Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DLXXIX--Eddie Money: Two Tickets to Paradise

I smoke old stogies I have found, short but not too big around, I'm a man...who's (five days) late again....

After having watched this week's artist on Saturday Night Live, falling in love with his first single, and then rushing out to get his debut LP, I fell in love with his second single simply by listening to it again and again as I listened to the aforementioned album and said first single.  Surprisingly (somewhat), that would pretty much do it--while there was a song or two of his I enjoyed as his career went on, nothing came close to those first two....

I wrote about Eddie Money in Vol. CCLXXXVI (see first single noted above), and on a sadder note, about his death in 2019.  Alas, as his death remains permanent and nothing new of his life or career has surfaced in the last six years, we're going to let that bio ride, captain, ride....

"Two Tickets to Paradise" was the second (and final) single released from his 1977 debut album, the rather deviously entitled Eddie Money.  The single would reach #22 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while, as I noted in my original post of his debut single, the album reached #37 on the Billboard 200.

Fun Fact:  My girlfriend at the time of this week's song's release (who would go on to be my first wife) actually made me two tickets to paradise and sent them to me when she was away at college.  Sadly, they've been lost in time, but it's still a reminder that, despite the eventual outcome of our marriage, we did have a lot of joy together, too.

It's funny to look at some of the critical reviews of Eddie Money (he was pretty much damned with faint praise) as he started his career and think of how much I enjoyed his earliest efforts, listening to his first album again and again on my very first stereo, earned from summers of working for Continental Steel.  In fairness, Money did pretty much turn out to be just another rocker, but I'd bet my next paycheck that a lot more people were saddened at his death than will be saddened at the death of every rock critic ever combined.  What that has to do with this week's song is beyond even me (and I wrote it), but suffice it to say that Money turns in a stellar effort here (some consider it his signature song), nailing the promise and desire of being in love and wanting to give your lover all the joy he or she needs.  There's some great blasting guitar, and the drums really drive the song's ambiance.  No, it isn't one of the greats, but it's still a catchy as all hell love song that rocks and rolls in all the right places.  And sometimes, that's enough.

Lyric Sheet:  "I'm gonna take you on a trip so far from here/I've got two tickets in my pocket, baby/We'll disappear/You know why?/You've waited so long..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCLXXXVI--Eddie Money: Baby Hold On

Regular readers (both of you) may remember that I wrote a short obituary for Eddie Money when he died last year.  In it I promised that there would come a day when this week's tune would be featured...and voila! today is that day....

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

On the (Eddie) Money

Thank you, and rest in peace, sir

Eddie Money passed away today from the ravages of esophageal cancer --I was a huge fan of his first couple of albums (I bought his first after being blown away by his performance on Saturday Night Live), both of which I played incessantly.  While the rest of his career wasn't my cup of tea, the first two still have a special place in my musical heart.  His songs "Baby Hold On" and "Two Tickets to Paradise" will always be among my all-time favorites.  Fond memories of a great concert sometime back in the day, too.

Embarrassingly enough, somewhere there is a photo of me looking remarkably like the one above, sans the snazzy suit.

At some point in the future, I know "Baby Hold On" is on my list for a Friday Night Jukebox feature--but I want to play it tonight for the good times--and to say thank you to Mr. Edward Mahoney for some fine memories from my youth:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee