Song · Live covers
Money (That's What I Want)
Motown's first hit, which opened a night of covers by Radiohead at the Jericho Tavern in Oxford.
1959
hitsville, studio a
Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford wrote it, and Barrett Strong recorded it in 1959 for Tamla. It was the first hit record Gordy's company, Motown, 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, and the Beatles covered it in 1963, the Flying Lizards in 1979.
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 writing credit has moved about too. Strong said he wrote it with Gordy and Bradford; Strong's name was taken off the registration three years on, put back at the 1987 renewal and taken off again the next year. Gordy said it had only been there through a clerical error.
22 aug 1992
the jericho tavern
Radiohead opened with it at the Jericho Tavern in Oxford on 22 August 1992, on a night of covers that went on to “Rhinestone Cowboy” and “Hooked on Classics”.
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 →
sources4
- 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.
- Wikipedia, “Money (That's What I Want)”, for the session, the players and the writing credit.
- Performance date from this site's own setlist archive, via setlist.fm, and the show page for 22 August 1992, for the other two covers.