Money (That’s All I Want) – A significant moment in live music history lighting the way for live performances right through to the present. #MusicisLife #TedTocksCovers #PlasticOnoBand #TheBeatles #BarrettStrong #Melanie #LeonardCohen #FlyingLizards

Today’s post was inspired by an article written by the great Alan Cross in his blog ‘A Journal of Musical Things’. I suggest you read it here. (Alan Cross).

While reading this fascinating trip through music history I zeroed in on an interesting anecdote. It was suggested that the tradition of holding up lighters at a concert to symbolize one’s adulation began at a memorable concert held in Toronto in 1969. The Toronto Rock and Roll Revival was held 50 years ago at Varsity Stadium at the University of Toronto. Last month I devoted three Ted Tocks to the 50^th anniversary of Woodstock. The legend of that event is well documented, (See Ted Tocks – Coming Into Los Angeles, Soul Sacrifice and I’m Goin’ Home) whereas this Toronto festival seems to have taken a less prominent place despite the fact it played host to some significant moments in music history. Here is a very brief overview of that event.

It was just less than a month after Woodstock when two local promoters set about creating an event for Toronto and area music enthusiasts. John Brower and Kenny Walker held a two day festival in June and wanted to capitalize on the positive momentum before the weather turned. The plan was to highlight acts from the early days of rock and roll and blend in some newer groups. The originally listed performers included Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Vincent and Little Richard. Mix in Chicago Transit Authority, The Doors and a new act known as Alice Cooper and you had a pretty intriguing day of music. The Alice Cooper Band actually played a dual role, doing a set on their own and then performing as Gene Vincent’s back up band. The Doors would be the headliners. Jim Morrison’s final appearance in Canada.

Sounds good right?

Ticket sales tanked.

Financial back up from department store moguls George and Thor Eaton was withdrawn. The Toronto Rock and Roll Revival was in peril. This is where the event MC producer Kim Fowley stepped up and hit a grand slam. Two days before the festival he went out on a limb and called Abbey Road Studios in London and asked to speak to John Lennon. He told the receptionist that he wanted to talk to Mr. Lennon about being an MC at a show in Toronto. Unbelievably, he managed to get Lennon on the phone and began to rhyme off the list of the artists’ heroes from his early days as a musician. Lennon was impressed to the point that he opted out of the invite to MC…He said he would come and play. This was in a moment of unclarity for the Beatle legend. The Beatles were in a state of disarray so there was no way they could perform. Although John Lennon had done some solo work it was done with a combination of session players and special guests. He had no band to speak of. So, while Brower, Walker and Fowley notified the Eaton’s about their coup and arranged for first class airfare to Toronto, John Lennon was in London forming a band that would include…now get this…Alan White (future Yes drummer), old friend Klaus Voorman on bass and guitar god Eric Clapton. Yoko Ono would also make the trip; naturally, and the group would perform as The Plastic Ono Band. This is noteworthy because it would be John Lennon’s first live performance since The Beatles final show at Candlestick Park in 1966.

Getting Lennon to the gig and on stage proved to be a challenge on several fronts. While still in London he made overtures at bailing, but was coerced into living up to his word by Clapton himself. The combination of extreme stage fright and the effects of his heroin usage had Lennon in quite a state as he travelled to the gig. The final stage of the journey saw the entourage escorted to Varsity Stadium from the airport by a local motorcycle gang called The Vagabonds. When word of this epic coup spread through the gossip mill. Every one of the 20,000 tickets made available for the event were sold.

When The Plastic Ono Band got to Varsity Stadium you could hardly call it a first class venue for what in hindsight could be considered music royalty. Backstage the artists were milling about in the dressing rooms under the grandstand when Lennon, Clapton and crew rolled in. According to reports John Lennon bowed before his heroes and went into another bout of anxiety/heroin withdrawal. MC Fowley was unphased. He managed to draw upon some connections and get a local dealer to fix him up shortly before the group hit the stage. Fowley’s final act to unroll the Toronto red carpet has become an item of Toronto music legend.

Knowing that Lennon and Company were a little overwhelmed and that John Lennon himself was a drug addled basket case, Fowley went on stage and invited the venue to turn the stadium lights down and asked the audience to light their matches and flick on their lighters in order to give John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band a special welcome. It was this magical moment that greeted John Lennon when he made his first live appearance in over three years. It has been suggested that this is what initiated the tradition of flicking on your lighter as acknowledgement to a beautiful live music moment. A tradition that has carried on for decades and has of course evolved into holding up cell phones…Not quite the same.

When I read this fascinating story, I had to check it out in a little more detail. I discovered that while it is acknowledged as the first time a band was welcomed to the stage with a sea of light the expression of adulation in the form of lighters or candles had a previous incarnation. This occurred at Woodstock on what is known as the ‘Acoustic Friday’ night. Melanie was performing during a brief rainstorm and while the rain was a bit of a distraction, she was encouraged by the scene playing out before her as she looked up the hill from the stage. The ever-expanding crowd showed their support by lighting candles, matches and lighters, and holding them up in solidarity. This was such a powerful moment for her that she wrote the song ‘Candles in the Rain’ to capture the scene.

The criticism of Melanie’s version of this moment is it relies solely on her recollection. It is still an important song that captures the essence of that festival and the spirit of Woodstock nation. There was a second unifying moment that was galvanized by the symbolic gesture of lighting a match/lighter. It was at The Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. This festival was mired by violence and crowd unrest and by the time Leonard Cohen took the stage that night things were settling down a little. Cohen’s calming influence did the rest as he drew the crowd in with his soothing voice; telling a personal story. During his monologue he invited the crowd of anywhere up to 600,000 people to light a match so he could see them. When he concluded the story, he broke into his famous song ‘Bird on a Wire’. The crowd was hypnotized…the period of unrest was over. Here is a live recording of that performance.

It is acknowledged that this wasn’t the first example of the lighting of candles/lighters/matches it is one of the most magical experiences and like the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival, it is more documented in terms of mass recollection.

In order to bring it all back around to today’s feature song, I looked up The Plastic Ono Band’s setlist that night and ‘Money’ was the second song. It followed their opener ‘Blue Suede Shoes’.

‘Money (That’s What I Want)’ was written by Barrett Strong (see War, Just My Imagination, I Heard it Through the Grapevine and Ball of Confusion) in 1959, along with Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford. It has the distinction of being the first hit record for Gordy’s Motown enterprise, although the 1959 release came out on Tamla Records.

‘Money’ went on to be released by The Beatles in 1963. Here is a live version.

In 1979 a British new wave act called The Flying Lizards recorded a unique presentation of ‘Money (That’s What I Want)’ that I recall being extremely popular among my friends at MacKenzie Smith Middle School in Acton.

There you have it. Twenty years of ‘Money’ and the story behind a concert tradition. Once again…thanks to Alan Cross. My intrigue began with his article. There are few, if any, better than him.