Money

It’s night in the big city

A man says a prayer, puts down a $20 and rolls the dice

The faucet won’t stop dripping

 

“Welcome to Season Three of Theme Time Radio Hour, and we’re glad to have ya. We’ve had a lot of fun the last couple of years, presenting the greats and near-greats, the fondly remembered and the almost forgotten, performing a wide variety of music on a veritable cornucopia of subjects. But as we start season 3 we’re gonna take our cue from a sign Harry S. Truman kept on his desk: The Buck Stops Here. And not just the buck, the yen, the sheckle, the nickel and dime, and if you still subscribe to the barter system, maybe a bushel of corn. So break open your piggy banks and cash in your bonds. This week’s episode of TTRH is most definitely cash and carry.”

Singers and Songs

  • Jerry McCain & His Upstarts
    That’s What They Want
  • Louis Prima
    Pennies From Heaven
  • Papa Charlie Jackson
    You Put It In, I’ll Take It Out
    “If ya listen, it’s a very unusual instrument he’s playing. It’s kinda half banjo, half guitar. It’s a six string instrument, tuned and fingered like a guitar but with a banjo body, so it has that trebly banjo sound, but there’s more notes available.”
  • Van Morrison
    Blue Money
    “I almost think we play too much Van Morrison. Then I listen to one of his records and I think, no we don’t!”
  • Ray Charles
    Greenbacks
    “There’s a great baritone sax solo on this record. It’s probably Howard Cooper, and you can almost hear him stepping back into the reed section to blend back in at the end of his solo. I always like to give you a little something to listen to in a song; I find it makes you listen to the whole thing more carefully.”
  • Mel Blanc
    Money
  • Buddy Johnson and His Band
    It’s the Gold
  • Nic Jones
    Farewell To The Gold
  • Lefty Frizzell
    My Baby’s Just Like Money
    “One of the true honky-tonk heroes”
  • Buddy Guy (Amigo Hombre)
    100 Dollar Bill

    “Sounds a little bit like Barrett Strong’s ‘Money’ – not enough to get sued I guess.”

  • P Diddy (Featuring Lil’ Kim, The Lox, and the Notorious B.I.G.)
    It’s All About the Benjamins
  • The Clovers
    Your Cash Ain’t Nothin’ But Trash

    “It’s because of them we have the familiar sound of the saxophone solo on vocal group records. You see what happened was, back on February 22nd, 19 and 51, tenor saxophonist Frank ‘Floorshow’ Culley brought his band into the Atlantic studios to back the clovers. Well Ahmet Ertegun only wanted to use the rhythm section; Frank knew if he didn’t play he wasn’t gonna get paid. Ahmet said to him, ‘Now listen man, if I pay you, you’re gonna play!’ so play he did and it was the first saxophone solo on a vocal group record. It reached number one, and the bootin’ tenor solo was a mainstay on vocal group records ever since.”

  • Jessie Price
    You Can’t Take It With You

Other People and Players

Other Songs and Albums

Record Labels

  • Decca
  • Capital
  • Atlantic
  • Vocalion
  • Excello Records

Places

Movies and TV Shows