Edward Joseph Mahoney, otherwise known as Eddie Money, is one of the most popular singers and songwriters during the late 1970s to 1980s. He popularized some of the best hard rock and pop-rock songs that we still listen to today. He used to be part of the police force in New York City but later found that he enjoys making music.
He got into some controversies in the span of his career, as most rock ‘n’ roll personalities did in the 70s. Nonetheless, his husky voice still cemented him in the hearts of a million people around the globe. If you want to know more about him, perhaps his songs will tell his story.
Here are the best Eddie Money songs of all time you should listen to.
Best Eddie Money Songs
1. “Two Tickets to Paradise”
When Eddie Money was still young, he moved to San Francisco to study at the University of California. He met a girl there and fell in love. However, the girl was well-off while Eddie, on the other hand, was financially struggling. The girl’s mother prohibited her from seeing Eddie. In addition to this, Eddie was headed to court one time for a little trouble he got into. While he was on the bus, he thought of taking the girl on a ride and going wherever they could to escape the life they currently have. That’s the main inspiration for “Two Tickets to Paradise.” Sadly, the two of them broke up before Eddie was ever actually able to take her to paradise.
Upon getting Bill Graham as his manager, Eddie signed a record deal with Columbia. He released his self-titled album, and “Two Tickets to Paradise” was one of his first few hit singles. It became such a huge sensation that movies like Grown Ups, Balls of Fury, Good Kill, and Jennifer’s Body used the song. Additionally, TV shows like The Office, Hawaii Five-0, The Simpsons, and King of the Hill also used the track.
2. “Baby Hold On”
“Baby Hold On” was the first-ever hit single from Eddie Money. It was written by Eddie himself and his guitarist Jimmy Lyon. It’s a hopeful song about a couple going through a difficult time and trying so hard to endure it by holding on to each other. This song was also inspired by the same girl whom he wrote “Two Tickets to Paradise” for, and maybe the lyrics also talk about the struggles they had during that time. In essence, Eddie was asking the girl to stay with him despite the challenges they were facing.
The song became a huge hit both locally and internationally, leading Eddie to sell more than two million copies of his album.
3. “Shakin'”
By the time this track was released, Eddie Money was already on his fourth album. “Shakin'” was co-written with Elizabeth Myers and Eddie’s bassist, Ralph Carter. It talks about being with a girl one night driving around town. The girl drives her dad’s car, and she puts the speaker on blast while they get high. She then went on to give the persona in the song a striptease, and all the time, well, there was a lot of shakin’.
The track is also one of the first music videos to feature a souped-up hydraulic car. Yes, Eddie Money was doing it in the 80s before rappers did in the 90s. The bouncing car was also perhaps a reference to the title of the song.
4. “Take Me Home Tonight”
In 1963, a girl group called The Ronettes wrote a song called “Be My Baby.” Songwriters Peter Vale and Michael Leeson took it for a spin and wrote the song “Take Me Home Tonight” for Eddie Money, which has the alternative title “Be My Baby” as well. In the music video, we see Ronnie Spector, The Ronettes’ lead singer who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, in silhouette singing the line “Be my little baby.”
Initially, it was supposed to be Martha Davis on the song. However, with the song being a tribute to The Ronettes’ song, Money called Spector and asked her if she wanted to be part of it. As soon as Spector heard the line, “Listen, honey, just like Ronnie sang, be my little baby,” Spector immediately jumped on board.
5. “The Big Crash”
After Eddie Money released his No Control album in 1982, he followed it with Where’s the Party? Unfortunately, it was not a huge success when compared to his previous albums. Nonetheless, if we’re really going to dive into Eddie’s discography, we feel it’s necessary to talk about his songs that didn’t make it into the spotlight.
“The Big Crash” talks about a good girl who’s on her way to self-destruction because of her bad habits, unless someone really gets her to straighten up. It was written by Eddie and Duane Hitchings and was the biggest hit from the Where’s the Party? album.
