Take the Money and Run – The Steve Miller Band
Album: Fly Like An Eagle (1976)
Lyrics:
This here's a story about Billy Joe and Bobbie Sue
Two young lovers with nothin' better to do
Than sit around the house, get high, and watch the tube
And here is what happened when they decided to cut loose
They headed down to, ooh, old El Paso
That's where they ran into a great big hassle
Billy Joe shot a man while robbing his castle
Bobbie Sue took the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Billy Mack is a detective down in Texas
You know he knows just exactly what the facts is
He ain't gonna let those two escape justice
He makes his livin' off of the people's taxes
Bobbie Sue, whoa, whoa, she slipped away
Billy Joe caught up to her the very next day
They got the money, hey You know they got away
They headed down south and they're still running today
Singin' go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
This is the heart of anti-authoritarian 70’s culture in the western world, found in mainstream pop music.
Youth culture has always been at odds with the established adult world, but this tension came to a head in the late 60’s. The tragic assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy hit the country like a blow. A large march protesting the Vietnam War during the ’68 Democratic Convention, in Chicago, was met with shocking violence. Hundreds of protesters and by-standers were beaten and injured by police. This one event has been singled out as the turning point in the once optimistic youth movement. As the 60’s ended and the new decade began, the Vietnam War dragged on, and many lost hope of ever creating real change in the society and turned away from politics. The final pullout of Vietnam in defeat was another blow to the population. Then, in 1974, the Watergate scandal and the subsequent resignation of President Nixon, affirmed many peoples’ worst fears, and the youth cultures long-held belief. The establishment could not be trusted, not the police, the government, the president, nor the rich, who supported and kept them in power.
So who were the heroes of the 1970’s ? From real life hi-jacker and folk hero, D.B.Cooper, in 1971, to the mafia family protagonists in the 1972 film, The Godfather, the decade was filled to the brim with criminal heroes. There were also movies like, Cool Hand Luke, Bonnie and Clyde, The Sting, and Serpico just to name a few. All the way through to the late 70’s lighter fare, Burt Reynolds’ character in the 1977 movie, Smokey and the Bandit, and the 1979 hit TV show, Dukes of Hazard, which was inspired by the 1975 movie, Moonrunners, the culture celebrated the outlaw. I can think of no pop-song that embodies this attitude more than Steve Miller’s fun and upbeat, Take the Money and Run.
Let’s break it down. We have a young couple that is unemployed and drug users. Okay, no big deal, but then they rob, and shoot a man in his home. We don’t know if he’s dead or just wounded, so the charges in this case could range from assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder to manslaughter, and burglary. I think it’s likely you could add, speeding, and, if the DUI laws had existed at the time, driving under the influence of a controlled substance, but these aren’t specifically mentioned in the song.
So these are the heroes of the song. Miller has no sympathy for victim, “Billy Joe shot a man while robbing his castle,” because he is rich (castle) and therefore part of the establishment. He dismisses the detective’s effort to catch our heroes, and shows his contempt for the police in general with the comment, “He makes his livin’ off the peoples’ taxes.” As if pursuing dangerous criminals is a waste of tax payers’ money. Of course, these kids were just cutting loose remember? The song goes on to celebrate that, “They got the money, hey. You know they got away,” and “they’re still running today!” Great! Maybe they’ll rob and kill more people! Only wealthy people or police hopefully, as that leaves me out.
Now don’t get me wrong, I really like this song and anti-establishment sentiments in general. It’s just interesting to me that the extreme anti-authoritarian viewpoint was so common place and acceptable at the time that its release caused no controversy. This is a happy song, it is not at all dark considering its content, and our support for Billy Joe and Bobbi Sue is expected.
Songs celebrating outlaws and criminals can always be found music, musicians tend to identify with outsiders, but not in such a casual, upbeat and mainstream form. Not in a charted song that could be heard on any pop station at the time, and especially not in a song in which the criminals are successful. More common are pop hits like 1964’s, I Fought The Law, by the Bobby Fuller Four, in which it is clearly repeated that “the law won” or Jim Croce’s 1973 hit, Bad Bad Leroy Brown, who’s protagonist ends up on the wrong end of a knife.
Comments, corrections, and suggestions are welcome!
LLT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFGZufk4HFs
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