Every morning my routine looks something like this:
- Hit snooze button 3.4 times
- Roll out of bed and into my office
- Hustle hard for two hours
- Wake up my baby
- Dress Mr. Baby (โWhatโs that son? The girls love your Jordans? I know.)
- DANCE with Mr. Baby!
- Feed my baby
- Hand baby off to baby mama
And then heโs whisked away to day careโฆ Nothing too out of the ordinary there, except for bullet point #6: Dance with baby!! (YAYYYYYYY!)
If thereโs one thing I know about that little guy, he sure loves dancing with his daddy. And his daddy sure loves dancing with HIM :)
Sometimes we listen to the radio when weโre in a rush (and usually get disappointed โ though heโs grown an affinity for Lady GaGa?), but mainly when we do it right we throw on some old LPs and listen to the crisp scratchy vocals that pump outta that bad boy. Everything from The Beatles, to Elvis, Jimmy Buffett, Simon & Garfunkle, James Taylor, CCR (Creedence Clearwater Revival โ his all-time favorite!) and, lately, some Billy Joel action.
Now most of Billyโs songs have nothing to do with proper financial management, but thereโs one thatโs been stuck in my head after hearing it approximately 18 times this week already (Baby Money refuses to let me swap the record ). Itโs called โMovinโ Outโ, and perhaps youโve heard of it? ;)
So, just like we did with Britneyโs โWork Bitchโ and Lordeโs โRoyalsโ, I thought weโd break down the lyrics and get our fiscal learn on up in here. Hereโs how it goes:
โMovinโ Outโ [Anthonyโs Song] by Billy Joel
Letโs start at the beginning, shall we?
โAnthony works in the grocery store
Savinโ his pennies for someday
Mama Leone left a note on the door,
She said, โSonny, move out to the country.โ
Takeaway: Save your money in case you get the boot! Even if you donโt make much โ the pennies add upโฆ (Though why would you need to move out of the country? Is Mama Leone or Anthony in trouble w/ the law?)
Oh but workinโ too hard can give you
A heart attack-ack-ack-ack-ack-ack
Also: Hustle, but donโt hustle TOO much. Youโre liable to get a heart atack-ack-ack-ack-ack (and, apparently a stutter too).
You oughta know by nowโฆ
Who needs a house out in Hackensack?
Is that all you get for your money?
You donโt need to buy a really nice place thatโs close to the city to enjoy life. You could end up โhouse rich and cash poor.โ Who wants that?
And it seems such a waste of timeโฆ
If thatโs what itโs all aboutโฆ
Mama, if thatโs movinโ up then Iโmโฆโฆ.movinโ out.
(Probably to an affordable place where he can meet a sexy non-high maintenance girlfriend/mom?)
Sergeant OโLeary is walkinโ the beat
At night he becomes a bartender
He works at Mister Cacciatoreโs down
On Sullivan Street
Across from the medical center
Nothing important to pay attention to yet, besides the fact the sergeantโs a hard workerโฆ
Heโs tradinโ in his Chevy for a Cadillac-ack-ack-ack-ack
You oughta know by nowโฆ
And if he canโt drive
With a broken back
At least he can polish the fenders
BAM! You had a perfectly good car before โ why go out and blow all your money on a fancier pants ride? Youโre about to break your back โ youโre not even going to be able to drive it! ;) Okay okay, so that back thing is probably an analogy to him working his ass off just to afford it, but point taken regardless. Donโt upgrade to a Caddy unless itโs fiscally sexy like J. Moneyโsโฆ
And it seems such a waste of timeโฆ
If thatโs what itโs all aboutโฆ
Mama, if thatโs movinโ up then Iโm movinโ outโฆ.
Yeah yeah, we get it, youโre not into this high-falutinโ stuffโฆ Youโre over it.
You should never argue with a crazy mind
You oughta know by nowโฆ
You can pay Uncle Sam with the overtime
Is that all you get for your money?
DOUBLE BAM! Youโve gotta not only work for your paycheck, but then ALSO to pay your Uncle Sam back too! That doesnโt seem right ;)
And if thatโs what you have in mindโฆ.
Yeah thatโs what youโre all about,
Good luck movin up, cause Iโmโฆ..
Movinโ out!
And off he goes. Into the land of the non-BookieBoosโฆ (You knew I had to throw that in there at some point, right? You wonโt ever catch ME talking about the Joneses up in here! Crap โ I just slippedโฆ)
I think I should make a mix tape record for us to dance to going forwardโฆ Anyone know how to do that with LPs? ;) I should probably pack in as much quality โ and educational โ time together before I turn un-cool and the last thing he wants to do is dance with his olโ popโฆ Or, God forbid, hear another word about budgeting! Gotta subliminally insert all this knowledge now while I can, hahaโฆ
Can I get a Hell Yeah?
โโ
PS: If you liked this article, youโll probably like these too:
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Hell Yeah! Thanks for posting the YouTube video here so I didnโt have to IMMEDIATELY go there and then get all caught up in the related ones on the side and wake up in a pile of Cheetos three hours from now wondering where my day (and career) went. :)
YouTube and Wikipedia: two of the reasons I know a lot and do a little.
