Take the Money and Run (1976)

Performer: Steve Miller Band                               Writer: Steve Miller
Highest US Chart Position: #11                            Label: Capitol Records
Musicians: Steve Miller, Lonnie Turner and Gary Mallaber

I really feel as if the reason this song was a hit—and perhaps the reason it was written in the first place—was because the idea was in the air at the time. Versions of the story recounted in Steve Miller’s “Take the Money and Run” had been all over movie screens for years leading up to its inclusion on the artist’s 1976 album Fly Like an Eagle, beginning with Bonnie and Clyde in 1967. The most obvious parallel is Steven McQueen’s 1972 film The Getaway, which actually takes place in Texas and where the couple get the money and get away, “headed down south and they’re still running today.” But there were other films of a similar nature as well, most notably Dirty Mary and Crazy Larry in 1974, which had a very different ending. And the trend would continue, as Miller’s song was released the same month that Ron Howard’s Eat My Dust appeared in theaters, which was then followed up a year later by Grand Theft Auto. Miller says that he was inspired to write a road trip song like the ones he used to hear on the radio when he went on long trips with his parents, but that’s not a very satisfying explanation and it seems much more likely that he was attempting to ride the resurgence in popularity that Depression era gangsters like Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger and the rest were enjoying in the early seventies. And it worked, as the song climbed up and stayed on the charts for nearly the entire Bicentennial summer.

The song begins with Gary Mallaber’s drum lead in, a sort of triplet roll that slows down, shifts to the toms and ends with a splash cymbal on the downbeat into his basic rhythm for the song, with it’s distinctive closing hi-hats on the upbeats going into the cymbal on the downbeat. After two bars Miller enters on background vocals, harmonizing with himself singing woo-woo, and at the end of the fourth bar Mallaber does a slow fill on the toms into the song proper. Miller’s strumming electric and acoustic guitars, along with Lonnie Turner’s bass, enter on the downbeat with Miller’s vocals close behind on the second beat. Miller starts right in by telling the listener what kind of song it’s going to be: “This is a story about Billy Joe and Bobbie Sue,” two stoners who suddenly get the bright idea to drive down to El Paso and sneak into someone’s house one night to see what they can steal. Unfortunately the owner wakes up. Billy shoots him, and Bobbie Sue, you guessed it, “takes the money and runs.” The verses roll along telling the story, with only a sparse, two-note transition between. One nice touch comes whenever Miller mentions Texas, five quick handclaps that replicate the four similarly accented beats from the song, “Deep in the Heart of Texas.” The chorus is simple, a repetition of the opening background vocals and the title of the song. The tune has no bridge. The solo that comes after the entire story is finished is just Miller double-time strumming, with some nice bass work by Turner underneath. And that’s it. Texas detective Billy Mack is on the case, but the two thieves elude him and get away—hopefully with enough money to make it all worth it—while the song fades out on the repeated chorus.

The song is nothing more than a fun romp that capitalizes on the renewed interest in populist criminals at the time, but it was a fixture on the radio all summer long. It entered the charts in early May at number 85 and then climbed steadily after that, reaching the top 40 one month later, and peaking at number 11 on July 24th. At that point the song made a hasty retreat, dropping off the charts four weeks later. On the B-side is an album cut called “Sweet Maree,” which features blues great James Cotton on harmonica. It’s essentially a duet by the two artists, an odd attempt at a blues that is ultimately pretty uninteresting. For me, “Take the Money and Run” was memorable precisely because I had enjoyed the film Dirty Mary and Crazy Larry so much, but it doesn’t really have any specific associations for me from that summer. The other interesting thing about it is that Thin Lizzy’s song “The Boys Are Back in Town” took almost the same exact chart path that summer, entering the charts a week after Miller’s song, and shadowing it up the charts, peaking at number 12 the same week “Take the Money” hit number 11, and falling off the charts just two weeks after it was gone. While it couldn’t quite crack the top ten, and was only the second top 40 hit for the group, “Take the Money and Run” was followed in quick succession by number one and number two smash hits from the same album that fall and winter, making it a herald of Miller’s greatness to come.