The 1972 Demo of “Money” Had a Different Bass Line — Then Came the Tape Loops

Before David Gilmour settled on that seven-note descending bass riff, the early demo of “Money” from early 1972 ran on a simpler, more conventional walking bass line. Roger Waters had written the song in 7/4 time, but the demo shows the band still feeling out the groove — the famous looped cash register sounds hadn’t appeared yet.

The idea to splice together clinking coins, a paper bag rustling, and a cash register drawer slamming shut came during rehearsals at a warehouse in Bermondsey. The band recorded their own sound effects onto a tape machine, then manually cut and spliced the loops into a repeating rhythm that matched the song’s odd time signature. Gilmour later recalled that they treated the tape loops like another instrument, syncing them to the 7/4 pulse by adjusting tape speed and loop length.

That first demo, sometimes called the “Barn Yard” mix, circulated on bootlegs for decades. It reveals a looser, more jam-oriented version — no saxophone, no spoken-word money clichés — but the cash register loop is already present on that early tape, suggesting the band committed to the idea before they nailed the bass line.