"Take the Money and Run" is a song recorded in 1976 by the

Steve Miller Band The Steve Miller Band is an American rock music, rock band formed in 1966 in San Francisco, California. The band is led by Steve Miller (musician), Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals. The group had a string of mid- to late-1970s hit singles t ...

. A song about two young (possibly teenage) bandits and the

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

pursuing them, it was one of the many hit singles produced by the Steve Miller Band in the 1970s and featured on the 1976 album '' Fly Like an Eagle''. The song peaked at number 11 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in July 1976 and also charted in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Background and writing

The song was written as a

road trip A road trip, sometimes spelled roadtrip, is a long-distance journey on the road. Typically, road trips are long distances travelled by automobile. History First road trips by automobile The world's first recorded long-distance road trip by t ...

. Miller drew inspiration from his childhood, when he listened to the radio station while on long road trips with his family and he would sing along to his favorite songs. Because

FM radio FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is cap ...

was capable of clearer stereo sound, this allowed him to make his road trip songs with more layers for a much bigger sound.

Reception

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said that the song gets off to a "fine start" with "spirited drums" and has "intelligent" lyrics and music that is "just as good, maybe better, than " Space Cowboy."

Personnel

* Steve Miller – guitar, double-tracked lead vocals *

Gary Mallaber Gary Mallaber (born October 11, 1946 in Buffalo) is a Los Angeles session drummer, percussionist and singer. He attended Lafayette High School, where he and Bobby Militello, along with other musicians, were mentored by saxophonist Sam Scam ...

– drums, percussion *Lonnie Turner – bass guitar

Legacy

This was the first song Miller let a rap group sample, since he had previously turned down requests to sample his songs.

Run-D.M.C. Run-DMC (also spelled Run-D.M.C.) was an American hip hop group from Hollis, Queens, New York City, founded in 1983 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jason Mizell. Run-DMC is regarded as one of the most influential acts in the history of ...

used it in 2001 with

Everlast Erik Francis Schrody (born August 18, 1969), known by his stage name Everlast, is an American musician, singer, rapper, and songwriter, who was the frontman for hip hop group House of Pain. He was also part of the hip hop supergroup La Coka ...

also on vocals. He agreed only after hearing the song and liking what they did with it. In 2000, the song was covered in country style by Canadian singer Julian Austin on his album '' Back in Your Life''. In 2006, the 30th Anniversary Edition of the ''Fly Like An Eagle'' album was released. The track "Take The Joker And Run," was included as a bonus track and is an acoustic version of "Take the Money and Run" sung over an early version of "The Joker."

References

Steve Miller Band songs Julian Austin (musician) songs Songs written by Steve Miller (musician) Song recordings produced by Steve Miller Capitol Records singles 1976 singles 1976 songs {{1970s-rock-song-stub