EASY MONEY

Album version

You put on your coat, I'll put on my hat
You put out the dog, I'll put out the cat
You put on your red dress for me tonight, honey
We're going on the town now looking for easy money

There's nothing to it mister, you won't hear a sound
When your whole world comes tumbling down
And all them fat cats they just think it's funny
I'm going on the town now looking for easy money
Whoa!

I got a Smith & Wesson .38
I got a hellfire burning and I got me a taste
Got me a date on the far shore where it's bright and sunny
I'm going on the town tonight looking for easy money
Whoa!

(Na-na-na-na-na) Whoa! Whoa! (Na-na-na-na) Whoa! Whoa!
(Na-na-na-na-na) Whoa! Whoa! (Na-na-na-na) Whoa! Whoa!
(Na-na-na-na-na) Whoa! Whoa! (Na-na-na-na) Whoa! Whoa!
(Na-na-na-na-na) Whoa! Whoa! (Na-na-na-na)

You put on your coat, I'll put on my hat
You put out the dog, I'll put out the cat
You put on your red dress, you're looking real good, honey
We're going on the town now looking for easy money
We're going on the town now looking for easy money

(Na-na-na-na-na) Whoa! Whoa! (Na-na-na-na) Whoa! Whoa!
(Na-na-na-na-na) Whoa! Whoa! (Na-na-na-na) Whoa! Whoa!
(Na-na-na-na-na) Whoa! Whoa! (Na-na-na-na) Whoa! Whoa!
(Na-na-na-na-na) Whoa! Whoa! (Na-na-na-na) Whoa! Whoa!
(Na-na-na-na-na) Whoa! Whoa! (Na-na-na-na)

(Na-na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na)
(Na-na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na)
(Na-na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na)
(Na-na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na)

Page last updated: 30 Mar 2012

Info

Music and lyrics by Bruce Springsteen, EASY MONEY is the second track on his 2012 album, Wrecking Ball.

The above lyrics are for Springsteen's studio version of EASY MONEY as released on Wrecking Ball.

The song debuted on 20 Feb 2012, streaming on Backstreets.com.

Composition and Recording

EASY MONEY was written and recorded around February 2011. As Ron Aniello explained, it's the only track on the record that "has an actual urban loop," at the very beginning, while all others have more organic and natural sounds.

The lineup on this track is Bruce Springsteen, Ron Aniello, Steve Jordan (percussion), Soozie Tyrell (violin and backing vocals), Patti Scialfa (backing vocals and vocal arrangements), Lisa Lowell (backing vocals), Michelle Moore (backing vocals), Antoinette Savage (backing vocals), Corinda Carford (backing vocals), Tiffeny Andrews (backing vocals), Soloman Cobbs (backing vocals), and Lillie Brown (backing vocals).

Wrecking Ball

Wrecking Ball is Bruce Springsteen's seventeenth studio album. It was produced by Ron Aniello with Bruce Springsteen and executive producer Jon Landau, and features special guest appearances from Tom Morello and Matt Chamberlain.

Before the album came together, Springsteen was originally working on a gospel record on which he spent on-and-off about a year. He had written about 30 to 40 songs, including WE TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN, SHACKLED AND DRAWN, and ROCKY GROUND. Then he decided to drop the project and started focusing on solo material. It was on 09 Jan 2011 that Ron Aniello first went to Colts Neck to help Springsteen finish arrangements for the project he was working on. After they had been working together for about a month, Springsteen wrote EASY MONEY which was a different style of song to what they've been working on before. As Aniello told to WCHR-FM's Tom Cunningham, "things just started steam rolling into this other record, you know, not sure what was going round in his mind." Springsteen was bringing in more songs, and it was evident that the direction of the music was changing. Jon Landau came in, listened to the music, and after a discussion with Springsteen they decided to do a new album. "Literally, this man bought in a new song every day. He just bulldozed us with these songs," Aniello explained.

Springsteen was coming in every morning with a new song and it would start with just him and his guitar. He would then sing a rhythm to Aniello, or sit down at the drums and play a beat. Aniello was looping these drum beats – no drum machines were used on Wrecking Ball – and adding other layers, like loops of percussion, also played by Springsteen. According to Aniello, this was done just for convenience because they were alone in studio, songs were coming in quick, and there were no other musicians there. The loops stayed, and other instruments were added at later stages. "Ron brought a large library of sound that allowed me to explore – like maybe a hip-hop drum loop or country-blues stomp loop," Springsteen told Rolling Stone in 2012. "The actual drums came later. There was no preconceived set of instruments that needed to be used, I could go anywhere, do anything, use anything. It was very wide open." Everybody who was around was participating in the recording. They even jumped on pieces of plywood, built some some risers to stomp on, and hit couches to makes noises.

Wrecking Ball was mainly recorded at Stone Hill Studio, Springsteen's home studio at his Colts Neck, NJ farm house. The album was released on Columbia Records on 05 Mar 2012 in the UK, 06 Mar 2012 in the United States, and 21 Mar 2012 in Japan.

Wrecking Ball was recorded with a large ensemble of musicians. There's a core of six musicians, while all others are just guest artists. Some E Street Band members appear on a few of the tracks. According to Ron Aniello, the album credits are "a mess" and will be revised in future reissues.

