I Will Turn Your Money Green

I Will Turn Your Money Green (sometimes credited as Turn Your Money Green) is an American blues song first recorded in 1928 by the author, Memphis bluesman Furry Lewis.^[1] It was a standard for Lewis' performances, and has been recorded by bands in the British rock scene of the 1960s and 1970s, and also by serious American blues performers.

Richard Fariña's 1966 novel Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me took its title from a line in the song.^[2] The 1971 song "Been Down So Long" by The Doors in turn borrowed the line from the Fariña book.

Recordings

• Richard Fariña and Eric Von Schmidt on Dick Fariña & Eric Von Schmidt (1963) (rewritten as "Stick With Me, Baby")
• Tom Rush, on Take a Little Walk With Me (1966)
• Pentangle on Sweet Child (1968)
• Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah on Aliotta Haynes Music (1970) (as "Rockefeller's Blues")
• Stefan Grossman on My Creole Belle (1976)
• Beggar's Opera, on Get Your Dog Off Me (1973)
• Alex Chilton, on his Black List EP (1989)
• Michael Roach on The Blinds of Life (1997)
• Jerry Ricks, on Many Miles of Blues (2000)
• Alice Stuart, on All the Good Times (2002)
• Rory Block, on Country Blues Guitar (2008) (instrumental)
• Jack Klatt and the Cat Swingers w/Charlie Parr, on Mississippi Rolls (2012)

References

1. http://www.discogs.com/Furry-Lewis-I-Will-Turn-Your-Money-Green/release/3355255 Discogs listing showing recording date
2. Tears of Rage: The Racial Interface of Modern American Fiction: Faulkner, Wright, Pynchon, Morrison, vol. 4, Sheldon Brivic, Louisiana State University Press, 2008, p. 223, note 5