Simply Red - Money's Too Tight to Mention (1985)

It is part of rock history that almost all the people who attended the legendary two concerts of Sex Pistols in Manchester's Lesser Free Trade Hall in 1976 formed lated a band. Amongst them in the audience were Peter Hook and Bernard Sumner of Joy Division/New Order; members of Buzzcocks; Morrissey; The Fall's Mark E. Smith; and red-haired Mick Hucknall who would later form Simply Red.

Despite the fact that Simply Red went on to become a MOR/blue-eyed soul mainstream hit machine, their debut album Picture Book is definitely a recession by-product of its era.
The white funk groove a la Talking Heads of "No Direction" belies the dark themes of the lyrics: "Why are we liable to die for survival? why is our nation divided?" or "In the poverty stakes see just what it means; when welfare decimates you'd better care about your fellow people".
In "Holding Back the Years", Hucknall poignantly croons about the long lost years: "Holding back the tears cause nothing here has grown". This majestic soul ballad in the vein of Stax Records and Al Green would suffice to make Picture Book a classic. But the album's highlight and pinnacle of Simply Red's career is "Money's Too Tight to Mention".

Accompanied by a great video, it's a song that simply refuses to age. Stabs of keyboards provide the main melody while a muted choppy guitar emphasises the rhythm. Lyrically, it's a scathing attack on capitalism, on capitalist governmental policies, and their catastrophic consequences in people.
The song is narrated in first person enhancing its impact. The lyrics paint a dark picture from the opening line: "I've been laid off work, my rent is due, my kids need brand new shoes". The protagonist seeks help in the next verses, only to find it nowhere: banks, the pillars of capitalism, refuse to help him; his family is unable to support him, facing their own financial straits themselves. In the chorus, the confession is devastating: "Money's too tight to mention, I can't even qualify for my pension". The future does not get bleaker than this.
Then comes the middle eight, where the music turns strangely into major tonality as if to alleviate the darkness of the topic, with the enemy finally named: "We're talking about Reaganomics! Down in the congress they're passing all kind of bills".
In the song's fade-out outro, Hucknall repeats sarcastically, "Did the earth move for you Nancy?", a direct nod to Donald Reagan's wife.
Simply Red never bettered "Money's Too Tight to Mention"; it is amazing how well the song resonates today.