Blue Money
| "Blue Money" | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||||||||
| Single by Van Morrison | ||||||||||
| from the album His Band and the Street Choir | ||||||||||
| A-side | "Blue Money" | |||||||||
| B-side |
"Sweet Thing" (US) "Call Me Up in Dreamland" (Europe) | |||||||||
| Released | 1971 | |||||||||
| Recorded | 1970 | |||||||||
| Genre | R&B[1] | |||||||||
| Length | 3:40 | |||||||||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Van Morrison | |||||||||
| Producer(s) | Van Morrison | |||||||||
| Van Morrison singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"Blue Money" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was the second of two Top Forty hits from his 1970 album, His Band and the Street Choir (the other being "Domino"), reaching #23 on the US charts. The US single featured "Sweet Thing", from the album Astral Weeks, as the B-side. It was released as a single in the UK in June 1971 with a different B-side, "Call Me Up in Dreamland". The song became Morrison's third best selling single of the 1970s, remaining on the charts for three months.[2]
The lyrics have the singer promising his girl that they will paint the town together with her "blue money."[3] Critic Maury Dean states that the theme picks up from Lefty Frizzell's 1950 #1 song "If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time."[3] In a 1972 Rolling Stone interview with John Grissim Jr., Morrison commented about the popularity of "Blue Money" in cities like Boston and New York: "Out here I get asked to play 'Blue Money' all the time. All the kids love it, the kids in the street. It's their favorite number."[4]
Critical response
Robert Christgau, writing in the Village Voice in 1971, described "Blue Money" and "Domino" as "superb examples of Morrison's loose, allusive white r&b."[1] Writer M. Mark described it as "a pun-filled song about time and cash."[5] Biographer Brian Hinton compared the song's sound to Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames—"boozy horns and a nonsensical chorus."[6]Dean praises the song's "snarly, snappity sounds" and Morrison's "jazzy baritone."[3]
Covers
Cristina covered "Blue Money" on her 1984 album, Sleep It Off and The Flying Pickets included an a cappella version as the title track on their 1991 album, Blue Money.
Personnel
- Van Morrison - guitar, vocal
- Alan Hand - piano
- Keith Johnson - trumpet
- John Klingberg - bass
- John Platania - guitar
- Jack Schroer - baritone saxophone
- Dahaud Shaar (David Shaw) - drums
The Street Choir:
- Larry Goldsmith
- Janet Planet
- Andrew Robinson
- Ellen Schroer
- Dahaud Shaar
- Martha Velez
Charts
| Chart (1971)[7] | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Pop Singles | 23 |
Notes
- 1 2 Chritgau, Robert (1971-03-11). "Consumer Guide". Retrieved 2009-10-04.
- ↑ Dewitt. The Mystic's Music. p.87
- 1 2 3 Dean, M. (2003). Rock 'n' Roll Gold Rush. Algora. p. 329. ISBN 0875862071.
- ↑ Grissim Jr., John (1972-06-22). "Van Morrison: The Rolling Stone Interview". Retrieved 2009-09-28.
- ↑ Stranded: Rock and Roll for a Desert Island, Greil Marcus, ed., p.10 (1979)
- ↑ Hinton, Celtic Crossroads, p.123
- ↑ Allmusic: Van Morrison bllboard singles
References
- Hinton, Brian, Celtic Crossroads: The Art of Van Morrison, Sanctuary (1997). ISBN 1-86074-169-X
- DeWitt, Howard A., Van Morrison: The Mystic's Music, Horizon Books (1983). ISBN 0-938840-02-9