Easy Money
An Innocent Man (1983)

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You say I fool myself
But better me than being a fool for someone else
I got a hot slot machine of a system ready to go

     Billy opens An Innocent Man with a screaming soul song, "Easy Money."  This is a get-up-and-dance, snap-your-fingers, clap-your-hands song complete with a beefy horn section and Billy channeling the vocals of the king of soul, James Brown, or Wilson Pickett (see videos below).  The lyrics are just as catchy as Billy keeps delivering clever metaphors ("I got a hot slot machine of a system ready to go") much like he did in "Only The Good Die Young," only this time the song's theme is looking for easy money, rather than trying to get a girl.  Billy was clearly having a good time on this album as songs like "Easy Money" reveal.  

     I'm a big fan of this song and thought it would become a hit, but it was not released as a single and is rarely done in concert, probably because it takes a full horn section to do it.   You can see a rare live version of this song in the video section below, which looks to be from a rehearsal.  

     Billy was asked to write a song for a new Rodney Dangerfield movie, also titled Easy Money, and he came up with "Easy Money."  This triggered the retro approach to the rest of the songs on the album.  Dangerfield later appeared in the music video for "Tell Her About It').  

Billy briefly discusses how "Easy Money" came to him in this interview with Dan Neer (1990)
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Billy on "Easy Money," from SiriusXM (2016)

     Billy on "Easy Money" from a 1983 issue of Hit Parader magazine (I don't have the original to re-scan so I have entered what I believe is the text further below):

      "We tried it with just the basic band: bass, drums, guitar and piano.  Today we have all kinds of electronic toys that attach to the guitar  -- we call it gutarrhea.  Guitarists spend two hours in the studio getting a sound.  But in the late 50s and early 60s they just plugged into an old B 15 Ampeg with their hollow body guitar and just played.  So our producer Phil Ramone decided that we were going to cut the song live with horns and backup singers, Eric Gale on guitar, Leon Pendarvis on organ -- like a soul revue, with a live vocal.  They put me in the vocal booth -- I had on a purple shirt and sunglasses.  I was Wilson Pickett and bam -- all the guitar players fell into place.  Everything went down just like that. It was  ​like a James Brown show at the Apollo Theater."

Words and Music by Billy Joel
​You don't have to talk all night
I'm a man who can't say no
You don't have to twist my arm
Just point me where you want to go

Take me to the action, take me to the track
Take me to a party if they're bettin' in the back
I've been working all my life, can't afford to wait
Let me call my wife so I can tell her I'll be late

I want the easy, easy money, easy money
I could get lucky
Oh, things could go right
I want the easy, easy money, easy money
Maybe this one time, maybe tonight

You don't have to try too hard
I don't need a song and dance
I don't need an invitation
If you've got a game of chance

Take me to the tables, take me to the fights
Run me like the numbers, roll me like the dice
When you're counting on a killing, always count me in
Talk me into losin' just as long as I can win

I want the easy, easy money, easy money
I want the good times, I never had
I want the easy, easy money
Oh, I want the good life, I want it bad

Easy money
You say I fool myself, but better me than being a fool for someone else
I got a hot slot machine of a system ready to go
Easy money
I got a one-track mind and a good reputation laying on the line
I'll either come back a bum or a king
Baby I don't know

You don't have to start a fire
I'm a man who can't say no
If you've got a little risky business
Just point me where you want to go

Take me to the power, take me to the heat
Take me to the cleaners if it's open to the street
Something's got to pay off, something's got to break
Someone's got a fortune that they're begging me to take

I want the easy, easy money, easy money
I could get lucky, things could go right
I want the easy, easy money, easy money
Maybe just this time, oh maybe tonight

Easy money, oh, I don't want no hard cash
I just want the easy money, oh, I could get lucky
Oh, got to, got to, got to, got to, got to have
Oh I’ve got to go now baby (easy money)
Oh I’m back just one more time

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 ​   On the Billy Joel Channel on SiriusXM, Billy recalled his soul singer idols, as follows:
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Ray Charles

Embed from Getty Images

“I used to try to sing like Ray Charles, rip up my throat and smoke cigarettes and twist my neck, do whatever I could to sound like Ray Charles, but it never worked out. Ray, I have to say, I don’t think anyone has touched me as much as him as a singer.”
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Otis Redding

​Billy briefly does his own rendition of "Try A Little Tenderness," and says:   ​“Fun to play, fun to listen to and a dynamic performer. I don’t know if a lot of younger people know who Otis Redding is at this point but he had some of the most exciting records I’ve ever heard.”
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Embed from Getty Images

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James Brown

Embed from Getty Images

​Billy recalls the time he saw James Brown perform live at the Apollo:
​“That was the tightest band I’ve ever heard and the most dynamic show I’ve ever seen. I love to watch Mick Jagger dance around with the Stones, I love watching a good band play, but as a showman, James Brown was the best. I’ve never seen anybody as good as him on stage.”
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Videos
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These are clips from the Rodney Dangerfield movie "Easy Money" set to the title track by Billy Joel.  © Sony Music Entertainment.  

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Billy sings "Easy Money" in this MTV Liner Notes interview (1984).

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Billy having fun and singing James Brown's "I Got You" during a rehearsal in 1989 (I think this is actually 1990).

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Billy leads an all-star band singing Ray Charles "What I'd Say" at the 1999 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremonies.

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Billy singing the Otis Redding classic "Dock of the Bay" at a Master Class in 2012 at the University of Florida.

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Sam and Dave's classic hit "Soul Man." I also liked Sam Moore and Junior Walker in the movie Tapeheads as the fictional group the Swanky Modes singing "Ordinary Man."

Wilson Pickett singing the soul classic "Mustang Sally."

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James Brown sings "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag"

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Ray Charles singing his classic "What I'd Say" in 1968.  See also this scene from the biopic movie "Ray."

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Otis Redding sings "(Sittin' On) The Dock of The Bay."​

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Junior Walker and the All Stars doing their hit classic "Shotgun."   Walker was both a vocalist and killer saxophone player.

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