Beat o' The Week (2-5-08)

Aaaah, interviews! For the last month, overstretched Cornell juniors have been stressing over internships, completing dozens of resume drops and the high-stress interrogations … errr … interviews that follow. Those with Gordon Gekko ambitions salivate at the prospect of signing bonuses and BMWs (and even the 100-hour workweeks) that lie ahead. JP, Goldman, Citi, Suisse; these names control the destinies, and more specifically the wallets, of hordes of hungry finance go-getters, not only in Ithaca, but all around the world. Thus, it seems appropriate that this week’s featured beat be the seminal Pink Floyd jam, “Money.”
I’m fairly certain that the opening measures of the song, coins clanking and registers ringing open in rhythm, run through heads of would-be investment bankers whenever they crunch numbers or revise their resumes for the 40th time. The rattling of cash is joined before long by a cool baseline and trippy twangs of synth, and David Gilmour thinks aloud, “New car, caviar, four-star daydream/Think I’ll buy me a new football team.” By the time the song speeds up, the initial bass and synth have been joined by guitars and horns, and it all melds into a frenzied cacophony of psychedelia. So what if the song finally concludes that money is “the root of all evil?” Someone’s gotta pay the bills, and you’ll be damned if you aren’t going to drive a Benz someday. Keep on trucking, finance peeps — and don’t freak out when someone asks you how many quarters would fit in Penn Station. Just think about all that MONEY.