Songfacts®:

• This song finds Van painting a picture of idolatry as he meditates about the all-encompassing power of money and the ways in which cash has replaced God at the centre of the modern belief system. Said Morrison: "That came from looking at a dollar bill and turning the concept on its head. I thought, 'what is this stuff on here, what does it mean?' Some people's God is money – we've discovered that about a lot of people recently. So then what happens after that? What happens if you don't have it, or if you don't have enough?"
• This is one of several tracks on Born To Sing: No Plan B where Morrison references global economic woes. He explained to Mojo magazine: "That's because that stuff is being promoted all the time. Turn on the radio or TV and they're going on about money all the time. There never used to be this obsession with money, it's very strange. Well, not strange for them, but strange for me. I'm from a working class background and I don't have this obsession with money, money, money. I was always taught that all you need is enough, but now there's this obsession with greed, people want more and more and more. I don't know why. Money's not gonna save you."