the shame fa' the gear, and the blathrie o't.

But all this shall ne'er danton me,
Sae lang as I keep my fancy free,
For the lad that's sae unconstant, he is not worth a groat.
May the shame fa' the gear, and the blathrie o't.


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Subject: RE: Songs about money ($$$$$$$$$$)
From: Paul Burke
Date: 10 Oct 15 - 07:23 AM

Salford, Lancs, 1950s:

I wish I had a penny,
I'd buy a penny gun,
I'd fill it full of powder
And make the rozzers run.


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Subject: Lyr Add: A GOOD OLD DOLLAR BILL (Billy Murray)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 28 Sep 16 - 08:11 AM

You can see the sheet music at The University of Illinois at Chicago.


A GOOD OLD DOLLAR BILL
Words by Jack Mahoney, music by Theodore Morse, 1909.
As recorded by Billy Murray, 1909.

1. They are telling of Old Glory
Now in picture song and story,
And they say it is the emblem of the land.
"It's a grand old flag," they holler,
But the real flag is a dollar.
I've been up against it and I understand.
We respect the flag and love it,
But a dollar floats above it.
When you've got it, no one ever treats you mean.
Money talks but seldom tattles,
And in all life's weary battles,
It's the only flag of truth: the old long green.

CHORUS: Praise the stars and stripes forever and the old red, white and blue.
Rave about the flag of freedom and old "Hail Columbia!" too.
Sing the praises of old glory, but I've been all through the mill,
And the real star-spangled banner is a good old dollar bill.

2. With a dollar you feel cheery.
All the girls will call you dearie.
They will smile on you and never, never chaff.
They'll be true-blue while you blow it.
I've been there and ought to know it.
When it's gone, instead of smiles, you get the laughs.
When you're flush, your friends are sunny.
Life is peaches, cream and honey,
And they welcome you no matter where you go.
When you're down and out in sorrow,
From your friends you'll try to borrow.
They won't even lend an ear to hear your woe. CHORUS


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Subject: Lyr Add: AFLOAT ON A FIVE-DOLLAR NOTE
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 28 Sep 16 - 12:11 PM

You can see the sheet music at The University of Illinois at Chicago, and hear a 1906 Edison recording by Arthur Collins & Byron G. Harlan at YouTube:


AFLOAT ON A FIVE-DOLLAR NOTE
Words by Arthur Lamb; music by J. Fred Helf, 1906.

1. Dolly mine, rain or shine,
This is the day we get in line.
Dress'd in your best, follow the rest,
Ev'ryone feeling fine.
You and me, with a V,
Somehow will get along,
While lads the wittiest and girls the prettiest
Join in the merry song.

CHORUS: Hi-lee, hi-lo! Away we go,
Afloat on a five-dollar note.
Shoot the chutes or a trip to the moon,
Blow your dough as with dovey you spoon.
Listen to the band; oh, ain't it grand?
Ev'ryone whistle or shout!
It's so jolly with Dolly by trolley or boat,
Afloat on a five-dollar note.

2. Dolly dear, don't you fear.
Though I am not a financier,
Mister J. P. can't get near me.
He can't control my V.
All but you can skiddoo.
Say, won't we make things hum!
No more a lonely one, since you're my only one,
I guess that's going some.

[The song seems to describe a trip to an amusement park. Was $5 the standard price of admission? That seems like a lot for 1906. It would be something like $135 adjusted for inflation to 2016. "J. P." no doubt refers to J. P. Morgan. "V"=$5, since bills were once marked with Roman numerals.]


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Subject: RE: Songs about money ($$$$$$$$$$)
From: Ged Fox
Date: 28 Sep 16 - 01:15 PM

The Magic of the Dollar


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Subject: Lyr Add: BANK FAILURE BLUES (Maria Muldaur)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 28 Sep 16 - 04:54 PM

Martha Copeland recorded a song with this title in 1928, but I was unable to find that recording online, so I transcribed this one instead:


BANK FAILURE BLUES
As recorded by Maria Muldaur on "Garden of Joy" (2009).

I've been workin' all my life, folks; saved ev'ry nickel I could get. (2x)
Thought some day I'd have a nest egg, but my home will be the poorhouse yet.

Got my money ev'ry Saturday, Monday mornin' took it to the bank. (2x)
Now that doggone bank gone busted; ev'ry nickel that I saved done sank.

