Edward Mahoney was born in New York City and after trying to become a policeman and failing, moved westward to the San Francisco Bay Area, changed his name to Eddie Money (his surname being a play on the fact that he never had any), and in 1974 began his music career in earnest. He released his debut album in 1977 (which is when I discovered him after seeing him perform on Saturday Night Live) and due to its success was able to carve out a musical career that lasted until his death in 2019. Money would go on to release 12 studio albums (eight of which would reach the Billboard 200), 4 EPs, three live albums, and six compilations. He would also release 27 singles, 24 of which would hit the charts, with the best topping out at #4. Money was nominated for a Grammy Award, wrote songs for four soundtracks, acted on both the silver screen and television, and is a proud member of the Long Island Hall of Fame. While Money never remotely reached greatness over the course of his 45 years performing, he most certainly had a nice string of success and was at least able to enjoy a taste of fame and fortune.
Fun Fact Money was at one time a trainee to become a New York City police officer (his grandfather, father, and brother were all policeman), but after a few months decided he didn't want to cut his hair and quit the program to play music. His Dad was so pissed he tore down a Jimi Hendrix picture from Money's bedroom wall....
"Baby Hold On" was released in 1978 on his first album, entitled, appropriately enough, Eddie Money. The single would reach #11 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was the most commercially successful of his career, eventually selling over two million copies (though it only peaked at #37 on the album charts).
While "Baby Hold On' doesn't make a lot of greatest songs of all-time lists, it's one of the first singles I remember really going crazy over, listening to the album again and again in my room just to hear it, and cranking the radio as high as it would go every time I heard it tooling around Kokomo, Indiana in my parents car. It's aged very well--it still sounds as good every time I hear it as it did when I was an awkward eighteen year old. Money gives easily the best performance of his career vocally, and the song is a smorgasbord of emaycee faves: jangly guitars, hand claps, pulsating bass, driving drums, a catchy chorus, and even an interlude of just vocals, bass, and drums. It's the kind of song that a young man just getting his feet wet in the mystery that is rock and roll would fall in love with...and still love enough to write a fanboy blog post about some forty odd years later.
Lyric Sheet: "Hey Baby/You know the future's lookin' brighter/Every morning when I get up/Don't be thinkin' 'bout what's not enough, now baby/Just be thinkin' 'bout what we got..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee
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