I was shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of Eddie Money yesterday from a heart attack at the age of 70. He’d recently been diagnosed with Stage 4 esophageal cancer, but his death was apparently related to complications from heart valve surgery a few months ago. He was a great artist who had a long career with its ups and downs, but I’m safe in saying he was beloved by many. I have a special fondness for him because he actually followed me on Twitter! Money had a string of hits, beginning with “Baby Hold On” in 1978, but my favorite of all his songs was “Take Me Home Tonight“. I loved it from the first moment I heard it, and it remains one of my favorite songs of the 80s.

Born Edward Mahoney in Brooklyn, New York, Money started out as a police offer for the NYPD. He relocated to Berkeley, California in the late 60s, where he began his music career performing in Bay Area clubs. In 1976, he met Bill Graham, then a major music impresario and concert promoter in San Francisco who would eventually become his manager. Money landed his first record deal with Columbia Records, who released his debut self-titled album Eddie Money in 1977. The album generated his first two big hits “Baby Hold On” and “Two Tickets to Paradise”, both of which charted in 1978. Later that year, he released his follow up album Life For the Taking. The album did not perform quite as well, but it did produce one modest hit “Maybe I’m A Fool”, which is among my favorites of his songs.

Beginning in the late 70s and continuing on and off for many years, Money struggled with drug and alcohol addiction, including a 1981 incident in which he nearly died from an overdose of fentanyl. Still, he turned out some great work, most notably his albums No Control in 1982 and his 1986 comeback album of sorts Can’t Hold Back, which featured what would turn out to be his biggest hit – “Take Me Home Tonight”. His 1988 release Nothing to Lose was also very good, producing another of his greatest songs “Walk On Water”.

“Take Me Home Tonight” is a sexy, exhilarating song that’s brilliant on so many levels. Not only is it a spectacular pop-rock song from a musical standpoint, the lyrics are powerful and raw, and Money never sounded better. But perhaps the greatest thing about the song is the added performance by the legendary Ronnie Spector, who samples her 1963 Ronettes hit “Be My Baby”, taking the song into the sonic stratosphere.

From the moment we first hear those dramatic strings,  guitar licks and pounding drumbeats, the song hooks us in and never lets go. As Money begins to croon with a palpable sexual urgency, the music expands with more guitar, bass, heavier drumbeats and aggressive tinkling piano keys. When Ronnie Spector finally enters with “Be my little baby”, the sexual tension between her and Money is positively electrifying. The music continues to build to a crescendo with a wailing sax riff, and I’m covered from head to toe with goosebumps! “Take Me Home Tonight” is a masterpiece, and a classic for the ages.

I feel a hunger, it’s a hunger that tries to keep a man awake at night
Are you the answer? I shouldn’t wonder when I feel you whet my appetite
With all the power you’re releasing
It isn’t safe to walk the city streets alone
Anticipation is running through me
Let’s find the key and turn this engine on

I can feel you breathe
I can feel your heart beat faster, faster, oh
Take me home tonight
I don’t want to let you go till you see the light
Take me home tonight
Listen honey just like Ronnie sang: “Be my little baby”

I get frightened in all this darkness
I get nightmares I hate to sleep alone
I need some company
A guardian angel to keep me warm when the cold winds blow

I can feel you breathe
I can feel your heart beat faster, faster, oh

Take me home tonight
I don’t want to let you go till you see the light
Take me home tonight
Listen honey just like Ronnie sang:
“Be my little baby Be my little baby”

Just like Ronnie sang, I said just like Ronnie sang:
“Be my little baby, baby my darling. Oh oh oh oh oh”
I feel a hunger it’s a hunger

Take me home tonight
I don’t want to let you go till you see the light
Take me home tonight
Listen honey just like Ronnie sang: “Be my little baby”
Take me home tonight
I don’t want to let you go till you see the light
Take me home tonight
Listen honey just like Ronnie sang: “Be my little baby
Oh be my darling, oh oh oh oh