Lord, it's hard to lose your money when you've scraped and scrambled like I done. (2x)
Make a preacher leave his pulpit, trade his bible for a gatlin' gun.

Goin' down to the cashier's window, goin' down with blood in both my eyes. (2x)
An' if I don't get my money, gonna cut that man down to my size.

Let me tell you folks there's two things, two things that I just can't stand: (2x)
One's messin' with my money, other's messin' 'round with my good man.


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Subject: Lyr Add: BRING YOUR GREENBACKS (Ethel Waters)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 28 Sep 16 - 05:58 PM

BRING YOUR GREENBACKS
As recorded by Ethel Waters, 1926.

Come all you sheiks and lovers too.
Listen to what I'm tellin' you.
I took a resolution New Year's day,
Never to give nothin' away;
So run along and let me be,
'Cause what I've got I'm holdin' for me.

So if you want to be my man, bring the greenbacks when you call,
'Cause I've just got enough for myself and I can't spare nothin' at all.
Don't depend upon your looks and try to get my dough,
'Cause I can look at pretty papas in a movie show,
So if you want to be my man, bring the greenbacks when you call.

So if you want to be my man, bring the greenbacks when you call.
'Cause I've just got enough for myself and I can't spare nothin' at all.
Don't come askin' me for my money 'cause it ain't no use,
For all you'll get from me is going to be abuse,
So if you want to be my man, bring the greenbacks when you call.

Now I'll give you a piece of cake, also a piece of pie,
But not a ne'er piece of flesh, cause meat's too high,
So if you want to be my man, just bring the greenbacks when you call.


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Subject: Lyr Add: BLUES WITHOUT A DIME (Clifford Gibson)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Oct 16 - 09:42 PM

BLUES WITHOUT A DIME
As recorded by Clifford Gibson, 1929.

Bad luck and trouble, and the blues without a dime. (2x)
When a man got money, the blues don't cross his min'.

Always try to keep a dollar in your hand. (2x)
When you ain't got no money, your woman get another man.

Don't never 'llow your woman to talk [no] baby-talk to you. (2x)
You can tell by that they got somethin' in they head to do.

I don't want no woman if she ain't got a railroad man. (2x)
Any day's like Sunday and she's always got a dollar in her han'.


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Subject: Lyr Add: LAST DOLLAR (Blanche Calloway)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 08 Oct 16 - 12:23 AM

LAST DOLLAR
As recorded by Blanche Calloway and her Joy Boys, 1931.

I'm not broke, but barely bent.
I'm not down to my last cent.
Got a dollar, my last dollar bill.

In my pocket there's a dent.
All my dough is nearly spent.
Got a dollar, my last dollar bill.

Oh, what luck! Just one more buck
Fortune left me by chance.
Here's a bill, feel like a mill',
You can tell by a glance.

I don't care; no millionaire
Can give me the icy stare.
Got a dollar, my last dollar bill.


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Subject: Lyr Add: LAST GOLD DOLLAR (from Ephraim Woodie)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 23 Jan 17 - 01:38 PM

LAST GOLD DOLLAR
As recorded by Ephraim Woodie and the Henpecked Husbands, 1929.

Lord, I'd give my last gold dollar;
Yes, I'd give my gold watch and chain;
I would pawn this heart in my body
Just to see my darlin' again.

Don't this road look long and lonely?
Don't that stream(?) look wide and deep?
Would you ever think of me, darlin',
If you could not hear me speak?

Take me back to North Carolina.
Bring me back to Tennessee.
Bring me back my blue-eyed darlin'.
She is all this world to me.

I remember last time I saw her,
How my heart was torn with pain
When she says: "Goodbye; God bless you.
We may never meet again."

You may meet with brighter faces.
Some may tell you I'm not true;
But remember, dearest darlin',
No one loves you as I do.

Ev'ry night in this creation,
Spendin' on my trembling knees,
When I pray to God and ask him:
"Oh, what does my sweetheart mean(?)?"

Don't this road look long and lonely,
Windin' down this rugged stream?
But remember, dearest darlin':
You are always in my dreams.

[User "Goose Gander" posted lyrics to a different song called LAST GOLD DOLLAR, but didn't indicate any source]


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Subject: RE: Songs about money ($$$$$$$$$$)
From: Joe_F
Date: 23 Jan 17 - 06:06 PM

Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown,
What yo gonna do when the rent comes round?

Not in the DT, it seems, but copiously treated on numerous threads.


