Money (BDJ Remix)

The Beatles recorded "Money (That's What I Want)" in five takes on July 18, 1963. I suppose they intended it to be a smashing final track to With The Beatles, just as Twist & Shout had closed Please Please Me.

Money had been featured in their shows since the Hamburg days, and they had converted it into a raunchy rocker song.

The regular visitor to BDJ's Cellar immediately notices something odd about Money: it has centered vocals in the stereo (Album) mix ! In fact. It is the only track on Please Please Me and With The Beatles with the vocals recorded in the centre. Remembering that it was Martin's strategy (using a 2-track tape machine....) to record the isntruments on one track, and the vocals on the other, it is clearly impossible to centre the vocals and maintain a stereo image !

How did this enigma arise ? The soundscape of the original Money (by Barrett Strong) is dominated by the piano part. Lewisohn reports that George Martin played piano during the Beatles session, and spent a huge amount of time on recording and mixing his piano part for Money (probably without Beatles being present....). I suppose Martin was also lured to the piano by the track that they recorded just prior to Money: You Really Got A Hold On Me. Here, the piano adds some colour, but on Money Martin verges on overdoing it (in my view...). It is still OK im the mono mix, but the stereo mix features the piano part even more prominently.

Listening closely to the stereo mix of Money, we can figure out what Martin did: the left channel is a mono mix of 'Beatles' instruments (no piano) with vocals, and the right channel is a mono mix of Martin's piano with the same vocals. Since the same vocals are recorded left and right, they appear centred.

Still, the 'piano' track sounds a bit empty; even more importantly, it is doubtful if the Beatles actually wanted a piano part in this track. They cetainly gave it a blistering live preformance without piano !

Therefore, we remixed Money in such a way that the piano drops out; it gains in pure sound and rough rock power, while maintaining a stereo image.