Songfacts®:

• While many of Tate's songs grapple with philosophical or existential questions, he says that "Dark Money," an overtly political song, is about the money-driven aspects of politics. Geoff Tate is best known as the lead singer of Queensrÿche from 1981-2012.
• Tate discussed the meaning at greater length to Ultimate Classic Rock. "'Dark Money' is a phrase that has been coined to describe these immeasurable amounts of cash that fund presidential elections and congressional elections," he explained. "You know, they're typically funded by incredibly wealthy individuals or groups of individuals who get together and call themselves some benign name in order to not arouse any suspicion that they're handing over tens of millions of dollars to a particular candidate."
  
  However, political its leanings may be, Tate did not entirely abandon his penchant for the personal and immediate in the song. "I'm more interested in the social consciousness of what politics brings than the politics themselves," he told Examiner. "How it affects people and how people react to politics really is my interest."
• The lyrics explore all of this in the form of a snarling call-to-arms. "And those elected must follow demands of what the masses say," Tate sings, "And play the game by the rules of today. Retribution is at hand."
• "Dark Money" was the first song released from Kings and Thieves. Tate wanted the album to sound raw and unrehearsed, and so kept practice sessions for each song to a minimum.