About The Song
“If You’ve Got The Money I’ve Got the Time” is a country song performed by Willie Nelson, released in 1976 as the lead single from his album The Sound in Your Mind on Columbia Records. Originally written and recorded by Lefty Frizzell in 1950, Frizzell’s version became his first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, selling 250,000 copies in its first year. Nelson’s version, a lively honky-tonk track, also reached No. 1 on the same chart on August 21, 1976, marking his second chart-topping single after “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.” The 2:32 track captures a night of dancing and drinking with lyrics like: “If you’ve got the money, honey / I’ve got the time.”
Nelson recorded the song in early 1976 at Autumn Sound Studios in Garland, Texas, produced by Nelson himself. His band, The Family, backed him, featuring Mickey Raphael on harmonica, Bee Spears on bass, and Jody Payne on guitar. The arrangement retains the upbeat tempo of Frizzell’s original, adding Nelson’s relaxed vocal style and a prominent piano riff. The recording was part of The Sound in Your Mind, which followed the success of Red Headed Stranger (1975) and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. The album’s raw sound aligned with Nelson’s push against Nashville’s polished production trends.
Nelson chose to cover the song as a tribute to Lefty Frizzell, whose music influenced him early on. He had performed it live since the 1960s in Texas honky-tonks, often pairing it with Frizzell’s “I Love You a Thousand Ways,” another track he included on the album. In a 1976 interview with Country Music magazine, Nelson said: “Lefty’s songs were always about real life, and this one’s just fun—it’s what I’d say to a girl in a bar back in the day.” The song’s release came during Nelson’s rise in the outlaw country movement, a period when he sought creative control over his music.
The song became a regular opener in Nelson’s live sets through the 1970s and 1980s, including a 1978 performance at the Grand Ole Opry. A 2000 duet version with Merle Haggard was released on Tales Out of Luck, featuring their blended vocals in a relaxed take. Covers by other artists include The Little Willies in 2012, with Norah Jones, and a 2023 version by Luke Combs, per SecondHandSongs. The song appeared in media, such as the 1980 film Honeysuckle Rose, where Nelson performed it on-screen, and in a 2017 episode of The Ranch on Netflix, used in a bar scene.
Nelson used the song’s success to support his Fourth of July Picnics, annual concerts he started in 1973 that became a key event in the outlaw country movement, drawing thousands to see acts like Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson. A 1980 live recording with Leon Russell from the picnics was released on the 2008 album Willie and the Boys. The song was also performed at Farm Aid 1985, Nelson’s charity concert for American farmers, highlighting its role in his live repertoire. It was later featured in a 2019 documentary, Willie Nelson: American Outlaw, aired on A&E, focusing on his career and influence.
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Lyric
If you’ve got the money, honey
I’ve got the time
We’ll go honky tonkin’
And we’ll have a time
We’ll make all the night spots
Dance, drink beer and wine
If you’ve got the money, honey
I’ve got the timeThere ain’t no use to tarry
So let’s start out tonight
We’ll spread joy, oh boy, oh boy
And we’ll spread it right
We’ll have fun, oh boy, oh boy
And we’ll party all night
If you’ve got the money, honey
I’ve got the timeIf you’ve got the money, honey
I’ve got the time
We’ll go honky tonkin’
And we’ll have a time
Bring along your sweetheart
Bring along your wife
If you’ve got the money, honey
I’ve got the timeWe’ll go honky tonkin’
Make every club in town
We’ll go to the ballroom
We’ll go to the town
Dance and have a big time
Till the break of dawn
If you’ve got the money, honey
I’ve got the time