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[John Adams]

From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>

>You make it sound like the meaning of this, um, text is transparent. It sounds pretty complicated and ambivalent to me. E.g., the 
conclusion:

I only wanted to quote the directly relevant part of the song, but you're right--there's a definite ambivalence to the song as a whole (unlike "The Great Nations of Europe" from the same album, which is pretty darn straightforward).

This one, from his most personal album, is straightforward, too (I think--but note the situation that gives rise to the conversation at the end): http://www.randynewman.com/tocdiscography/disc_land_of_dreams/lyricslandofdreams#itsmoneythatmatters

(By the way, is it true, as I've heard, that he's Garrison Keillor's son-in-law?)

It's Money that Matters

Of all of the people that I used to know
Most never adjusted to the great big world
I see them lurking in book stores
Working for the Public Radio
Carrying their babies around in a sack on their back
Moving careful and slow

It's money that matters
Hear what I say
It's money that matters
In the USA

All of these people are much brighter than I
In any fair system they would flourish and thrive
But they barely survive
They eke out a living and they barely survive

When I was a young boy, maybe thirteen
I took a hard look around me and asked what does it mean?
So I talked to my father, and he didn't know
And I talked to my friend and he didn't know
And I talked to my brother and he didn't know
And I talked to everybody that I knew

It's money that matters
Now you know that it's true
It's money that matters
Whatever you do

Then I talked to a man lived up on the county line
I was washing his car with a friend of mine
He was a little fat guy in a red jumpsuit
I said "You look kind of funny"
He said "I know that I do"

"But I got a great big house on the hill here
And a great big blonde wife inside it
And a great big pool in my backyard and another great big pool beside it
Sonny it's money that matters, hear what I say
It's money that matters in the USA
It's money that matters
Now you know that it's true
It's money that matters whatever you do"