Music can be very inspirational and motivating. When it comes to money and work we often need both. I listen to all types of music, often to relax or just calm my mind from the many things I might be focusing on in the moment.
I have written about the connection between music and money before, with the millions of songs in the world it’s hard not to have songs about these topics. Below is my latest list of money and work related songs. Happy listening.
Money Songs
If I had a Million Dollars – The Barenaked ladies – 1988
Best lyrics:
If I had a million dollars
(I’d build a tree-fort in our yard)
Moneytalks – AC/DC – 1990
Best lyrics:
A French maid, foreign chef
A big house with king size bed
You’ve had enough, you ship them out
The dollar’s up – down, you’d better buy the pound
Mo Money Mo Problems – The Notorious B.I.G – 1997
Best lyrics:
I don’t know what, they want from me
It’s like the more money we come across
The more problems we see
How to be a millionaire? – ABC – 1985
Best lyrics:
I’ve seen the future, I can’t afford it
Tell me the truth sir, someone just bought it
C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me) – Wu-Tang Clan -1993
Best lyrics:
It’s been twenty-two long hard years of still struggling
Survival got me bugging, but I’m alive on arrival
I peep at the shape of the streets
And stay awake to the ways of the world cause shit is deep
A man with a dream with plans to make cream
Work Related Song
You can take this job and shove it – Johnny Paycheck – 1977
Best lyrics:
I been workin’ in this factory
For nigh on fifteen years
All this time I watched my woman
Drownin’ in a pool of tears
And I’ve seen a lot of good folks die
That had a lot of bills to pay
I’d give the shirt right offa’ my back
If I had the guts to say
Working 9 to 5 – Dolly Parton – 1980
Best lyrics:
Workin’ 9 to 5,
What a way to make a livin’
Barely gettin’ by
It’s all takin’ and no givin’
They just use your mind
And they never give you credit
It’s enough to drive you crazy
If you let it
Bang on The Drum All Day – Todd Rundgren – 1982
Best lyrics:
Listen to this
Every day when I get home from work
I feel so frustrated
The boss is a jerk
And I get my sticks and go out to the shed
And I pound on that drum like it was the boss’s head
Taking Care Of Business – BTO – 1973
Best lyrics:
You can get to work by nine
And start your slaving job to get your pay
If you ever get annoyed
Look at me I’m self-employed
I love to work at nothing all day
What are your favorite money or work themed songs?
Brian is a Dad, husband, and an IT professional by trade. A Personal Finance Blogger since 2013. Who, with his family, has successfully paid off over $100K worth of consumer debt. Now that Brian is debt-free, his mission is to help his three children prepare for their financial lives and educate others to achieved financial success. Brian is involved in his local community. As a Financial Committee Chair with the Board of Education of his local school district, he has helped successfully launch a K-12 financial literacy program in a six thousand student district.
This is an awesome list! One that got me through a rough assignment a few years ago was Lunchmoney Lewis’ Bills. More recent, but still super motivating!
Thanks FF. I’ll have to give Lunchmoney Lewis’ Bills a listen.
Awesome, thanks for the great soundtrack to kick-off the week! Happy Money Monday!
Thanks Jay, enjoy your week.
I don’t know if this is a money song so much as it’s a bucking the system song, but one of our favorites is “Movin’ Out” by Billy Joel. 🙂 Great list, Brian, I’d forgotten about a lot of these oldies!
Thanks Laurie. I would say Billy Joel’s “Movin;Out” is a money song. As the lyrics suggest we work to hard for what?
I don’t know why but I love Rich Girl by Hall and Oates.
You’re a rich girl, and you’ve gone too far
‘Cause you know it don’t matter anyway
You can rely on the old man’s money
You can rely on the old man’s money
It’s a bitch, girl, but it’s gone too far
‘Cause you know it don’t matter anyway
Another good one. 🙂 There are so many.
I’ve never seen lyrics from different songs on the theme of money laid out like that before. Amazing how similar they all are! Main message: work is imprisoning and never pays enough. There should be more songs about financial freedom! (New song list idea?)
Thanks Ruth. A financial freedom song? Sounds like a country song to me. 🙂
My favorite is “The Weather is Here, I Wish You Were Beautiful” by Jimmy Buffett…because we all feel like escaping from the grind.
“Well now that’s just the start of a well-deserved overdue binge
Meanwhile back in the city certain people are starting to cringe
His lawyers are calling his parents
His girlfriend doesn’t know what to think
His partners are studying their options
He’s just singin’ and orderin’ drinks”
Another one I’ll have to listen too, not much of a Parrot head.
Mo Money Mo Problems is my favorite – great list!!
How about a shout out to Weezer with the song: Beverly Hills?
Overlooked that one. I do enjoy me so Weezer!
Great list! We included a few of these titles in our contest for best quitting song, but Springsteen’s Born to Run was the winner.
“Taking Care of Business” is the one I relate to most from commuting days in New York – “People pushin’, people shovin’.” Boy was that the truth! Every day when I returned home Mr. Groovy would ask me how many times I’d been body-checked.
Even more so this time of year in NYC, with everyone trying to get a peek at the big tree. 🙂