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Subject: Lyr Add: BRING ME SOME MONEY, HONEY (Pat Flowers)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 23 Jan 17 - 08:10 PM

BRING ME SOME MONEY, HONEY
As recorded by Pat Flowers, 1947.

Go bring me some money, honey, 'fore my love grows cold.
Go bring me some money, honey, 'fore my love grows cold.
Bein' broke ain't funny; go get me some gold.

Keep tellin' you, my honey; hope you understand:
You want me to love you, well, put it in my hand.
Go get me some money, 'fore my love grows cold.
You can make my life funny; go get me some gold.

When I first met you, honey, met you on the street.
[If] you don't get some money, well, get back on your feet.
Go get me some money, 'fore my love grows cold.
Well, 'tain't no use [to] keep talkin'; go get me some gold.


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Subject: RE: Songs about money ($$$$$$$$$$)
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 23 Jan 17 - 10:32 PM

Best investment advice dear old dad ever gave: God Bless the Child (Holiday & Herzog, 1939)


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Subject: Lyr Add: MONEY, HONEY (Clyde McPhatter & Drifters)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 23 Jan 17 - 11:02 PM

MONEY, HONEY
As recorded by Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters, 1953.

You know the landlord rang my front-door bell.
I let it ring for a long, long spell.
I went to the window and peeked(?) through the blind,
And asked him to tell me what was on his mind.

He said: "Money, honey.
Yes, money, honey.
Mm-hm, money honey,
If you want to stay here with me."

I was … and so hard-pressed,
I called the woman that I loved best.
I fin'ly got my baby 'bout half-past three.
She said: "I'd like to know what you want with me."

I said: "Money, honey.
Ahh, money, honey.
Money, honey,
If you want to get along with me."

She screamed and said: "What's wrong with you?
From this day on, our romance is through."
I said: "Tell me, baby, face to face,
How could another man take my place?"

She said: "Money, honey.
Mm-hm, money, honey.
Oh, money, honey,
If you want to get along with me."

Now I've learned my lesson and now I know:
The sun may shine and the winds may blow.
Women may come and women may go,
But before I say I love 'em so,

I want money, honey.
Ooh, money, honey.
Oh, money, honey,
If you want to get along with me.

(If you want to get along) oh, it may sound funny,
(If you want to get along) but I ain't jivin' you, honey,
(If you want to get along) you gotta give up some money,
If you want to get along with me.


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Subject: RE: Songs about money ($$$$$$$$$$)
From: GUEST,Pete Kiddle
Date: 24 Jan 17 - 03:19 AM

From Will Fyffe, 1885-1947, He of 'I belong to Glasgow' fame:-


TWELVE AND A TANNER A BOTTLE


1. It's really high time that something was done
To alter the way that the country is run.
They're not doing things in the way that they should.
Just take for instance the price of the food.

CHORUS: Twelve and a tanner a bottle, that's what it's costin the day.
Twelve and a tanner a bottle! It takes all the pleasure away.
Before ye can get a wee drappie, ye have to spend all that ye've got.
How can a fella be happy when happiness costs such a lot?

2. There's taxes on this, taxes on that.
While we're getting lean, the officials get fat.
You must admit it's a bit underhand,
Puttin a tax on the breath of the land,

CHORUS: For it's twelve....

3. Noo I used to meet with some old pals o mine,
When whiskey was cheap an it went doon like wine.
Noo I never meet them, I'm sorry to tell.
I dodge roond the corner an I drink by mysel,

CHORUS: Since it's twelve....


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Subject: Lyr Add: I'LL NEVER GET OUT OF THIS WORLD ALIVE
From: GUEST,Tom Mycock
Date: 24 Jan 17 - 09:56 AM

Hank Williams - I'LL NEVER GET OUT OF THIS WORLD ALIVE

Now, you're lookin' at a man that's gettin' kinda mad
I had a lot a luck but it's all been bad
No matter how I struggle and strive
I'll never get out of this world alive

My fishin' pole's broke, the creek is full of sand
My woman run away with another man
No matter how I struggle and strive
I'll never get out of this world alive

My distant uncle passed away
And left me quite a batch
And I was livin' high until the fatal day
A lawyer proved I wasn't born, I was only hatched

Everything's agin me and it's got me down
If I jumped in the river I would probably drown
No matter how I struggle and strive
I'll never get out of this world alive

These shabby shoes I'm wearin' all the time
Is full of holes and nails
And brother, if I stepped on a worn-out dime
I bet a nickel I could tell you if it was heads or tails