6. “I Wanna Go Back”
Technically, this song is not from Eddie Money. It was written and recorded by a rock band called Billy Satellite. The song went on to become #78 in the US charts, but unfortunately, that’s the farthest it got. However, Eddie made a remake of the song. He recorded his own version a couple of years after the original’s release and went on to reach #14 on the US charts.
It’s a song about time, getting older, and wanting to go back when the persona was still younger just to experience his youth and joys again. Eddie said that he really felt a genuine connection with the song. He says that back in high school, he remembers feeling in love, and when you’re not on the football team, the next best thing you could do to date a girl is by being in a rock band. That’s why the music video shows Eddie going back to high school and reminiscing about his past.
7. “Walk on Water”
We mentioned that Eddie Money was famous in the late 70s to the early 80s. Well, “Walk on Water” was released in 1988, making it one of his last few singles that made it to the spotlight. While it wasn’t as successful as “Two Tickets to Paradise” or “Baby Hold On,” it still gained traction and placed Eddie in the public eye for a couple of years.
This song was written by Eddie’s keyboardist, Jesse Harms, who toured with him in the Nothing to Lose album. It wasn’t Eddie’s favorite song, especially because of the repetitive “na na na,” which Eddie hated. Apparently, it was supposed to be instrumental with horns, but the musician didn’t show up for the recording. To fill it in, Eddie had to sing “na na na” in the record.
8. “Peace in Our Time”
This song was released in 1989 under the album Greatest Hits: The Sound of Money. It was written by an English poet named Peter Sinfield and an English songwriter named Andy Hill and was originally recorded by Jennifer Holliday in 1988. Eddie’s version of “Peace in Our Time” was a huge hit in the US, reaching #11 in the US Billboard Charts and the 2nd spot on the Mainstream Rock Charts.
It also gained traction in Canada, ranking at #3 by the time of its release. It was also able to reach the UK Charts, but it wasn’t Eddie’s version that got the song there. A British singer named Cliff Richard released his version of “Peace in Our Time” in 1993, reaching #8 in the charts.
9. “Love in Your Eyes”
“Love in Your Eyes” is another one of Eddie Money’s most enduring songs, although it was written by Adrian Gurvitz, Steve Dubin, and David Paul Bryant. It ranked 24th in the Hot 100 of the US Billboard and stole the 1st spot in the Rock Tracks Chart. However, what really drove us to include this song in this list is the fact that it stayed on the Rock Songs Chart for almost four months!
The song is about waiting for someone for so long, and when that person finally shows his/her love to you, you realize that your life is about to change for the better.
10. “No Control”
This is the title track of Eddie Money’s fourth studio album. Even though his song “Shakin'” was one of his most popular tracks in this album, it’s safe to say that “No Control” is what really showcased Eddie’s vocal range. Being the title track of the album, it talks about how Eddie sometimes loses control of his behavior and habits.
While there’s a love twist perspective in the song, there might be a rather darker history as to how the song came to be. Eddie recorded the No Control album after his brush with death. He overdosed on fentanyl, which he thought was cocaine. While he was able to survive, the whole ordeal had put him out of commission for almost two years. He said his complications caused him to use a walker just to get from his bedroom to his music room.
Perhaps “No Control” is Eddie being honest with himself and a valuable lesson that he took with him for the rest of his life about overcoming life’s challenges.
11. “Heaven in the Back Seat”
“Heaven in the Back Seat” was originally written and composed by a rock band from Britain in 1989 called Romeo’s Daughter. On Eddie’s 8th album, Right Here, he included his cover version of the song. After its release in 1991, the song ranked 58th in the Billboard Hot 100 but was able to secure the 6th spot in the Mainstream Rock Chart.
The song starts with finding a girl who’s looking for a ride. It then goes on to suggest that there’s an irresistible connection between the two. This leads the couple to find heaven in the back seat of the car, or in other words; the song is about making love.
12. “Think I’m In Love”
This is another track from one of Eddie Money’s highest-selling albums, No Control. A famous composer named Randy Oda wrote “Think I’m In Love,” and Eddie recorded and released it in 1982. We mentioned earlier that Eddie struggled with addiction after his third album, and he was out of the public eye for years. “Think I’m In Love” was Eddie’s comeback song.
