7 1/2 Cents Vs. I Want to be a Billionaire

This weekend on a hike with some friends we discussed wonderful and terrible lyrics in pop songs. Someone presented "I Want to be a Billionaire" as a song with terrible lyrics.

For the record, I think this is a fun song - and I like the sentiment expressed in the following lines (or at least what I choose to take from them!):

"We in recession but let me take a crack at it
I’ll probably take whatever's left and just split it up
So everybody that I love can have a couple bucks
And not a single tummy around me would know what hungry was
Eating good sleeping soundly
I know we all have a similar dream"

Despite whatever beautiful sentiments I derive from these lyrics, my friend hates the underlying message of the song as a whole: I'll just sit around wishing for what I want. His theory is that if they really want to be a billionaire they would go out and do something that would move them closer to thier goal.

I can respect that.

Our discussion made me think of the chorus to 7 1/2 Cents from The Pajama Game:

"Seven and a half cents doesn't buy a heck of a lot,
Seven and a half cents doesn't mean a thing!
But give it to me every hour,
Forty hours every week,
And that's enough for me to be living like a king!
I figured it out"

This song is something that has stuck with me since my Jr. High production of The Pajama Game. If "I Want to be a Billionaire" represents just sitting around wishing for what we want, 7 1/2 Cents has come to represent the opposite to me over the years.

The two phrases that I think about the most are: "Seven and a half cents doesn't buy a whole lot" (yes, my Jr. High director modified that line for us . . .) and "I figured it out". To me, this is a reminder that we can figure things out, and we don't need a lot of money, time, skill or other resources. We have to decide what we really want, figure out what we need in order to get there and then make it happen.

While, if I had to choose, I'd pick to work for 7 1/2 cents instead of wishing I were a billionaire, I do like the idea that we can use what we have to bless others (split our money so everyone has a couple bucks and people are fed). And while I don't anticipate I'll ever have lots of money, I hope that if I ever do I will use it in a wise manner that benefits many people.