Overspending on the Christmas holiday is an American tradition as old as the U.S. Mint. Hopefully, it’s not greed that fuels the overreach, but instead a generous holiday spirit that inspires consumers to spend whatever it takes to shower their loved ones with that perfect gift.
Here’s a list of ‘gone broke’ songs that might make you feel better while you hover in the zone between your purchases and the credit card statements!
#10 JOHNNY CASH - “I’m Busted” ‘The Man in Black’ recorded this back in 1963 and Ray Charles also did a killer version. What do you do when the one you ask to borrow money from was actually coming over to ask to borrow money from you!
#9 PINK FLOYD - “Money” From the 1973 Dark Side of the Moon release that made Floyd stacks of cash. Money makes the world go around and it’s no fun when you can’t even ante into the game.
#8 MICHELLE ‘EVIL GAL’ WILLSON – “Five Pound Box of Money” Skip the chocolates, Santa, just bring the cash! Boston blues singer Willson cooed this request on the Christmas list back in 1995.
#7 MARTY STUART - “Too Much Month (At the End of the Money)” So you spent all your stash on Christmas and didn’t leave anything for the rent? You’ve got a classic case of too much month left! “Love to take you out like I said I would honey, but there’s too much month…”
#6 BOB DYLAN - “Money Blues” A song that didn’t make Desire in 1975, this Jacques Levy collaboration comes at a time when Bob Dylan could spend pretty much whatever he liked and still have a few mill in the cookie jar. Nevertheless, one usually doesn’t forget their lean years before the bank account and a pot to piss in. Dylan's troubadour might be busted, but he isn't all washed up in this tale: “The man came and took my Chevy back. I’m glad I hid my old guitar.”
#5 BOB SEGER - “Ain’t Got No Money” From Stranger in Town in 1978, one of Seger’s platinum run. The song actually sounds like a version of the earlier “Fire down Below’ with new lyrics. Bob’s a positive thinking guy who decides to play to his strengths in this chugging rocker: “I ain’t got no money, but I sure got a whole lotta love.”
#4 ALBERT COLLINS - “Master Charge” The self-professed “Master of the Telecaster” could rip up a blues riff with the best of them until his untimely death from cancer in 1993. His wife Gwen actually wrote this tribute to her credit card that was so effective at sucking all the cash out of Albert’s wallet!
#3 BOZ SCAGGS (FEATURING DUANE ALLMAN) - “Somebody Loan Me a Dime” This twelve-minute epic simmers at the beginning and howls to epic proportions on the back of an insistent horn section and Allman’s howling and lengthy lead guitar. It appeared on Scaggs’ debut after leaving the Steve Miller Band and ably updated the Fenton Robinson original. “Loan me that dime, to ease my worried mind.”
#2 JIMMY THACKERY - “Hundreds into Ones” Jimmy Thackery is a guitar alumnus from Washington D.C.’s Nighthawks, a legendary blues outfit for decades. I once saw Jimmy do a note-perfect rendition of Jimmy Hendrix’s 13-minute “Star Spangled Banner”/”Purple Haze” jam from Woodstock and it left me floored. This all-too-true tale of monetary woe comes from 2003: “I got a girl who knows how to get things done. She knows how to turn my hundreds into ones.”
#1 THE FLYING LIZARDS - “Money (That’s What I Want)” From the Motown original this song has the monster cred of being recorded by both the Beatle and the Rolling Stones, both worthy versions from the groups’ early years. The minimalist Flying Lizards rendition from 1979 makes the top grade though, if only for the petulant diva role cast by singer Deborah Evans-Stickland as she demands more…and more…and more!
Photo: AFP