Song · Live covers
Money (That's What I Want)
Motown's first hit, opening a Radiohead show in Oxford in August 1992.
1959
hitsville, studio a
Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford wrote it, and Barrett Strong recorded it in 1959 for Tamla: the first hit record Gordy's company ever had. It came out of an improvised session in Detroit, Gordy and Strong messing about on piano and voice, Benny Benjamin joining on drums and Brian Holland on tambourine. It answers “The Best Things in Life Are Free” by disagreeing.
Who played guitar and bass on it has never been settled. One account has two white kids walking home from school who heard the noise from the street, wandered in, asked to join and were never seen again. Another names the guitarist as Eugene Grew, who said Strong taught him the part. The Beatles covered it in 1963, the Flying Lizards in 1979, and most bands have had a go since.
22 aug 1992
oxford
Radiohead played it once, in Oxford on 22 August 1992, and used it to open the show. There is no studio version, and it never came back.
Live history
| Times played | 1 show |
|---|---|
| Live debut | Saturday 22 August 1992 · Oxford |
Nights played include broadcasts; opened and closed count gigs only. A cancelled night has no setlist. All setlist stats →
sources3
- Jim Cogan and William Clark, Temples of Sound: Inside the Great Recording Studios, Chronicle Books.
- Larry Rohter, “For a classic Motown song about money, credit is what he wants”, The New York Times, 31 August 2013.
- Performance date from this site's own setlist archive, via setlist.fm.