"If You've Got the Money (I've Got the Time)" is a debut song co-written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist

Lefty Frizzell William Orville "Lefty" Frizzell (March 31, 1928 – July 19, 1975) was an American country and honky-tonk singer-songwriter. Frizell is known as one of the most influential country music vocal stylists of all time. He has been cited as in ...

, released on September 14, 1950. The song is the second song recorded by Lefty Frizzell during his first session with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

in July 1950. The song rose to number one.

Recording and composition

During a show there, Jim Beck, owner of a local recording studio, was starting to take notice of Frizzell. Beck had deals with several major record producing labels and maintained connections with the many publishers. Impressed with Frizzell's performance, he invited him to make a free demo at the studio. In April 1950, he cut several demos of Frizzell singing his own songs, including "If You've Got the Money (I've Got the Time)", which Beck took to Nashville where he pitched it to Little Jimmy Dickens, who disliked the song. However,

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

producer Don Law heard the cut and liked it. After hearing Frizzell in concert, he signed the singer and recorded him for the first time. The first session was held on July 25, 1950, in the Jim Beck Studio in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. There he recorded four songs, the first: "I Love You a Thousand Ways", which was written by Frizzell as a letter to his newly wed wife, when he was jailed in 1947 for having sex with an underage girl. The next cut was "If You've Got the Money", a honky-tonk tune written by Frizzell and Frizzell's then manager and studio owner, Jim Beck. The songs were released together as a double-sided single on September 14, 1950. ;Personnel * Lefty Frizzell * Norman Stevens * Jimmie Curtis * Bobby Williamson * Pee Wee Stewart * Madge Sutee

Success

The single stayed at number one for three weeks on the Most Played C&W Jukebox Records and peaked at number two on the C&W Best Seller list. The Frizzell recording spent 22 weeks on the country chart.

Cover versions

*In 1950,

Dusty Fletcher Clinton "Dusty" Fletcher (July 8, 1900 – March 15, 1954) was an African-American vaudeville performer and comedian, who was best known for the comedy routine which became a hit record in 1947, "Open the Door, Richard". Routine "Open the Door ...

on a 78 from National, 9142. *In 1950,

Jo Stafford Jo Elizabeth Stafford (November 12, 1917July 16, 2008) was an American traditional pop singer, whose career spanned five decades from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. Admired for the purity of her voice, she originally underwent classical tr ...

on a 78 from Columbia Records, with Paul Weston and His Orchestra. *In 1950, June Hutton recorded a version with the Lee Gordon Singers (Decca 27329). *In 1961,

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American Country music, country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for a long list of hit records, and is well known for his distinctive voice an ...

on his album ''Sings Country & Western Hits''. *In 1961, Agnes And Orville who are actually June Stearns and Lefty *In 1971,

Mose Allison Mose John Allison Jr. (November 11, 1927 – November 15, 2016) was an American jazz and blues pianist, singer, and songwriter. He became notable for playing a unique mix of blues and modern jazz, both singing and playing piano. After moving to N ...

recorded a version on his album, ''Western Man''. *In 1976, Gary Stewart recorded it to his album, ''Steppin' Out''. *In 1976,

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

took his version to number one on the country chart, where it was his second solo release to reach the top slot. *In 2001,

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential figures in country music, he was a central pioneer of the Bakersfield ...

recorded a version on his album, '' Roots, Volume 1''. *In 2012, it appeared on The Little Willies album, '' For the Good Times''. *other versions are by Jess Willard, Wayne Raney, JImmy Owen, Ernie Lee. Kenny Roberts, Texas Jim Robertson, John Talley, Mervin Shiner And Bob Sandy. Others are out there too.

References

{{authority control 1950 debut singles 1950 singles 1976 singles 1950 songs Lefty Frizzell songs Willie Nelson songs Merle Haggard songs Songs written by Lefty Frizzell Columbia Records singles Song recordings produced by Don Law