Eddie Money (Image via RollingStone.com)
Eddie Money was a rock legend. I wanted to share an unreleased phone interview I did with Eddie on August 14th, 2014 as a tribute. He discussed how he got started in music, his lyrical inspiration and approach to songwriting. Eddie Money’s energy and passion for music are inspiring. He was a person that was proud of what he had accomplished, but wasn’t stuck in the past. Eddie brought so much soul and realness to his music. For more info on
Eddie Money, visit http://www.eddiemoney.com/
How’d you become involved in music?
I was in a rock band in high school. I get out of high school and I joined the police department. Being a cop, it’s not an easy job. I did pretty good in the academy. I looked at my old man, who was a cop for 29 years. I just didn’t want to be in uniform for 20 years of my life.
I should have joined the Marine Corps, like my brother. My heart goes out to emergency service workers and the firemen and police department. Civil service people, they do a lot for the community. My band moves out to California and I stayed at a police department for a
couple years. I said to myself, “Maybe I want to be a rock star, because I was in a rock band in high school.” I moved out to California and then we wound up getting a record deal back in about the late ’70s. We had “Baby Hold On,” “Two Tickets to Paradise,”
“Think I’m in Love,” a string of hits. I have to say that the big man upstairs was very good to me and very kind to me.
Do you follow a certain song writing process?
I always try to write the chorus first. “I got two tickets to Paradise.” “Baby hold on to me. Whatever will be, will be.” “Well, I take all my love, my life is looking up.” I usually write the chorus first, then I write the verse after that. Then, I probably, usually write the bridge last. There is a formula to writing music. It’s a mathematical formula. You start off with an intro, then you do your first verse. Then you want your first chorus, your second verse, second chorus, then you go to a nice bridge and come back with two choruses and out. You fade on the last chorus.
Yeah, absolutely. You’re so skilled at writing quality songs. It’s interesting the way you build songs around choruses first.
We sold 29 million records and we must be doing something right. I’ve played with the Police, and I’ve played with Bob Seeger. Who haven’t I played with? We’ve had a really good run, you know? It’s been a lot of fun and I gotta find some wood to knock on ’cause I
just got a nice write up in Rolling Stone.
Yeah, I saw that.
People really like band and things are going great. You know I’ve got my kid, he’s Dez Money. He’s got a very promising career ahead of him. I tell you, Kansas City’s a great little rock and roll town. I’ve always been a big Royals fan, only two behind Detroit right now.Detroit’s slowing down. I think Kansas City’s gonna be there this year.
We’ll see how it goes. What Inspires you lyrically?
“Take Me Home Tonight,” they play it in all the bars before people go home. “Take me home tonight I don’t want to let you go till you see the light.” “I got two tickets to paradise, pack your bags, you leave tonight.” You gotta write songs that make people feel good. If you’re entertaining, you don’t wanna bring people down. You wanna bring people up. I try to keep a real positive attitude. So when people listen to an Eddie Money song, they walk away feeling good about it. People really love the show live, and we got so many great fans out
there. Fans in their 50s, in their 40s. Now, due to the power of the Internet and that Geico commercial they did, they got little kids six, seven years old that actually know the lyrics. It’s great to get out there and it’s a real joy to see kids and so many people enjoying what I do for a living. I’ve got the gold records on the wall, and the platinum records on the wall, but the real fun I have is playing live. I’m going to have a really big guest list in Kansas City. We’ve got so many friends in Kansas City, that the phone’s have been ringing off the hook.
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