Money On Your Tongue / Vicodin & Wine

"Money On Your Tongue / Vicodin & Wine" is a double A-side single by alternative-rock duo Dresden & Bareilles. The double A-side was the fourth single lifted from the band's debut album "Havoc & The Haven". The single was released on March 1st, 2010, entering the charts at #3. The single spent 7 weeks on chart, but did not measure up to the sales of their previous two singles.

Background
"Money On Your Tongue" was written by Australian rock singer Michael Paynter, and was released as a b-side on his single "A Victim Song", which Jean-Luc previously covered as a b-side on "The Reject", Dresden & Bareilles' debut single. Jean-Luc and Michael are good friends, which is why Michael allowed Jean-Luc to cover the song for the band's album. Jean-Luc's version was faithful to Michael's original, right down to the powerfully wailed vocals. "Vicodin & Wine" was written by Gabriel Dresden about Jason Caffrey, an old friend who served his country in the Iraq war, and committed suicide upon his return. It was a difficult song for Gabriel to write and to record, having been close with Jason prior to his term in Iraq, and then having to deal with Jason's self-imposed isolation as he dealt with depression. It was because of this highly personal nature that Gabriel had not intended to release the song as a single; but Saturdays had specific plans for this single; they wanted one single from the 'Haven' section of the album, and one single from the 'Havoc' section of the album. Each bandmate would have their own side of the release to promote as a 'solo' single. Jean-Luc picked out "Money On Your Tongue" from the Haven, leaving Gabriel to choose his solo song from the second half of the record. Again, with most of the band's singles, radio mixes of the songs were created. A mix of "Money On Your Tongue" more suited for alternative airplay featured harder drums and louder guitars, as well as an alternate guitar solo from an unused session recording. The radio mix of "Vicodin & Wine" added some violin to the mix, which originally featured just Gabriel's vocals and an acoustic guitar. The band each recorded a solo b-side for their respective CD singles; both were covers, with Jean-Luc covering "Taking Over Me" by Evanescence, and Gabriel covering "Tennessee Line" by Daughtry, with Mark Charlie Wilson singing Vince Gill's part on the latter.

Reception
"Money On Your Tongue", Jean-Luc's half of the single, was the first to premiere, with generally favourable reactions. Many were unfamiliar with the original version of the cover (being a cover of an Australian song being released in the UK market) but were impressed with the strength of Jean-Luc's voice, which is fully showcased on the song. "Vicodin & Wine" premiered shortly after, also to great response, with many touched by the sentiment of the song even given its dark and depressing nature. Between the two bandmates, the duo was able to keep the public on side, so that each song had strong airplay and a high chart peak. Neither song was released as singles outside the UK, but "Money On Your Tongue" had previously charted on the Hot 100 in the US due to moderate digital sales when the album was first released. Australian radio gave minimal airplay to the two songs, but since neither really caught on, neither was given an official Australian release, with the band moving onto "Better Of Me" as the 4th single outside the UK.

Promo CD

 * 1) Money On Your Tongue
 * 2) Money On Your Tongue (Alternative Rock Mix)
 * 3) Vicodin & Wine
 * 4) Vicodin & Wine (Pop Mix With Violin)

CD1: Money On Your Tongue

 * 1) Money On Your Tongue
 * 2) Taking Over Me
 * 3) Money On Your Tongue (Celldweller Remix)
 * 4) Money On Your Tongue (Exacta Remix)

CD2: Vicodin & Wine

 * 1) Vicodin & Wine
 * 2) Tennessee Line (ft. Mark Charlie Wilson)
 * 3) Vicodin & Wine (Morgan Page Club Mix)
 * 4) Vicodin & Wine (Dave Darell Vocal Mix)

CD3: Money On Your Tongue / Vicodin & Wine

 * 1) Money On Your Tongue
 * 2) Vicodin & Wine
 * 3) Money On Your Tongue (Solid Gold 60's Revibe)
 * 4) Money On Your Tongue (Dollars In Your Eyes Mix)
 * 5) Vicodin & Wine (G+J's Calpol & Coke Mix)
 * 6) Vicodin & Wine (Aftershock's Secret AA Meeting Vocal Mix)

