Money (That's What I Want)

Those in the know, those who were there, have always stated that this is the one recording that we all should listen to if we want to know what the Beatles sounded like in their heyday in the Cavern Club in Liverpool.  The piano part played by producer George Martin would not have been part of it, of course, but the raw energy generated by the band and the rough, grungy sound would have been much the same.  Listening to it today you can almost smell the sweat and the smoke in the dark, crowded basement venue, even if, like me, you have never even been there.

In Mark Lewisohn's book Tune In, the frontman of rival Liverpool band Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes claims that the Beatles learned the song from watching his band perform it.  John, Paul, George and Pete would each listen to a different line and write out what they heard.  The next time Kingsize saw them, they were performing it in their act.

The boys began playing Money on their first visit to Hamburg, West Germany, in 1960, and it remained in their repertoire for the next few years.  They performed a surprisingly lackluster rendition of the song as part of their audition for Decca Records on New Year's Day of 1962.  Ringo was familiar with the number, so they continued to feature it after he joined the group.

The official recording for the album With the Beatles was begun on July 18th, 1963.  It was played live in the studio with Martin sitting in on piano.  The band required six takes before all were satisfied with the result.  Martin then added a piano edit piece, but the Beatles' work on the track was complete.

The next session for the album was not until July 30th.  On this occasion, the Beatles were present, but only Martin was recorded, playing overdubs on piano for takes eight through fourteen.  Yet, when the mono mix of the song was prepared on August 21st, these overdubs were ignored, leaving an edit of take six and the piano edit piece known as take seven from July 18th as the master.

Martin was still not happy with his piano work on the recording, so he made three more attempts at an overdub on September 30th.  The song was not mixed for stereo until October 29th and again on the 30th, when Martin chose to combine two mono mixes along with overdub work from September 30th, thus making the stereo mix quite different from the earlier mono mix.

With the album due to come out in November, the song returned to the group's set list.  Anthology 1 gives us a listen to a fine performance of the number for a radio broadcast in front of a studio audience on the band's inaugural visit to Sweden in October of 1963.  Though the fans are unfamiliar with the song, the Beatles win them over with a hard-rocking attack and guitars that sound surprisingly distorted for the period.

In addition to returning Money to their stage act, the Beatles also played the song several times on various BBC Radio programs.  On Air - Live at the BBC Volume 2 gives us one such performance from their show From Us to You broadcast on Boxing Day 1963.    

The song closed out the album With the Beatles in the UK, also appearing on the EP All My Loving.  Capitol only released it on The Beatles' Second Album.  After the group's career, it was a natural choice for the compilation Rock and Roll Music in 1976.

In January of 1969, the Beatles revisited the song on two of the early sessions at Twickenham Film Studios for the Get Back project.  It was briefly considered for the grand rock and roll show that never came to fruition.  Perhaps this kept it in the back of John Lennon's mind at the end of the year when he assembled a band at the last minute for a live performance in Toronto on September 13th.  A line up consisting of John, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voorman and Alan White appeared on this occasion, playing a selection of rock and roll oldies they all agreed upon on their trans-Atlantic flight.  Their version of Money was sufficiently grungy, though the tempo was lethargic compared to the versions by the Beatles, and John had no backing vocals to support him.  Their entire set was released on the Plastic Ono Band album Live Peace in Toronto at the end of the year.