Critical Analysis of Berry Gordy's Song 'Money' Originally Written By Barret Strong.

Throughout Berry Gordy's version of "Money" he has made specific choices to supplement the potential listeners in an industrial environment, the most prominent choice is an obvious consistency to the rhythm and dynamics of the song which could have been intended so there are no sudden contrasts to jolt the listeners working rhythm which would be important as the workers would be working non-stop for long periods of time.

The use of the 12 bar blues chord progression makes the listener feel optimistic and motivated due to the percussive elements which could allow the listener to clap along to the rhythm of the song, similarly the use of vocals and background vocals could allow the song to be sung by a group of people as they worked.

The rhythmic breakdown marked by a 7 beat rhythmic intro and outro at bar 36 where there were several bars of instrumental gave a motivational rest for the listener by reducing the density of instruments in the track, this could have been done to show that if they work hard they can have small moments to themselves where their lives could be more peaceful if they had as the song suggests more money.

Additionally the use of the tambourine with its metallic timbre combined with the rhythmic choices used is reminiscent of many social and economic ideas of which could be money being traded, metal being beaten in factories like the automotive factory Gordy worked in, or perhaps even cash registers being used exchanging goods for money.

In the music, the songwriter has chosen to incorporate upbeat, repetitive rhythms. There is a call and response between the backing vocal and main melody line, which emphasises the phrase ‘that’s what I want’. The effect of this on the listener is that perhaps it might make the listener more likely to be able to engage in tasks as they can relate to the lyrical content of wanting something or more of something that they don’t have much of. However, it could be argued that the song could work as effectively as the kind of ‘background music’ that you could easily switch off to due to the repetitive nature of the song.

I feel the songwriter Berry Gordy's intention for this song was to make the listener feel motivated while they work. However, that the lyrical content was literally meant to convey that he as the song’s narrator wanted more money the reason I believe this to be the case is because of the context and the time in which the song was written, Gordy believed that there was a market to be tapped into for his own brand of black pop music to be sold to the predominantly white mainstream middle class audiences.

The context of the time in which this song is written informs us of the influences on the listeners and their potential responses because Gordy made an experienced connection with working class people after failing to make money in the way he wanted to through his record store. This put Gordy into a monotonous factory environment and clearly felt he could connect with people who had similar experiences, he then targeted this particular demographic of predominantly white mainstream middle class people and made money from tapping into this market through his own brand of black pop music.

Gordy's music was a combination of soul and blues which were both popular at the time, the blues influence provided a repetitive and percussive sound which workers could listen to keep motivated, also this could be viewed that Gordy was trying to mimic the industrial sounds of the factory work he had experienced, furthermore the metallic timbre of the tambourine could also be mimicking background noises of coins being traded on a large scale showing low self-esteemed workers that they are a large part of society as they supply the money to the working class economy and the dynamic and rhythmic consistency makes the listener able to listen with relative ease.