Six For The Taxman, One For The Band: 5 Songs Hating on Taxes

This week's songs are from Sonny Boy Williamson, the Beatles, Geese, Nick Lowe, and Marvin Gaye

Tomorrow is tax day in the United States. You know who hates taxes? Everyone. It’s something that unites rock stars and Republicans alike. The list of musicians who’ve faced massive tax penalties is a long one: Willie Nelson, Chuck Berry, Lauryn Hill, Method Man, Prince, Ja Rule, David Allan Coe…even Alan Freed, who coined the term “rock & roll” (as it applies to music anyway…) was indicted for tax evasion.

Complaints and accusations of tax dodging aren’t only an American thing. The Rolling Stones fled the UK in 1972 to avoid a massive tax bill just as they got out from under Allen Klein’s management. That’s how they ended up in an old villa in the South of France. So without exorbitant taxes, we may have never gotten Exile on Main St. Rod Stewart fled along with them. U2 have faced claims of being tax dodgers in Ireland after reincorporating in the Netherlands in the early 2000s. But AC/DC, the Rolling Stones, the Eurythmics, and many others are incorporated there. Shakira has had issues in Spain.

With that, let’s have a look at some musicians taking issue with the taxman and bringing receipts.

Here’s 5 songs on taxes.

Sonny Boy Williamson (II) - “Keep Your Hand Out of My Pocket”

According to Willie Dixon, you could never tell if Sonny Boy Williamson (II) was drunk or sober. But at the start of “Keep Your Hand Out of My Pocket,” you know his instincts are sharp. You can hear him tell the engineer he’s ready to record, “Because if you let it cool, goddammit, it won’t be what was there.” What’s there is a loose blues that feels more true to the demand than a second version that’s lighter, in part because it lacks the drums that land with an echoing clap, underlining his claim that “there’s nothing belong to you” in them. Otis Spann (with Muddy Waters on guitar) plays a “Keep Your Hand Out of My Pocket” as a piano boogie—the request is the same, but the song is quite different. Williamson’s tune here is about as a slow as a blues can get without collapsing on itself.

The Beatles - “Taxman”

Loving the Beatles is seemingly self-evident; people hear it as kids and it’s something that’s just ever-present. Part of why they’re still so popular is that some of it is simple enough for kids to enjoy, just as it is artistic, and works on a deeper level for adults. I didn’t really have that steady presence of Beatles as a kid, or if I did I don’t remember it. I had Anthology I in middle school, but that is all the early “simple” stuff. Just as easy as it is to drink the Kool-Aid, it’s also pretty easy to be dismissive. There’s all the big songs everybody knows, yeah they’re great, but so?

What I’m getting at is I underestimated the Beatles until I heard “Taxman” as a teenager. It’s got the bass groove, razor-sharp guitar, and aggrieved lyrics—all of the same ingredients for a teenager who just discovered Gang of Four to admit those Beatles have the juice. In our current state, it’s easy to tell the millionaire rock star to quit whining and pay their fair share. Harrison was barely out of the working class in early 1966, and watched his earnings get hit with England’s 95% tax rate at the time. So when his Taxman is boasting “one for you, nineteen for me” Harrison is citing an exact figure. He calls out Harold Wilson and Sir Edward Heath, leaders of the Labour and Conservative parties (Prime Ministers, both) by name.

If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat
If you get too cold, I'll tax the heat
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet

While this is George’s song, and his time to shine, we must give some respect to Paul here. In addition to that wild and rubbery bass line, that’s also Paul ripping that wiry lead guitar, including the solos in the back half of the song.

Nick Lowe - “36 Inches High”

“36 Inches High” was originally written and recorded by Jim Ford—an underground’s underground performer, who put out one album (Harlan County) in the early 70s before fading into an obscure footnote. But Nick Lowe’s version from 1978’s Jesus of Cool strips out the folk country signposts and turns it into a cynical proto-New Wave groove, complete with the soldier march drums to match the lyrics. Like “Keep Your Hand Out of My Pocket,” it seems to stay just slower than you think it should be, forcing you to lean into it and listen a little more closely.

Once I was a tax man
Collectin' dollars and dimes
I heard the rich man grumble
I heard the poor man cry
Some few couldn't afford to pay
Were put to a shackle and key
I never got over bein' a tax man

Geese - “Taxes”

The breakout single from a divisive “buzz band” that’s actually been around for 5 years. When I hear it, I also hear “In My Tree” by Pearl Jam and “Breaking the Girl” by Red Hot Chili Peppers. It’s the paradiddles on the drums and a constipated bass. Those other two songs break the mold of their respective bands’ typical formula, in part by letting the rhythm sections steer the ship. “Taxes” breaks Geese’s typical formula a bit as well, in that it’s the band at their most straightforward and accessible, and it offers catharsis. But singer and songwriter Cameron Winter has nothing positive to say about taxes.

I should burn in hell
But I don't deserve this
Nobody deserves this

There is the time-warn music industry challenge of how a band breaks through to larger audiences but stays true to their own art, process, and terms of dealing with their success. There’s some level of irony that Geese hit that buzz band lane with an anthem about obstinance and refusal. It’s an attitude they’ve maintained in dealing with the media rollercoaster they’ve been put on, collectively embodying an attitude of this is bullshit—expectations, questions, unspoken rules—especially if it is the people you expect to heal you that is the source of your pain.

Doctor, doctor! Heal yourself
And I will break my own heart

“We laughed about putting lyrics in about high taxes, 'cause both of us owed a lot. And we talked about how the government would send guys to the moon, but not help folks in the ghetto.” - James Nyx Jr.

Marvin Gaye - “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)”

I would put the opening second of “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)” up there with that of Van Morrison’s "Sweet Thing,” Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side,” and Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You”—where there’s just hints of music, the first note played isn’t even finished, and you are whipsawed into an entire universe. It’s the magic combination of the note played, how it’s played, the instruments playing it, and how the microphones captured that moment that triggers a reflex where I say “oh hell yeah,” reach for the volume nob, and take a trip for a few minutes.

What’s Goin’ On is a concept album—a man returning from serving in the Vietnam war finding his own country, city, and home in total disarray—based on the experiences of his brother. Songs take on social conflict, war, environmental disasters, drugs, and poverty. “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler),” the album’s closer, addresses the economic and social inequality of African Americans. Riffing with co-writer James Nyx Jr., he and Gaye mixed in their own tax troubles:

Hang-ups, let downs
Bad breaks, set backs
Natural fact is
Oh honey that I can’t pay my taxes

Oh, make me want to holler
And throw up both my hands

When he died 14 years later, Gaye was nearly $10m in debt, half of which was owed in back taxes to the IRS.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy the listening.