I'm not gonna worry wrinkles in my brow
'Cause nothin's ever gonna be alright no-how
No matter how I struggle and strive
I'll never get out of this world alive


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Subject: RE: Songs about money ($$$$$$$$$$)
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge
Date: 24 Jan 17 - 10:15 AM

'I can't sing like Elvis Presley
I can't dance like Fred Astaire
But there's one thing in my favour,
I'm a millionaire'
                   Shel Silverstein   (from 'The Millionaire'


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Subject: Lyr Add: WHAT WILL I DO FOR MY MONEY'S ALL GONE
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Jan 17 - 08:16 PM

WHAT WILL I DO FOR MY MONEY'S ALL GONE
As recorded by Uncle Eck Dunford & Hattie Stoneman, 1927.

I love my Lula Belle, I do, yes, I do, (3x)
But I don't expect to see her anymore.

I left her in the door on the cold icy floor. (3x)
She cried like she never cried before.

Them red rosy cheeks I will never get to see. (3x)
Oh, darling, won't you come back to me?

The sheriff and police they are riding after me. (3x)
I'm gone, I'm gone, yes, I'm gone.

I dreamed last night that Josephus come home. (3x)
He was knocking and banging on my door.

I jumped out of bed and I skipped 'cross the floor. (3x)
"Josephus don't you knock anymore."


Oh, what will I do? For my money is all gone. (3x)
You do like you done before.

I'll work hard all day and I'll bring it all to you. (3x)
Oh, Lula, what more can I do?


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Subject: RE: Songs about money ($$$$$$$$$$)
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 24 Jan 17 - 11:11 PM

Up in a Balloon

I am a young and rollicking girl
In knowing these facts you will me excuse,
I went to Saratoga springs
To flirt or to marry who ever I chose.
It was there I saw such a charming man,
Who knew very well how to dance the Can Can
He wore in his jacket a beautiful rose
And very soon to me he did propose.

Chorus
Up in a Balloon
Up in a Balloon
all among the little stars
sailing round the moon,
Up in a Balloon,
Up in a Balloon,
I think't would be a jolly place
to spend the Honeymoon.

The day was set when I was to be
A happy and loving good little wife,
And stop my flirting with young men
To settle down quietly ever in life.
We went to the city a clergy to face,
We found him at home and so stated out case
He said he was busy and should be till noon
Preparing himself for a sail round the moon.

Chorus

He left me at the clergyman's house
While on city friends he went to call,
He stayed all night and left me alone
And never I thot would come back at all.
I dream't I dwelt in marble halls,
Sailing around and making calls
And if this dream should e'er to pass
O what would become of this Lancashire Lass.

Chorus

And when at last he came back to me
I knew by his looks he'd been on a spree,
He wanted a license but hadn't the fee
He'd spent all his money and borrowed of me.
I lent him a thousand and away he went,
I waited again till the day was far spent
The clergyman said young miss there's foul play
You've taken your thousand and thrown it away.

Chorus

As Sung by Miss Elise Holt
of the Elise Holt Burlesque Opera Troupe, Arranged by Harry Birch
New York: White, Smith & Perry, 1869

Might be the first mention of the 'mile high club' on record as well. Years before the Wright brothers and Kitty Hawk (whoever she was.)


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Subject: Lyr Add: MY BIG MONEY (Big Bill Broonzy)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 28 Jan 17 - 09:35 PM

MY BIG MONEY
As recorded by Big Bill Broonzy, 1937.

I'm on a bum; can't get back home.
Can't sleep for dreamin'; I'm all alone.
Whoa-oh, but when I had my big money,
I had ev'rything goin' my way.

I bought a paper; I had it read.
I ate my breakfast right in my bed.
That was when I had my big money.
I had ev'rything goin' my way.

My baby told me to take it slow.
Uncle Sam might want me to fight some mo',
Oh-ho, but when I had my big money,
I had ev'rything goin' my way.

Now don't be foolish; this is what I know:
If I am livin', I'll be too old to go.
Whoa-oh, but when I had my big money,
I had ev'rything goin' my way.

My big money didn't last me long.
Had too many friends to spend it on,
Oh-oh, but when I had my big money,
I had ev'rything goin' my way.


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Subject: RE: Songs about money ($$$$$$$$$$)
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 29 Jan 17 - 07:03 AM

Yankee pay 5 dollars more

(available various sources but this one is from the "Half Mind Catalogue of Hash Hymns".

