The Tale Behind The Tune ~ MONEY, That's What I Want … LIVE

This is the second time we have recorded this song … the first time it was recorded in the studio. This version is a live recording made at Heartbreak Hotel ... A Concert For The Homeless on December 11, 2025 at Harmony Music Hall in Gormley / Vandorf … well it's mostly live! At our concert … that I was unable to attend because I had suffered a heart attack … another member of Burrows And Company, Patrick Fockler, led our band through this performance. And he did a wonderful job of doing that, from start to finish … thank you Patrick!!! When you watch the video of Burrows And Company playing this song at that show you will no doubt notice our keyboard player David Chester singing background like a real trooper. And he is doing that all by himself … if I was there I would have sung background with him. Well through modern recording technology I can be there with him … after the fact. So we have added in me singing background with Dave … and I was happy to get in on the tune.

The song money was written by Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records, a woman named Janie Bradford and Barrett Strong, the singer and the piano player on the original recording. Although there is some controversy about that because although Strong was included as one of the writers when the record was released he was removed from the copyright registration 3 years later, then reinstated when the copyright was renewed in 1987 but then removed again a year later … Gordy claimed he was only included in the writing credits because of a clerical error. However other musicians on the session stated that it was Strong who told them how to play it! So I'm going with the notion that Barrett Strong helped write this tune!

We invented money many moons ago because it was easier to use than figuring out the bartering rate for purchases … like how many chickens it would cost to buy a goat or a pig or a horse? But one of the worst side effects of that invention became apparent very quickly … greed! We invented money and very quickly became addicted to it … and we still are! They say that money is the root of all evil … and whoever “they” are they had a point! A great deal of the problems we face today … especially around looking after this planet we live and depend upon are caused by our eternal thirst for money … we are consuming Mother Earth! The way things are going there will soon be no fish in the sea or birds in the sky. The Earth is a finite place … we can't keep “growing our economies” forever. As Greta Thunberg said when she came to the United Nations a few years ago … People are suffering, people are dying and our eco systems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth … How dare you!

As David Suzuki pointed out, if you want a model for what is going on here, think about the Earth as a test tube filled with the perfect medium for bacteria to grow in, then drop one bacterium in the test tube and put a cork in it … what will happen next? Well one bacterium will consume some of the medium and then split into two bacteria, then again into four and then eight, then sixteen and on and on until half the medium is gone and the other half of the test tube is filled with bacteria … which Suzuki referred to as the eleventh hour. What will happen next is that the remaining bacteria will consume the rest of the medium, the whole system will collapse and the bacteria will perish … is this our circumstance? Quite likely.

It is also worthy of note that people and societies that didn't have money at all tended to think of each other and the world in which they lived in a very different way than we do.
Such as when indigenous hunters took down a bison or a deer, they took it back to their village and the whole tribe or band consumed it … it was all for one … and one for all among them. Nobody in such cultures thought of such things as “private property”, guarded it from others. By the way they also thanked the animal they had killed for giving up it's life to them so they could feed their families and their band … it's called respect and real gratitude. We have a lot to learn from those people!

Money, That's What I Want has been covered by many bands … including The Beatles. I first heard it performed by a band in West Toronto called Jay Smith And The Majestics. There are several things I would draw to your attention about our live version of the tune …

I love the way it starts … with Al already thumping away on the bass drum and Patrick's trembling guitar as he counts the song in … then we hear Yeah and we're off to the races. Patrick's vocals lead the band through the song in an excellent way, this guy can sing and play!

Al's drumming in this recording is just wonderful … his constant and persistent thumping on the bass drum throughout the tune … even beyond the ending! … he just can't stop playing! Listen to the offside pattern he plays at the beginning of verse 3 … works like a charm. He and Dennis drive this whole song down the track like a freight train.

And Dave not only wails the background vocal all by himself throughout, his piano playing holds the middle together in a very solid way which allows both Patrick and Graham to do whatever they want.

Graham lays down some lovely sweet slide guitar in verse one before Patrick starts singing. Then there's Graham's powerful double ride solo … he gets into a some really effective grungy playing here, especially in the second half … another wonderful performance by this magnificent guitarist … nothing new about that! And if you asked him what he was going to play in the solo beforehand, he would just shrug and tell you … How the hell would I know? It just comes out of him in real time, when he gets there … a rare and special talent to be celebrated and cherished.

On this recording Burrows And Company are …

Drums … Al Cross
Bass … Dennis Pendrith
Piano … David Chester
Guitar … Graham Young
Guitar … Patrick Fockler
Lead Vocal … Patrick Fockler
Backgound Vocals … David Chester and *Bob Burrows
*Recorded at Chalet Studio on February 7, 2026

Recorded live at Harmony Music Hall in Gormley / Vandorf ON on December 11, 2025

Live Sound Recording Engineer … Anthony Young
*Background Vocals Engineer … David Chester
Mixing Engineer … Patrick Fockler

Graphic Art … Tamara Green

Produced by … Bob Burrows

The song Money, That's What I Want was written by Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford. And possibly Barrett Strong! Thank you for taking the time to read this Tale Behind The Tune. And for your ongoing interest in and support for our music … much appreciated.

Bob