Segment from BBC Four documentary Better than the Original: The Joy of the Cover Version featuring Deborah Evans-Stickland of the Flying Lizards on their 1979 cover of 'Money (That's What I Want)'.
Ms. Evans-Stickland's deadpan delivery of the lyrics made this an instant classic for me. It was as if she was irritated having to explain why you should give her all your money. XD
Reminds me of women in the forties/fifties..............and then,............skip forward to todays' "peach bums": my bum is worth money, so give me all of yours. plus you dont' get my bum anyways. Meanwhile, the womens' movement moves back seven decades!!! Love her "interpretation". !!!
This killed me when I 1st heard it in the 70s, the sound of ennui is still perfection today. The tune popped into my head minutes ago so I looked it up to hear it again, I never realized how attractive the young lady was.
Me too, I thought about someone who asked me for money as a present recently and this exact song popped in my my head so I looked it up, lol Im going to sing it dryly to them when I hand over the card with money inside. I had no idea who sang it because of the Beatles original but I’m glad I found this video.
@@krpurple2678 The Beatles version was killer but the Lizards version had me flopping about like a flailing Mr. Bean long before I'd ever heard of Rowan Atkinson.
I was shocked this version came out in 1979. It sounded like it came from the height of the swinging 60's in London. This for me is the BEST version of the song. Makes me smile now - but it used make me laugh my head off when I was young and the way she dances just kills me.
Age six and I loved this tune. The oddness to the sound was what I liked about it when I heard it on the radio. Only later in life was I to appreciate the irony of this version and what it came to represent.
I spent many happy evenings in the Cricketers pub in Mill Green (Ingatestone, Essex) with Deborah; together with Harry (big H) and many others in the 1970s. She used to drink brandy & soda. On one occasion I bought her a brandy and passed her the soda syphon, she was a little enthusiastic with it; the jet of soda water hit her glass and ricocheted out on to the back of a nearby customer. She was mortified; I took the blame. Happy days.
The best version, by far. The circus like music, the crazy materialistic 'russian-esqe' vocals simply exudes the rank societal materialism of the late '70s/early '80s. Loved it when it was first released and still love this today...outstanding.
Wow, #5 in the UK. I remember taping Summertime Blues off of the local (San Francisco) underground music show. Knowing I'd never find it at Tower records, I had to walk past the 6th Street winos to get to the closest Rough Trade...
The singing style reminds me of an ESL (English second language) woman singing at a bar for a bunch of drunken sailors. From my personal experience, it reminds me of being young drunk and abroad.
I came here because I heard the song for the first time on the NETFLIX special about Frans Lebowitz. I instantly adored the song. so representative of the society we are living in now in the midst of this pandemic......
"people may wonder why i speak the songs instead of singing them... the answer, singing is more difficult".... wow, she would have been an international success by todays standards..... a least she's honest
I have always liked the Flying Lizards version of money. It also brings back memories of when I was 18 years old when this hit came out. Originally written by Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford.
OH GOD!!!!!! WHO KNOWS WHAT WOULD'VE HAPPENED HAD SHE BEEN A DIFFERENT TYPE OF VOCALIST????!!!! I CAN TELL THOUGH THAT THIS "WOULD NOT" HAVE TURNED OUT THE CLASSIC THAT IT IS TODAY.....it'd be something totally different altogether.
I will forever remember this song. I was going into high school at the time. Suddenly this uber bizarre bland bare song came on the radio and everyone just kind of looked at it sideways. It sounded like it was recorded by someone in their kitchen using their pots and pans. It sounded terrible. But it was also interesting because of it. Now it is a classic. To me it is the version of money.
Deborah perfectly represents the gorgeous woman who has ZERO interest in you, but you are impossibly infatuated with her. She's a Goddess & you're a worm - life is cruel. Her disinterest & coolness makes her even more desirable!
I don't know it if it "you are a worm" as much as it is "I really don't put much value to social convention". It feels as though I'd need to do something rather outside of 'cool' to have her even turn her head!
I've seen her in interviews where she comes across as quite irritated that you should want to talk with her. I just love her even more for that too. Would love there to be more of Deborah everywhere.
Drained of it's warmth? Are you kidding? I fell in love the first time I heard it. Finally, an honest woman. Well, it was a passing thought. I eventually married a devout Christian woman and was very happy.
The first time my mom played this song I was HOOKED! I also believed that it was *Yoko Ono* who sang it. This version of the song is by far THE BEST one out there!
I first heard songs from The Flying Lizards in 1981 on Milwaukee School of Engineering’s radio station WMSE (notably: Money and TV). I still think Deborah’s very…very…very…very…very…😄😄
This must be one of the most brilliant, inspired cover versions ever. It still sounds every bit as bonkers now as it did over forty (!) years ago. Everything about it - out of tune piano, kitchen utensil percussion, Goon Show sound effects, bored debutante vocals - shouldn't work yet by some bizzare once in a billion years alchemy it all comes together perfectly.
Oddly enough her last name is Strickland Same as the B52s Keith Strickland, I can name 2 B52s songs that a nod to their version of money. Summer of love and PUMP ( from the Funplex album) Kate Pierson emulates her voice.
The Flying Lizards' version of "Money" cost ME some money. My partner in a record store liked Dexy's Irish Runners, I preferred the Lizards. One day while I was playing the record he smashed my turntable, and broke the counterweight off the tone arm.
@@AnnieVanAuken I actually like that song but your partner at the shop is still a horse's ass. Plus there is no comparison, Lizards music is timeless and sublime. mechanism a machine. machine and I split the work fifty fifty.
Kinda like the Johnny Cash talking blues tunes. First time I heard this song was back in maybe 1984, we had a few radio stations that played off the wall stuff. Long live stations where you get The Flying Lizards, followed by QUEEN,David Bowie, Black Sabbath, and Steven Miller Band📻🐿🙂
Long Story short, I got a notification about the Flying Lizards earlier, and I had forgotten about the band for years. Nice to rediscover them. But something I want to mention about the piano manipulation, if you like that check out an album by Anne Dudley of the Art of Noise doing the best of Art of Noise. She does the majority of the album with different types of pianos and piano manipulation. It Is A Masterpiece!!!