Me no like you Blitish sailor
Me no like you men of war
Me no like you Blitish sailor
Yankee pay 5 dollars more

Yankee call me honey baby
Blitish call me flucking whore (flucking whore)
Me no like you Blitish sailor
Yankee pay 5 dollars more

Yankee tap upon my window
Blitish break the flucking door (flucking door)
Me no like you Blitish sailor
Yankee pay 5 dollars more

Yankee bling me sweet led roses
Blitish bling me sleet fluck all (sweet fluck all)
Me no like you Blitish sailor
Yankee pay 5 dollars more

Yankee fuck me on the sofa
Blitish fuck me on the floor (on the floor)
Me no like you Blitish sailor
Yankee pay 5 dollars more

Yankee leaving on next friday
Blitish stay for evermore.
Me no like you Blitish sailor
Yankee pay 5 dollar more.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Why this did not make its way into the DT or at least the rugby monkey boy thread is beyond me.


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Subject: Lyr Add: WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? (C Porter
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 17 Jan 18 - 01:46 PM

Who knew that the TV game show got its name from this song? Found at YouTube.


WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE?
Written by Cole Porter
As sung by Frank Sinatra [S] and Celeste Holm [H] in the film "High Society" (1956)

[S] Who wants to be a millionaire? [H] I don't.
[S] Have flashy flunkies ev'rywhere? [H] I don't.
[S] Who wants the bother of a country estate?
[H] A country estate
Is something I'd hate.
[S] Who wants to wallow in champagne? [H] I don't.
[S] Who wants a supersonic plane? [H] I don't.
[S] Who wants a private landing field too? [H] Wait. I don't.
[S] And I don't, [Both] 'cause all I want is you.

[S] Who wants to be a millionaire? [H] I don't.
[S] Who wants uranium* to spare? [H] I don't.
[S] Who wants to journey on a gigantic yacht?
[H] Do I want a yacht?
Oh, how I do not!
Who wants a fancy foreign car? [S] I don't.
[H] Who wants to tire of caviar? [S] I don't.
Who wants a marble swimming pool too? [H] I don't.
[S] And I don't, [Both] 'cause all I want is you.

[S] Who wants to be a millionaire? [H] I don't.
[S] And go to ev'ry swell affair? [H] I don't.
[S] Who wants to ride behind a liveried chauffeur?
[H] A liveried chauffeur?
Do I want? No sir!
[S] Who wants an opera box, I'll bet? [H] I don't.
And sleep through Wagner at the Met? [S] I don't.
Who wants to corner Cartier's too? [H] I don't.
[S] And I don't, [Both] 'cause all I want is you.


[* In the 1950s, uranium was a much-talked-about source of new wealth. Prospectors were allegedly combing public lands in the west with a Geiger counter, and getting rich.]


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Subject: RE: Songs about money ($$$$$$$$$$)
From: Joe_F
Date: 17 Jan 18 - 06:33 PM

Empty Pockets Blues


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Subject: RE: Songs about money ($$$$$$$$$$)
From: topical tom
Date: 18 Jan 18 - 01:02 PM

Has anyone mentioned "I'm Changing my Name to Chryslehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgqSEL0N5-w
r"?


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Subject: RE: Songs about money ($$$$$$$$$$)
From: lefthanded guitar
Date: 21 Jan 18 - 03:17 AM

Here's a few more:

The Great Correction - Eliza Gilkeyson (?sp)

My Family Built this Town - David Olney, which tells the chilling story
   of a rich man s son who gets away with murder and says: "we had
slaves before the war, we don t need them anymore , Monet talks money
always will."

A lesser braggart Joe Walsh celebrated his wealth in Life s Been Good to Me So Far.

Anyone remember that before Don McClean became a sort of New England country squire, he sang the powerful Orphans of Wealth

There But for Fortune I think qualifies as many early Dylan - although indirectly stated, money and lack of it play a part in Hattie Brown, Masters Of War and Like a Rolling Stone.

On a lighter side, only money can buy the creature comforts dreamed about in
Wouldn't t It Be Lovely

But I think I d rather:


Imagine a world with no possessions


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Subject: RE: Songs about money ($$$$$$$$$$)
From: lefthanded guitar
Date: 21 Jan 18 - 03:22 AM

And, of course, I am thinking of writing a song called All the Monet in the world can't stop Autocorrect from ruining my posts.


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