• Bruce Springsteen (lead vocals, guitars, banjo, piano, organ, drums, percussion, and loops) appears on all the album's tracks.
• Ron Aniello (guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, loops, percussion, hurdy gurdy, and backing vocals) appears on all of the album's tracks. He is also the album producer.
• Matt Chamberlain (drums and percussion) appears on tracks 3, 5, and 8.
• Max Weinberg (drums) is an E Street Band member and appears on tracks 7, 11, and 13.
• Steve Jordan (percussion) has previously appeared on Springsteen's Devils & Dust, playing drums and percussion. He plays percussion on track 2.
• Kevin Buell (drums and backing vocals) is Springsteen's guitar technician. He appears on track 5.
• Charlie Giordano (accordion, piano, B-3 organ, and celeste) recorded and toured with The Seeger Sessions Band and joined the E Street band in 2008. He appears on most of the album's tracks.
• Marc Muller (pedal steel guitar) is a multi-instrumentalist who mainly plays string instruments. He plays pedal steel guitar on track 3.
• Tom Morello (electric guitar) appears on tracks 4 and 6.
• Greg Leisz (banjo, mandola, and lap steel) is a multi-instrumentalist, mainly playing lap and pedal steel guitars, guitar, mandolin, and bass. He appears on tracks 8 and 11.
• Rob Lebert (electric guitar and backing vocals) appears on tracks 5, 7, 8, 12, and 13.
• Darrell Leonard (trumpet and bass trumpet) is a Los Angeles based trumpet player, composer and arranger. He appears on track 11.
• Curt Ramm (trumpet and cornet) toured with The Seeger Sessions Band. He appears on tracks 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, and 10.
• Clark Gayton (trombone) toured with The Seeger Sessions Band. He appears on tracks 3, 4, 8, 9, and 10.
• Stan Harrison (clarinet, alto sax, and tenor sax) has previously appeared on Springsteen's The Promise, playing tenor saxophone. He appears on tracks 3, 4, 8, 9, and 10.
• Ed Manion (tenor sax and baritone sax) is a member of The Miami Horns and he toured with the E Street band in 1988 and recorded and toured with The Seeger Sessions Band. He appears on tracks 3, 4, 8, 9, and 10.
• Dan Levine (alto horn and euphonium) is a New York City based musician who plays several horn instruments in studios and live. He appears on tracks 3, 4, 9, and 10.
• Art Baron (euphonium, tuba, sousaphone, and penny whistle) recorded and toured with The Seeger Sessions Band. He appears on tracks 3, 4, 5, 9, and 10.
• Clarence Clemons (saxophone) was an E Street Band member and appears on tracks 7 and 10.
• Soozie Tyrell (violin and backing vocals) started touring with the E Street band in 2002 and toured with The Seeger Sessions Band in 2006. She appears on most of the album's tracks.
• Patti Scialfa (backing vocals and vocal arrangements) is Springsteen's wife and a member of the E Street Band since 1984. She appears on most of the album's tracks.
• Lisa Lowell (backing vocals) has been singing backup vocals on several Springsteen albums since 1992 and recorded and toured with The Seeger Sessions Band. She appears on tracks 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, and 12.
• Cindy Mizelle (background vocals) toured with The Seeger Sessions Band and the E Street Band in 2009. She appears on track 3.
• Ross Peterson (backing vocals) appears on tracks 3, 5, 7, 8, 12, and 13.
• Cliff Norrell (tuba and backing vocals) is the album's engineer. He appears on tracks 3, 5, 7, 8, 12, and 13.
• New York String Section (strings), also known as the New York Chamber Consort, consists of Rob Mathes (orchestration), Sandy Park (string contractor), Lisa Kim (concertmaster), Myumju Lee (violin), Ann Lehmaan (violin), Lizz Lim (violin), Johanna Marher (violin), Annaliesa Place (violin), Fiona Simon (violin), Sharon Yamada (violin), Jung Sun Yu (violin), Karen Dreyfus (viola), Daniel Panner (viola), Robert Rinehart (viola), Mina Smith (cello), and Alan Stepansky (cello). It appears on tracks 1, 4, and 7.
• Victorious Gospel Choir (backing vocals) has previously appeared on Springsteen's The Rising. On Wrecking Ball, the choir includes Michelle Moore, Antoinette Savage, Corinda Carford, Tiffeny Andrews, Soloman Cobbs, and Lillie Brown. It appears on tracks 2, 9, and 10. Michelle Moore is credited separately on the three tracks. The remaining singers are credited individually on track 2, and as the Victorious Gospel Choir on tracks 9 and 10.
• Jeremy McCoy (bass violin) is a bass guitar player. He appears on track 12.
• Dan Shelly (bassoon) is an orchestra bassoon player. He appears on track 12.
• Mark Romatz (contra bassoon) is an orchestra bassoon player. He appears on track 12.
• Steven Van Zandt (mandolin and backing vocals) is an E Street Band member. He appears on tracks 7, 10, and 13.

Wrecking Ball is available in three configurations: standard CD edition, special CD edition featuring two bonus tracks and exclusive packaging, and double-disc vinyl. The album features 11 new Springsteen recordings and the special edition includes two bonus tracks. All 13 tracks are Springsteen compositions, and three of them have previously been released in live forms.

Track list:

1. WE TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN
2. EASY MONEY
3. SHACKLED AND DRAWN
4. JACK OF ALL TRADES
5. DEATH TO MY HOMETOWN
6. THIS DEPRESSION
7. WRECKING BALL
8. YOU'VE GOT IT
9. ROCKY GROUND
10. LAND OF HOPE AND DREAMS
11. WE ARE ALIVE
12. SWALLOWED UP (IN THE BELLY OF THE WHALE) [bonus track]
13. AMERICAN LAND [bonus track]

The album topped the charts in 16 countries, including the United States and the UK.

Credits

Thanks Marc Riera, Alf "Polifka" Weber (from Lost In The Flood), and Mark Taylor for the lyrics corrections.

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