Who recorded it first
Money (That's What I Want)
Not a Beatles original — a 1959 Barrett Strong single on Tamla
Because John Lennon roars through it at the end of “With the Beatles,” the song is often filed under The Beatles. It isn’t theirs. Barrett Strong recorded it in Detroit and Tamla issued it as a single in August 1959 — the record that gave Berry Gordy’s young Motown operation its first real hit. The song was written by Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford; The Beatles taped their version on 18 July 1963, more than three years after Strong’s single went out.
The record
Who recorded it first
Released Issued as a 7-inch single on Tamla 54027 in August 1959, backed with “Oh I Apologize.” Demand outran the tiny label, and in 1960 the record was leased to Anna 1111 — run by Gordy’s sister Gwen and distributed nationally through Chess — to get it into shops across the country.
Charted Yes, and decisively: it reached No. 2 on Billboard’s R&B chart and No. 23 on the Hot 100 in 1960, becoming the first hit record for Berry Gordy’s Motown enterprise.
Hear Barrett Strong's original 1959 Tamla recording www.youtube.com · Posted as "Official Audio" by Classic Motown, the label's own YouTube channel (@ClassicMotown). Its runtime of 2:34 matches the 2:37 length MusicBrainz records for the recording on the August 1959 Tamla 54027 single, ruling out a later re-recording.How the record travelled
Recorded in Detroit in the summer of 1959, among the earliest sessions cut at Gordy’s West Grand Boulevard house — Benny Benjamin on drums, Eugene Grew on guitar, Brian Holland on tambourine, per Classic Motown ↗.
Tamla put the single out in August 1959; the record entered the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1960 and climbed to No. 2 R&B and No. 23 pop, giving Motown its first hit — see Wikipedia ↗.
The Beatles found Strong’s record at Brian Epstein’s NEMS shop, played it at their Decca audition on 1 January 1962, and cut it for EMI on 18 July 1963 — detail here ↗.
The Rolling Stones recorded it too: it appears on their debut EP, “The Rolling Stones” ↗, released by Decca on 10 January 1964.
Wikipedia: Money (That's What I Want) — original and cover versionsKnow more about the original — or think we’ve got it wrong? Add a source →
Fact-check
Setting the record straight
The confusion here is about who cut it first, not about who wrote it. Performers rarely wrote their own material in this era, and that is not the story.
The Beatles
Their scorching album closer on “With the Beatles” (22 November 1963) is the version most listeners encounter first, so the song reads as a Beatles original. It was recorded on 18 July 1963 and was never released as a single.
Barrett Strong
Tamla issued his single (Tamla 54027) in August 1959, backed with “Oh I Apologize.” It reached No. 2 R&B and No. 23 on the Hot 100 in 1960 — Motown’s first hit.
Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford
The credited composers. Strong disputed the credit for the rest of his life, saying he had helped write it; his name was on the original registration and was struck from it three years later.
The Rolling Stones
Their debut EP, released by Decca on 10 January 1964, includes the song — further evidence of how thoroughly the British beat groups had absorbed Strong’s record.
Barrett Strong recorded it first, for Tamla, in August 1959. The Beatles were several acts down the line.
Context
Why the cover eclipsed the original
A hit record can still lose the memory war. Strong’s single sold and charted, but it went out on a label almost nobody had heard of, from a company operating out of a converted house on West Grand Boulevard, and had to be handed to Gwen Gordy’s Anna Records with Chess distribution just to reach shops nationwide. Four years later the same song went out on Parlophone attached to the biggest act on earth, on an album that sat at No. 1 in Britain for months.
There is also the matter of the performances. Strong’s is a swaggering, piano-driven R&B record, comfortable in its own confidence. Lennon’s is a man tearing his throat out. Both are terrific; only one of them was in every British household by Christmas 1963.
The chronology, step by step
- Summer 1959 — recorded in Detroit at Gordy’s West Grand Boulevard studio, with Benny Benjamin on drums, Eugene Grew on guitar and Brian Holland on tambourine.
- August 1959 — released as a single on Tamla 54027, backed with “Oh I Apologize.”
- 1960 — leased to Anna Records (catalogue 1111) for national distribution through Chess; the record reaches No. 2 R&B and No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100.
- 1 January 1962 — The Beatles perform it at their unsuccessful Decca audition, with Pete Best on drums.
- 18 July 1963 — The Beatles record it at EMI Studios in seven takes; George Martin overdubs piano.
- 22 November 1963 — released as the closing track of “With the Beatles” on Parlophone.
- 10 January 1964 — The Rolling Stones’ debut EP, carrying their own version, is released by Decca.
- 10 April 1964 — the Beatles recording reaches America on “The Beatles’ Second Album.”
The record that paid for Motown is remembered as a Beatles track.