This week we're going back to the decade that many--myself included--consider the best ever for rock and roll: the 1970's. And now, everybody together (with eye rolls), "OK, Boomer..."
Steve Miller moved to Chicago at the ripe old age of twenty-two to follow his dream of being a blues musician. After a year he grew unhappy with the music scene there and in 1966 moved to San Francisco where he formed the Steve Miller Blues Band. Shortly thereafter Miller took the bold step of taking the word "Blues" out of the band's name and it became just the Steve Miller Band (it was hoped that taking the word out would broaden the band's audience--it worked quite well). The Steve Miller Band would have its first charting album in 1969, and would continue to chart albums moderately successfully until 1973 when it had its first pop hit with the song "The Joker" and the band would have four of its next five albums hit the top three on the Billboard 200 (with nary a number one, oddly enough). In 1978 the Steve Miller Band released its Greatest Hits and to date the compilation has sold more than 13 million copies. For their career, the band has released 18 studio albums, six live albums, and nine compilations. They've also released thirty singles, with three #1's and two more top ten hits. Sadly, most of the band's original members have gone to the Great Rock and Roll Concert in the Sky, though Miller still tours with the band's current incarnation. Miller was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016 (and managed to be perhaps the only inductee to be such an asshole as to have the band inducting him--the Black Keys--later recant their speech honoring him).
Fun Fact: emaycee fave Boz Scaggs met Miller at the age of 12 when the pair were in prep school. They would later attend the University of Wisconsin together, and go their separate ways for a few years before meeting up again in San Francisco. Scaggs was the guitarist on the Steve Miller Band's first two albums before returning to his solo career.
"Take the Money and Run" was the first single released (in 1976) from Miller's appropriately titled for the seventies album, Fly Like an Eagle. The single would reach #11 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the albums would peak at #3.
"Take the Money and Run" tells the tale of two young lovers who rob a rich man and are followed by a mean detective until they escape over the border--which sounds somewhat lame until you remember America's fascination with outlaws like Bonnie and Clyde or John Dillinger, folks who stole from the rich to support themselves. The song is catchy, Miller's vocals are detached enough to keep the song from inanity, and there's some nice guitar work along the way. While I would never say I waited with baited breath for a Steve Miller Band release, I liked a number of their songs as I went through my formative years. But I chose this one because...in the second chorus and again right before the end after Miller sings "take the money and run" he bellows "Ooooh, Lord!" and it's one of those moments in a song that takes it from being a nice little single to one you want to hear again and again. And it's those small (even if sometimes silly) moments that have kept me entertained listening to pop music for almost fifty years now.
Lyric Sheet: "They got the money, hey/You know they got away/They headed down south and they're still running today/Singin' go on take the money and run/Go on take the money and run...oooh Lord..."
Enjoy:
It Was an Insurrection--the Blood of Those Killed on January 6th Is on Republican Hands
Peace,
emaycee
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