Of all of the people that I used to know / Most never adjusted to the great big world / I see them lurking in book stores / Working for the Public Radio / Carrying their babies around in a sack on their back / Moving careful and slow

It’s money that matters, hear what I say / It’s money that matters in the U.S.A.

All of these people are much brighter than I / In any fair system they would flourish and thrive / But they barely survive / They eke out a living, they barely survive

When I was a young boy, maybe thirteen / I took a hard look around me and asked “What does it mean?” / So I talked to my father, he didn’t know / I talked to my friend, he didn’t know / I talked to my brother, he didn’t know / I talked to everybody that I knew

It’s money that matters, now you know that it’s true / It’s money that matters, whatever you do

Then I talked to a man lived up on the county line / I was washing his car with a friend of mine / He was a little fat guy in a red jumpsuit / I said “That looks kinda funny”, he said “I know it does too

But I got a great big house on the hill here / A great big blonde wife inside it / A great big pool in my backyard / Another great big pool beside it!”

Sonny it’s money that matters, hear what I say / It’s money that matters in the U.S.A. / It’s money that matters, now you know that it’s true / It’s money that matters, whatever you do

[By Randy Newman © Reprise Records / Warner Bros., 1988]