Money Becomes King

If you reach back in your memory

A little bell might ring

About a time that once existed

When money wasn't king

If you stretch your imagination

I'll tell you all a tale

About a time when everything

Wasn't up for sale

There was this cat named Johnny

Who loved to play and sing

When money wasn't king

We'd all get so excited

When John would give a show

We'd raise the cash between us

And down the road we'd go

To hear him play that music

It spoke right to my soul

Every verse a diamond

And every chorus gold

The sound was my salvation

It was only everything

Before money became king

Well, I ain't sure how it happened

And I don't know exactly when

But everything got bigger

And the rules began to bend

And the TV taught the people

How to get their hair to shine

And how sweet life can be

If you keep a tight behind

And they raised the cost of living

And how could we have known

They'd double the price of tickets

To go see Johnny's show?

So we hocked all our possessions

And we sold a little dope

And went off to rock and roll

We arrived there early

In time to see rehearsal

And John came out and lip-synched

His new lite-beer commercial

And as the crowd arrived

As far as I could see

The faces were all different

There was no one there like me

They sat in golden circles

And waiters served them wine

And talked through all the music

And to John paid little mind

And way up in the nosebleeds

We watched him on the screen

They'd hung between the billboards

So cheaper seats could see

Johnny, rocked that golden circle

And all those VIP's

And that music that had freed us

Became a tired routine

And I saw his face in close-up

Trying to give it all he had

And sometimes his eyes betrayed him

You could see that he was sad

And I tried to rock along with him

But I slowly became bored

Could that man on stage with everything

Somehow need some more?

There was no use in pretending

No magic left to hear

All the music gave me

Was a craving for lite-beer

As I walked out of the arena

My ears began to ring

And money became king