NameThatTuneFilter: "I'm in the money..."

February 14, 2006 9:15 PM

The only words I know are: "I'm in the money... I'm in the money" and then it goes doo-doo-doo etc.

I'm trying to find the origin/info of this song. It's a very simple melody. It sounds to me like a show tune, and reminds me of the kind of thing you would hear for a victory song for a DOS game that uses PC speaker. You would also sing/hum it, for example, after someone has landed on Boardwalk and you had a hotel on it and they have to pay you lots of money.

For the musically inclined, the relativity of the notes goes 3 5 3 4 5...3 5 3 4 5 (if that makes any sense at all). Please help - this is driving me nuts!

posted by ding3r to Media & Arts (20 answers total)

We've got a lot of what it takes to get along, was only part I could remember. Google cache of slow link to lyrics.
posted by Fat Guy at 9:19 PM on February 14, 2006

42nd Street. "We're in the Money". Here.
posted by wanderingmind at 9:19 PM on February 14, 2006

And sorry, I really didn't read your question well. Not sure about origin of the song.
posted by Fat Guy at 9:21 PM on February 14, 2006

We're In the Money (Try the Bing Crosby version). From The Gold Diggers originally?
posted by hydrophonic at 9:23 PM on February 14, 2006

I always wondered what that song was... anytime someone on the Looney Tunes struck it rich, they'd sing it to themselves...
posted by Robot Johnny at 9:26 PM on February 14, 2006

It's actually "We're in the money, we're in the money," sung as a duet.

"We've got a lot of what it takes to get along!" is the next part of that tune, for those that didn't follow the 42nd Street link, and don't want to continue singing doo doo do-do do do...
posted by Aquaman at 9:29 PM on February 14, 2006

Yup, hydrophonic nailed the origin. The song is called "The Gold Diggers' Song", with a paren'ed "We're In The Money" following. Written for the movie, lyrics by Al Dubin, music by Harry Warren, copyright 1933. This page has all the info, including a semi-cryptic reference to the original publisher and different verses as sung by performers. Warning: Embedded cheesy music rendition on the web page.
posted by mdevore at 9:46 PM on February 14, 2006

Most of us have heard it though, via Bugs bunny cartoons.
(wish I could find a real link for it - just a mention as a warner brothers cartoon that's fallen into the public domain)
posted by filmgeek at 11:22 PM on February 14, 2006

Incidentally, if you wanted additional background on the the song-writing of Warren and Dubin and the era and ideas that it all went along with, the online paper MUSICALS AND THE MYTH: HOW WARNER BROTHERS MUSICALS (1933-1937) PERPETUATED THE 1930s VERSION OF THE HORATIO ALGER MYTH By: Alison Piatt provides a nice write-up on the 1930's musicals, with multiple detailed references to the Gold Digger movies.

Good job, Alison, wherever you are.
posted by mdevore at 11:27 PM on February 14, 2006

Golddiggers of 1933 is a great musical. Ginger Rogers sings a verse of "We're In the Money" in Pig Latin!
posted by mushroom_tattoo at 1:27 AM on February 15, 2006

My favorite thing about NPR's Market Place is that they play a jazz version of this song in the background of the stock update if the dow was up (and a sad song if it was down)
posted by miniape at 6:15 AM on February 15, 2006

The sad song is "Stormy Weather." When they were in China a few weeks ago, they had both songs rearranged to work with traditional Chinese instruments. It was pretty neat.

They also play "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing" on days with little net change of the DOW.
posted by heresiarch at 6:28 AM on February 15, 2006

Great answers.. thanks for the clarifications and infos. This was exactly what I was looking for.

miniape: yep, that's another place I've heard it!
posted by ding3r at 6:37 AM on February 15, 2006

As far as a "DOS game that uses a PC speaker," the beginning of the song was used in the "Lemonade Stand" game which came with Apple II computers, which had the tinny monophonic speaker you're probably thinking of.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 7:29 AM on February 15, 2006

It was also used in the cartridge game "Wildcatting" for the TRS-80 Color Computer.

When you'd drill a successful well, oil would spray out the top of the rig, and you'd hear the familliar 'doot Doo doot-doo-doo'.
posted by Wild_Eep at 8:12 AM on February 15, 2006

The Bugs Bunny cartoon in question is "Ali Baba Bunny" (Affectionately known to me and my friends as the "Hassan chop!" episode.)

I could've sworn it was on one of the "Golden Collection" dvd sets they've released recently, but couldn't find it when I looked at the listings on Amazon.
posted by NewGear at 8:18 AM on February 15, 2006

You can get "Ali Baba Bunny" on DVD in the Looney Tunes Movie Collection , but it's from the clip show movies they did in the late '70s and early '80s and may have been edited.

Wikipedia says that the Looney Tunes Golden Collection is a yearly series that "will be released once a year into the foreseeable future." Those cartoons are mostly uncut and unedited.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:35 AM on February 15, 2006

It's also in the first episode of The Simpsons! Bart and Barney sing it on the way to the dog track.
posted by chimmyc at 11:30 AM on February 15, 2006

If you'd like to hear a pristine recreation of the song as it originally appeared, try to find The Busby Berkeley Album by John McGlinn and the London Sinfonietta. Highly recommended for this and other famous songs that you likely know without realizing it (e.g., "42nd Street," "Shuffle Off to Buffalo" and "Lullaby of Broadway").
posted by pmurray63 at 12:51 PM on February 15, 2006

More with the DOS Game theme, I'm almost positive it was used somewhere in Captain Comic.
posted by threetoed at 4:37 PM on February 15, 2006