A big welcome back from all at the RWB HQ to “Theme Time Radio Hour with your host Bob Dylan” on XM Satellite Radio. The days may be getting shorter, but we know that Bob’s show will help ward off the blues now and in the fast approaching winter.

Standout records, just for me, were from Louis Prima and Mel Blanc. And add this one to the list of quotes from Bob that have made certain jaws drop (maybe put it at the top of the list): “Ronald Reagan: friend of the black man, striking a blow for world justice.”

Play list and selected quotes below:

Jerry McCain and his Upstarts — That’s What They Want
Louis Prima — Pennies from Heaven

This is Theme Time Radio Hour, reminding you that he that goes a borrowin’, goes a sorrowin’. When a man is twenty years-old, he wants to save the world. When he’s forty, he’s lucky if he can save his salary.

Papa Charlie Jackson — You Put It In, I Take It Out

I almost think we play too much Van Morrison. But then I listen to one of his records, and I think: No we don’t.

Van Morrison — Blue Money

Only two places I’ve found blue money are in a Terry Southern novel and on a Monopoly board. [story of the game of Monopoly ensues, finishing with ...] The game Monopoly was so strongly identified with capitalism that it was once banned in Russia and China, and it is outlawed in North Korea and Cuba to this day.

Ray Charles — Greenbacks
Mel Blanc — Money
Buddy and Ella Johnson — It’s the Gold

The Krugerrand was a gold coin that was named after [South African president Paul Kruger]. It became the world’s first gold bullion coin. More than 54 million of them have been circulated worldwide. They are almost pure gold, having only a tiny amount of copper to give it stability. In 1985, President Reagan signed an executive order banning the import of Krugerrands as a protest against South Africa’s racially separatist policy of apartheid. The Canadian Maple Leaf gold bullion coin quickly moved in to the fill the void. The Krugerrand never made a comeback, even after the sanctions were lifted in 1992. Ronald Reagan: friend of the black man, striking a blow for world justice.

Nic Jones — Farewell to the Gold
[Note: There is a kind-of-history between Nic Jones and Bob Dylan. Perhaps it has been written about most objectively and insightfully by Eyolf Østrem at this link.]
Bob says after playing this record:

That’s a song that was actually written by Paul Metsers, who said this about the origin of the song:
“There’s no mystery source for it, no distant broadside or doggerel on where it gained its inspiration. It all came out of my head as it happens. I was reading a small but fascinating book called “The Goat Fields of Central Lautago [sp?] when I read of the tragic flash-flood of July of ‘63 — 1863. I knew I had the basis of a story. I invented a young man who teams up with an equally imaginary experienced old prospector, who I called ‘Jimmy Williams’, who had dreams of riches to come. Jimmy is lost to the sudden waters, while the youngster survives to tell the tale. That’s it.”
Well, thanks Paul! You took all the mystery out of it.

Lefty Frizzell — My Baby’s Just Like Money
[Bob takes a call from a Spanish speaking "Antonio Hernandez." Someone else will have to translate the conversation if need be (it's about money, I know)[update: it's here!] but the call ends with Antonio requesting a record by “Amigo Hombre.” “Amigo Hombre?” says Bob. “You mean Buddy Guy?”]
Buddy Guy — One Hundred Dollar Bill
P. Diddy (w/ Lil’ Kim, Notorious B.I.G., and the LOX) — It’s All About the Benjamins
The Clovers — Your Cash Ain’t Nothin’ But Trash
Jesse Price — You Can’t Take It With You When You Go

Y’know I’m lookin’ at my bag of records, and I brought too many again. I’m a victim of bad planning. Ah, well. I’ve always been bad with money. There’s too many songs to fit into a single hour, and there’s no reason for us to cut fiscal corners. I mean, hell, we did two shows about birds last year! We can do two about money. So next week we’ll dig back into our pockets and continue our look at filthy lucre.

Next week’s theme: MONEY (Part 2)

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Note: Thanks to reader Jay who e-mailed the following:

I’m familiar only in passing with the talent that is P. Diddy. In today’s “Theme Time Radio Hour,” the song “It’s All About the Benjamins” was featured. I Googled the lyrics and the Wikipedia entries:

From the second of five verses:

We see through, thats why nobody never gon believe you
You should do what we do, stack chips like *hebrews*

The song originated from a mixtape debuted by DJ Clue. This version of the song only featured Puff Daddy and the rap act The L.O.X. (excluding Styles P). The song was later added to Puffy’s debut album,No Way Out, in a remix, “It’s All about the Benjamins (Remix)”, which added two new verses by Lil Kimand Notorious B.I.G. This version of the song also omitted the word “Hebrew” out of Jadakiss’ verse, however the word was left in on the first pressing, subsequent pressings removed the word. Additionally, when it was released on the Bad Boy’s Greatest Hits Vol. I album, it retained the word. This single made it to No. 2 on the Billboard charts and its video won a “Viewer’s Choice” award at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards show. Due to the rarity of the obscure mixtape version, the remix featured on No Way Out is often considered the song’s definitive version to avoid confusion.

On today’s show the word Hebrews was deleted. I don’t understand any aspect of the hip-hop genre, Dylan’s association with Mr. Diddy is as baffling to me as writing a song sympathetic to George Jackson.

Well, it’s interesting to hear that background. Still, I personally don’t think it’s any grand statement by Bob to just play this one P. Diddy record. He throws more contemporary tunes in now and then so things don’t get too cobwebby, and I think he likes being provocative and poking preconceptions about what he might play. I didn’t know about the “Hebrews” thing, but there were plenty of other words in this song, of four letters and more, that might have taken some people aback. At any rate, it sure was relevant to the theme!

(By the way: should we read anything into the fact that he kicked off the show with a song by Jerry McCain? Nah, I’m not gonna go there … but I do see that there’s a show on PRESIDENTS coming up. That should provide plenty of grist for all. Although it’s funny because we’ve already had a closely-related theme.)

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Posts which might be related to this one based on a mysterious algorithm:

• MONEY Part 2
• While I was prayin’
• PARTY