It ranked 16th on the US Billboard Hot 100 but secured the 1st spot in the Top Tracks Chart. The music video is vampire-themed, with the main character being Dracula. While it may sound ridiculous, it actually became a huge phenomenon and was one of the most popular music videos in 1982.
13. “Gimme Some Water”
Ironically, “Gimme Some Water” is one of those songs where Eddie didn’t expect much from. It was originally thought not to become a hit because of its fun and enthusiastic approach, which is the opposite of what the previous Eddie songs were. However, Eddie’s fans loved the single, and it outperformed the two main singles from the Life for the Taking album.
The song got really famous that other prolific singers covered the song, including Johnny Cash. The story and the theme itself are very old western-ey. It talks about a fictitious story where a man lost his path after his father got sick. The man then asks for some water after shooting a man on the Mexican border. The main character in the song then goes on to run on the loose, but conscience caught up that he just wanted to die like a man and own up to his mistakes.
14. “I’ll Get By”
This is another song from his 8th album Right Here, which was released in 1991. It’s a pop-rock ballad written by Eddie, Andy Hill, and Antonina Armato. It’s about having to let go of a past lover and being mournfully hopeful that he will get by and someday be able to love again. The music video was dedicated to Bill Graham, Eddie’s manager.
The song became a hit in both the US and Canada, reaching #7 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary and securing the 15th spot in the RPM Top Singles of Canada. However, it was the last song from Eddie to get into the Top 40 chart.
15. “We Should Be Sleeping”
After his 5th album, Where’s the Party? didn’t make too much noise, Eddie kept on writing and producing songs, leading him to release his 6th album in 1986 called Can’t Hold Back. This rock song is the fourth track from this album and was co-written with Glen Thompson, Kevin Burns, and Greg Lowry. Although the lyrics seem to suggest a love interest, “We Should Be Sleeping” is actually one of those songs about working hard. It talks about Eddie’s and his bandmates’ life as touring musicians.
That’s why we can see lyrics like,
“We’re wide awake
But we’re dead on our feet”
and
“Four in the morning
Still got the lights and the radio on”
Furthermore, the title itself suggests that through all the things they’re going through, sometimes they just need to rest and sleep and regain all the energy they lost. The song reached the 90th spot in the Hot 100 charts of Billboard. Funnily enough, “We Should Be Sleeping” was used in a 2013 commercial by a mattress manufacturer in the US, with the main theme of “beauty rest.”
16. “Maybe I’m a Fool”
From his 2nd album, Life for the Taking, Eddie Money released the song “Maybe I’m a Fool.” It was one of his earlier songs and peaked at #22 on the Hot 100 and #28 on Canadian music charts. Although it’s under the pop-rock genre, we can hear elements of R&B and disco on the track as well.
“Maybe I’m a Fool” is a love song about missing someone, and it talks about still being in love with a past lover. There’s also a hint of confusion and regret in the first few lines where the persona in the song is wondering how they ended up broken apart.
17. “Wanna Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star”
This song was released in 1977 under Eddie Money’s self-titled album. Having been his first-ever studio-recorded album, it was released way before Eddie was indeed a rock ‘n’ roll star. It’s a mixture of punk and rock, which is what you’d expect from a song with a title such as this. It’s a song about growing up, and Eddie talks about how he would sing to various songs on the radio when he was still young. The lyrics go;
“Rock ‘n’ roll melodies drove me frantically
Soon I would be tappin’ on the table
My mother would jump and shout
She’d say, ‘what’s that noise about?’
Finally turn that dial back to her station
But I knew right then I’d turn that dial back again
And I knew right then I would make it”
Eddie is certainly not a psychic or a fortune-teller, but this song is certainly a foreshadowing of his success and how he would change the landscape of rock and roll music for the decades to come.
Conclusion
Eddie Money is one of the most underrated rock ‘n’ roll stars in the 70s and the 80s. While he’s not without controversies, there’s no denying that his music speaks to the hearts of many. If you want to learn more about this rock icon, listening to his best songs will perhaps provide you with tremendous insights into how he formulated his music. So be sure to include him in your playlist!