Money
A cash register tape loop and a groove in 7/4, written as a satire on materialism.
Pink Floyd, from The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
- Written by
- Roger Waters
- Released
- 7 May 1973
- Length
- 6:22
- Album
- The Dark Side of the Moon
Waters wrote it as a satire of materialism and capitalism. It was recorded at Abbey Road between June 1972 and January 1973 with Alan Parsons engineering. The sound effects of coins, a cash register, tearing paper and a counting machine were spliced into a seven-beat tape loop, which was run on a loop about 20 feet long suspended from microphone stands. Wright confirmed in 2000 that the main groove is in 7/4. The basic track was played live by all four members, and the overdubs were two further Gilmour guitar lines and a few Mason tom fills. Dick Parry played tenor saxophone.
A shortened edit was released as a US single on 7 May 1973 with Any Colour You Like on the B-side. It reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 10 on Cash Box that year.
Live
A first attempt at Brighton on 20 January 1972 was abandoned because of tape problems. The first complete performance was at Portsmouth the next day. It was a regular in the set until 1975, returned as an encore in 1977, and was played at Live 8. Gilmour rerecorded it in 1981 for a compilation, and Waters in 2023 for Dark Side of the Moon Redux.
On stage
- 1972-01-21, Portsmouth The first complete performance, a day after an abandoned attempt in Brighton.
More songs by Pink Floyd
Comfortably Numb, Time, Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2), Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Wish You Were Here, Astronomy Domine, Interstellar Overdrive, Arnold Layne, See Emily Play, The Great Gig in the Sky, Welcome to the Machine, Have a Cigar, Dogs, Run Like Hell
Sources
- Money (Pink Floyd song), Wikipedia
- Classic Tracks: Pink Floyd's Money, Mix (1995-05)
- Landmark Productions: Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon, MusicTech (2015)