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Culprit ABBA
Title Money, Money, Money
Year 1976
Written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus
Submitted by Dominic

Along with everything else by ABBA, this classic piece of 1970s pop is the kind of song I would only ever hear in a pub, on the TV, or in a shop. So listening to it at home for the first time in many years was a rather refreshing experience – I was especially surprised to discover such a prominent bass line, and I had never fully contemplated the mild absurdity of the piano-through-a-flange riff. Sadly the lyrics are pretty one-dimensional, and are probably best left obscured by the clinking of glasses, the drone of a lazy journalist, or the chattering of an inattentive sales assistant.

The gear change also exemplifies the proverb "let sleeping dogs lie". Probably quite inoffensive in a background environment, at close quarters it's just vicious, with a nasty clinicism about its bleak, slamming-door abruptness. Perhaps it's supposed to denote the dizzy heights (a whole semitone up!) to which you could rise with enough money – but I think that's probably being a little over-generous to Benny and Björn.

Listen to the MP3Listen!