Tag Archives: money

#851: They Might Be Giants – Money for Dope

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They Might Be Giants’ album Join Us turns 10 years old this July. Those years have flown by, and yet at the same time I can nod my head and say, “Yep, it’s definitely felt like 10 years have passed”. Either way, the LP’s up there as one of my favourites by the band. Not just because I’m reminded of that day in 2011 when the album was out after months of anticipation, but because a lot of the songs are pretty great too. Some songs didn’t make it on there, and months later those tracks appeared on a cutting floor/rarities compilation titled, Album Raises New and Troubling Questions. ‘Money for Dope’ was one of those songs left off Join Us. A shame ’cause… it wouldn’t have been too out of place on there.

Now, there’s not much of a narrative thread or story in this track. What ‘Money for Dope’ is is essentially a sort of shopping list for very oddly specific things set to a rhythm and a climbing/descending melody, from both John Linnell vocal and Danny Weinkauf’s bass line. From the first second, Linnell throws items from a walking stick to rubber gloves to needle-nose pliers and much much more. What matters the most though is that money for dope for some reason. Why Linnell wrote this song isn’t really known, the same can be stated for many other They tracks. What I do know is that the phrase ‘money for dope’ was sung by John Lennon in his own track ‘Gimme Some Truth’, so I’d like to think that John Linnell was listening to that song one day, heard the phrase in it and was just inspired to write his own track revolving around it.

There’s not much else I can say about this one. The band have never played it live, I guess they don’t care about it that much. Hopefully my insight can provide some sort of entertainment while you listen to it. I can think of one or two tracks on Join Us that this one could have replaced, but that’s neither here nor there. I do like the way John Linnell sings the last ‘dope’ on the track. He elongates the word, raises his pitch and then ends on a really low note. Quite cool. At least that’s what I thought when I properly noticed it for the first time all that time ago. Now I just appreciate it as a fine way to end the track. Underappreciated one right here.

#622: Supergrass – In It for the Money

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So after Supergrass gained a ton of praise from their debut album I Should Coco in 1995, helped tremendously by their most recognisable hit and youth anthem ‘Alright‘, Steven Spielberg approached the band in an effort to make a television series with them based on that of The Monkees. The group declined, instead choosing to record their second album. This was most definitely the better route to take. Coco was a burst of sharp wit and energy. Its production made all the instruments sound very tight, like they were playing together in a tiny, tiny room. In It for the Money took a totally different direction.

Instead of carrying on with the usual breakneck velocity, Money is made of songs that are allowed to breathe. Take a breeze and chill with some slower tempos. The tracks also sound expansive. There’s also a wider variety of instruments. But the group never lost their playfulness and knack for great tunes. The title track shows it all in the three minutes it lasts for and is a fantastic taster for what’s to come It opens the album with an creepy organ drone that transitions into a heavy Beatles-like arpeggiated riff and Gaz Coombes’ vocal.

“Here I see a time to go and leave it all behind/And you know it’s wrong to fall/We’re in it for the money” are three lyrics that when put read together like that don’t seem to make much sense, though Coombes and bassist Mick Quinn on higher harmony deliver them with a power and confidence that make them sound like a formal declaration. There’s a musical build as the last phrase is repeated before the song explodes into its main refrain. The track takes another turn as it leads into another verse of repeated lines, accompanied with a beautiful guitar line and descending bass groove. A glorious fanfare of horns appear. It’s beautiful stuff.

It comes to a very abrupt halt but you have to listen to the album from front to back to understand the effect of that production decision. Summing it up, this was the introduction to a new Supergrass back in ’97 – definitely not a case of the sophomore slump.

#613: Jamie T – If You Got the Money

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Sometimes this song will come up on shuffle when I’m on the underground and I’ll be tempted to grab my phone right out of the pocket and press skip. I was in Year 7 when Panic Prevention came out, very much into my NME/British indie music stage. Jamie T doesn’t really make music like that any more. He has grown, as have I. So when the track starts immediately with him singing the song’s title with his prominent South London accent, it almost makes me wince a little. It just reminds me of that time in 2007 when I was young and doing stupid things.

That all changes when the bass comes in and the track’s groove gets going. It’s hard not to at least nod your head to it. It’s all about that rhythm. It’s at that point when I begin to remember what attracted me to the song in the first place. It’s a song that covers two things in each verse. The first concerning potential love and the loss of it on the dancefloor while on a night out, and the second detailing basic frustration with having a low-paying job and drinking your problems away. It’s very relatable. Very British in its delivery and execution too. Quite easy to see why he was described as a ‘one-man Arctic Monkeys’ during his first few years.

It’s a playful track, one that you can have a laugh to when listening but still appreciate what Jamie talks about and the great music that accompanies his thoughts.