The Gold Diggers' Song (We're in the Money)
"The Gold Diggers' Song (We're in the Money)" is a song from the 1933 Warner Bros. film Gold Diggers of 1933, sung in the opening sequence by Ginger Rogers and chorus. The lyrics were written by Al Dubin and the music by Harry Warren. It became a standard and its melody is well known.
Lyrics
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The song's lyrics reflect a positive financial turnaround and a fantasized end to the Great Depression, which in the U.S. began to turn around in early 1933 but wouldn't actually end until the late 1930s:[1]
(Opening verse)
We're in the money,
We're in the money;
We've got a lot of what it takes to get along!
We're in the money,
The skies are sunny;
Old Man Depression, you are through,
You done us wrong!
We never see a headline about a bread line today,
And when we see the landlord,
We can look that guy right in the eye!
Early versions
Early renditions of this song include those performed by Ted Lewis & His Band and Hal Kemp & His Orchestra. The entire song is never performed in the 1933 movie, though it introduces the film in the opening scene (wherein the performance is busted up by the police). Later in the movie, the tune is heard off stage in rehearsal as the director continues a discussion on camera about other matters. Dick Powell, who does not sing a note of "The Golddigger's Song" in the motion picture, recorded a version that sold well and was heard over the radio.
In other Warner Bros. productions
The song was used again in two other Warner Bros. productions: as the theme song of the 1933 Merrie Melodies cartoon We're in the Money; and as the theme and source music two years later in the 1935 film, We're in the Money.
In popular culture
Since its introduction, the song has been used several times in films and other media to denote a windfall (or happy turn of events - financial or otherwise) or sometimes to denote greed, for example, as seen in a scene from Chuck Jones' 1957 cartoon Ali Baba Bunny in reference to Daffy Duck.
While the song does not appear in the 1933 Warner Bros. film, 42nd Street, it was however included in the 1980 Broadway stage musical adaptation of the classic film.
In Arthur Penn's 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde, the title characters are shown watching this song being performed in the original movie while they are hiding out from the police in a movie theater.
Alvin and the Chipmunks recorded a pop version for the 1985 Alvin and the Chipmunks episode "The Gold of My Dreams."
Carl Winslow briefly sings it during a Family Matters Christmas special, but stops upon seeing Steve Urkel.
It appears in the first episode of The Simpsons with Barney and Bart singing it, and also during Homer's fantasy sequence in the episode "HOMR".
It is hummed by the dean in a scene in the Nutty Professor 1996 remake.
Currently on American Public Media's Marketplace program, when the closing stockmarket numbers are announced, an instrumental version is used as background music when the financial markets close higher (alternately, instrumentals of "It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing" is used for a mixed closing, whereas "Stormy Weather" is used for a low closing).
Red Letter Media currently uses the song during their Mr. Plinkett reviews whenever a product tie-in is marketed along with a film. One notorious and recurring example is when all the merchandizing of the Star Wars prequels is referenced. Floating images of toys, cereals, games, etc., appear while the song plays.
American swing revivalists the Cherry Poppin' Daddies recorded a version of the song for their 2016 cover album The Boop-A-Doo, alongside several other songs written by Harry Warren and Al Dubin.
References
- ↑ Great Depression, Encyclopædia Britannica