Hahaโฆ. they get ya every time!
Whoa. Thatโs a lot of financial thought from just one song!
I guess he knew financial blogs would start popping up 30 years from then and he wanted to market to us ;)
Hellz yeah!
I will never look at music the same againโฆ.gonna go see what I can decipher via a little Brass Monkey.
:-)
Now that Iโd like to see!
I love dancing with my little guy too. Even at 2 he giggles like crazy when the music turns on. He started potty training a few weeks ago and his favorite part was the potty dance I made up. He sat and I sang and danced in front of him. Worked like a charm .
Oooh, really?? Weโre about to start that adventure here ourselves so I might need to steal that idea from you! You wouldnโt happen to have that dance recorded anywhere would you? ;)
Good to know Iโm not the only one to rock out with the kids, though itโs more air guitar for me!
Do you slap the bass too? :)
Why donโt you put the alarm clock on the opposite side of the room? :-)
Itโs Still Rock and Roll to Me has some interesting advice too.
Donโt waste your money on a new set of speakers,
You get more mileage from a cheap pair of sneakers.
Where have you been hidinโ out lately, honey?
You canโt dress trashy till you spend a lot of money.
hahahhaaโฆ yes! Brilliant song โ way to dissect!
Nice :-)
I have the same CD (what are the odds!) and I am going to dig it out right now.
That is pretty cool, but not *as* cool as having the LP ;)
That is an awesome routine! The dancing is of course great, but Iโm amazed that you get 2 hours of uninterrupted time. I wake up at 5 and still have trouble because my sonโs been waking up at like 5:30. Whatโs your secret for getting him to sleep so late?
We got so SO lucky with him in the sleep department. Down by 7:30 and up at 9:00. Though, he does talk a lot and play in his crib for a while on and off until my wife physically goes in to โwake himโ hahaโฆ. Still, he loves his sleep! Maybe cuz he barely naps at daycare?
Geez, even Sergeant OโLeary side hustles. And thatโs why you donโt need a house in Hackensack and a Cadillac.
Who knew Billy Joel had such great financial advice?
I always took, โSonny, move out to the country,โ to mean that itโs less expensive to live in a rural area than in an urban one. Anthony works like a dog, and all he gets is a house in Hackensack (in New Jersey, but considered a bedroom suburb of New York City). If he listens to Mama Leone and follows her to the country, he wonโt have a heart attack-ack-ack-ack.
Ahhhh yes. That probably does make more sense, hahaโฆ
Nice. I rarely listen to the actual words of a song, so it always catches me by surprise when I really listen and thereโs a message there. :-D
Great parental routine โ dancing with your baby. Seriously, thatโs majorly awesome!
I just watched a whole episode of Glee last night that was devoted to Billy Joel. Amaaazzzingggggggg. :)
I spent nearly my entire life living on Long Island, so Iโm a huge Billy Joel fan! I think I know every one of his songs by heart โ great musicโฆ
Loving the dancing! My 5-year old daughter and I always dance to โWouldnโt it be Niceโ by the Beach Boys; that has always been our favorite song :)
Cute! I believe we actually have that record too. Will dig it up for tomorrowโs dancing and see what he thinks :)
Nice! That is definitely one of my all time favorite songs. It is wonderfully melodic and the lyrics are great.
Maybe throw in Good Vibrations into the mix (the harmony in the first section still gives me chillsโฆ) and youโre golden!
Hahaโฆ will do Captain.
Every Monday on my blog I devote a song to a financial lesson a) because I am old and grew up listening to Casey Kasemโs countdown on Sundays and it was my only lifeline in a house full of crazys b) sometimes music is the best teacher and c) it makes financial lessons so much more interesting (in my mind). Loved all three of your breakdowns! And I play one song in particular for my son (whose 8 now) all the time, โYou canโt always get what you wantโ by the Stones.
Hah! Love it! It makes blogging pretty fun too, right? :)
Ha! Funny stuff, J Mo. :) Back in the day, Billy Joel probably couldโve used some of the financial advice youโre sharing now. I think he sued his manager for $90 million, for stealing money.
Ouch, really?? Thatโs horrible.
AHHH, I was literally just about to write a post about this!!! great minds think alike. I guess I canโt now. :( (itโs even in my draftsโฆ lol)
But yes, such a song about materialism! The song was originally written because of all the 0 and 1st generation immigrants in NYC who fall for the โAmerican dreamโ of materialism. I never really liked Billy Joel til I moved to NYCโฆ and then I became a fan. Heโs definitely a great lyricist.
What, REALLY??? What are the odds?? That means you TOTALLY need to do it now! :) Iโm sure yours will be way different than mine anyways โ do it! DO IT!! DOOOO IT!!!!
Hahaโฆ seriously though, do it ;)
billy joelโs โmoving outโ โ ha! had a college roommate who played that ALL the frickin time. never got the message in college. get it now.
enjoy the dances โ ha! theyโre very, very short-lived.
maybe he was trying to tell YOU something? ;)