Whether hiring yearly tax service or self-filing tax forms, gathering receipts and preparing documents for the dreaded due date requires coping skills. Why not crank- up the iPod, compact disc (CD) player, or even the old record player to help make the dirty deed less painful? Let the toes tap and the lips hum with these top money songs from 1980s to 2000s.
Working for a Living?
Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing,” first released on 1985 album, Brothers in Arms, had 22 weeks topping at #1 on the US Billboard charts, according to the Making Bread Machine website on music artists. This song not only has a catchy tune, but was part of the new television phenomenon of MTV and it had a funny, entertaining music video with a lot of MTV playtime. "Money for Nothing" may best be known for these lyrics:
“Now that ain’t working that’s the way you do it
You play the guitar on the MTV
That ain’t working that’s the way you do it
“Independent Women” by Destiny’s Child hit #1 on the U.S. Billboard charts as it was included on the 2000 movie soundtrack for Charlie’s Angels, according to a VH1 ranking website. As Charlie’s Angels gained popularity in the theaters, “Independent Women” broke all records for female groups, holding the #1 spot for eleven weeks in a row on the Billboard rankings. “ It was the 25th best seller in the United Kingdom for 2000. The best lyric of “Independent Women” by Destiny’s Child is:
“Question, tell me what you think about me?
Try to control me boy you get dismissed
Pay my own fun and, oh I pay my own bills
Always 50/50 in relationships”
Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer”, first released on 1986 album, Slippery When Wet, hit #1 on the U.S. Billboard charts, according to the band's website. Bon Jovi into rock n’ roll stardom with a two #1 U.S. Billboard hits and another ranking at #7 from the Slippery When Wet album. “Livin’ on a Prayer’ remained at the US Billboard #1 slot for 27 consecutive weeks. The best lyrics from “Livin’ on a Prayer” are:
“Tommy used to work on the docks
His union’s been on strike
He’s down on his luck…it’s tough, so tough
Gina works the diner all day
Working for her man, she brings home her pay
For love, for love”
“She Works Hard for the Money,” sung by Donna Summers, was released in 1983, according to her official website. It enjoyed 21 weeks as #3 on US Billboard charts. It proved to be a great dance song of that decade. In the music video played on MTV at the time, Summers portrays a waitress and a factory worker, but according to her website notes on her music history, the song was released in the middle of a contract dispute between her and her record label about creative control. Apparently, Summers’ next album was published by a different label. Best lyrics from “She Works Hard for the Money,” by Donna Summers are:
“It’s a sacrifice working day to day
for little money just tips for pay
But it’s worth it all just to hear them say that they care
She works hard for the money so hard for it honey
she works hard for the money so you better treat her right”
Dreams of Fortune
Gwen Stefani's 2005 cover, titled “Rich Girl,” earning Billboard’s Hot 100, Top 40 on Adult charts, and reached #28 on the Rhythm and Blues ranking, according to the vh1 rankings website. Stefani's song is one of at least a dozen re-recordings and translations of the 1964 song, “If I were a Rich Man,” from the Broadway Musical, Fiddler on the Roof, with music by Jerry Bock and lyrics by Sheldon Harnick. Best lyrics of Gwen Stefani’s 2005 "Rich Girl":
“If I was rich girl (na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na nah)
See, I'd have all the money in the world, if I was a wealthy girl
No man could test me, impress me, my cash flow would never ever end
Cause I'd have all the money in the world, if I was a wealthy girl”
“If I Had a $1,000,000,” by Bare Naked Ladies, might be their oldest song, according to their 2005 interview by Canada’s Distinguished Artists’ host Lorne Frohman. In the same interview, the singers shared that a single box of Kraft macaroni dinner thrown at Toronto’s Danforth Music Hall in 1991, snowballed into a Kraft Dinner™ frenzy at other concerts, with some of it being tossed as a sticky, cooked and cheesy mess.
This led the band to ask ticket holders to not bring Kraft Dinners™ to concerts and put food donation boxes at the doors. “If I had $1,000,000” is best known for its major album debut on their 1992 Gordon album, but it was released in three earlier versions before that on cassette tapes, Buck Naked in 1989, Barenaked Lunch and The Yellow Tape in 1990, selling about 500,500 collectively. It has had international acclaim ever since, and has had extra street credit through use of the song in play for the television series, Scrubs. The best lyrics from “If I Had a $1,000,000:
“If I had a $1,000,000
We wouldn't have to walk to the store
If I had a $1,000,000
We'd take a limousine ‘cause it costs more
If I had a $1,000,000 We wouldn’t have to eat Kraft dinner
But we would still eat Kraft dinner.
Like the variations on money and bills and who works to pay the way through life is expressed in each of these songs, having some appropriate background music while doing income taxes can make the task more tolerable.
For more nostalgic money and tax songs, see: Top Money and Tax Coping Songs from 1940s-70s.
TAX101
Lynn Pritchett - Lynn lives in Arizona with her husband and is caretaker for a few pets left behind by their two grown daughters.
