Take the Money and Run
by Steve Miller Band
- 98
- BPM
- C major
- Key
- 8B
- Camelot
- 58
- Danceability
- 6
- Acousticness
Steve Miller wrote "Take the Money and Run" as a road trip. As a child he had listened to the radio on long family drives and sung along to his favorite songs. FM radio carried clearer stereo sound. That let him build his own road songs with more layers and a much bigger sound.
The story follows two young lovers with nothing better to do than sit around the house, get high and watch the tube. Billy Joe robs a house in El Paso and shoots its owner, while Bobbie Sue escapes with the proceeds. They reunite the next day and flee south through Texas, pursued by Billy Mack, a police detective determined to arrest them.
The Steve Miller Band recorded it in 1976 for the album Fly Like an Eagle, one of the many hit singles the band produced that decade. It peaked at number 11 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and at number 8 in Canada in July 1976. It charted in Australia as well. The band had formed in San Francisco in 1966, with Miller on guitar and lead vocals.
Take the Money and Run runs at 98 BPM, the tempo of hip-hop, R&B and reggaeton. In classical terms it sits in andante territory. A bar of 4/4 lasts 2.45 seconds, and a quarter-note delay is 612 ms. It is in C major, Camelot 8B, which shares its notes with A minor and mixes cleanly with F major and G major.
We use multiple sources as part of our online research for the song story including Wikipedia.