Money On Your Tongue
The video opens showing us a casino. As the song begins we're taken inside the building where we see lots of shots of lights flashing, people walking around in expensive clothing and looks of excitement from people finding their fortune at all the available gambling opportunities. Intercut are shots of Jean-Luc at a deserted bar, singing the song. As we move through the casino, we are eventually taken to a Roulette table where Jean-Luc is in the middle of a winning streak, treating the woman he's with to tall glasses of wine as people crowd around to observe Jean-Luc's luck. Jean-Luc plays one final shot, winning big once again when he calls it quits, wanting to protect all the money that he's won tonight. He bid the lady goodnight as he leaves the casino, smiling smugly at casino security who glare at him with thoughts that he was possibly cheating. As we see more shots of Jean-Luc in the bar, we see his storyline counterpart getting into a bright red Ferrari which he drives off into the night at high speed.

For all his fortune, Jean-Luc then must suffer some misfortune - his ferrari winds up crashing into another vehicle, running his own car into a pole. Jean-Luc is heavily injured in the crash, as we see when we next see him heavily treated (these were not far off from Jean-Luc's own injuries at the time of the video shoot). He's seen in the bar sitting stretched out along the floor singing, as he tries to pull himself up to stand on his broken leg. The injured Jean-Luc doesn't seem to be all that comforted by his recent windfall, as most of the money he won has gone into paying all his medical bills and replacing his Ferrari. He is sitting in his house unable to do much for himself and pissed off about it. In the bar, Jean-Luc is still trying to pull himself up onto his feet and isn't having much luck as he tries to push his back against different surfaces to brace himself.

We see a fast-forward progression now of the storyline Jean-Luc, as he is aided by a live-in nurse (like Jean-Luc's own live-in nurse Vincent) and recuperates from his car crash, eventually gaining some independence back once he has a pair of crutches. Back in the bar, Jean-Luc has finally managed to stand on his own, but his broken leg is obviously giving him pain as he struggles to remain standing for the remainder of the song. As he sings the last 'run', he collapses onto the floor, and crew members rush on-camera to help him back up, only for him to shove them away as he gets back up himself. As the video ends, he limps out of the bar, leaving the scene empty as it fades to black.

Vicodin & Wine
The video opens with Gabriel sitting in a room looking at photos of himself and his friend who the song is about; he tries to maintain a smile as he picks up his guitar and starts playing, but he stares out the window as he's playing, being swept up in grief for his friend. We see intercut shots of Gabriel walking through deserted streets singing the song trying to hold himself together. In the storyline segment, we see Gabriel's friend in Iraq (portrayed in the video by Gabriel himself) as he and his team arrive in Iraq and are deployed.

As the performance shots of Gabriel playing guitar and walking through the streets overlap, we see the team in Iraq heading into a battle situation. Gabriel watches in horror as his men are killed off one by one by enemy forces. In the performance shots, Gabriel is trying to hold himself together but as he thinks about what happened to his friend he breaks down. The Gabriel in the battle zone is the last attacked, left for dead.

Iraq Gabriel survives, and somehow manages to get back to camp without further harm. He is clearly going into shock over everything that's happened, as he's cleaned up and sent on a plane back to America. We see a third performance shot of Gabriel now, in a black outfit sitting at a table, reading his friend's suicide note over and over as he sings the final verse. The song ends and we slowly pull away from Gabriel sitting with his head in his hands, weeping. The screen fades to black and a dedication to Gabriel's friend is shown.

Chart Performance
Some believed that there was an outside chance that Dresden & Bareilles could take #1 finally with this double A-side single, but with strong competition from Ana Simpson, more reasonable predictions called for top 3. The single did indeed open in the top 3, charting at #3 on the 7th of March, 2010, with sales of 57,221 copies. The single failed to match up to the sales of their previous two efforts, while still outselling debut single "The Reject", it suffered the same lack of longevity as their previous singles, falling out of the charts before it hit gold certification. As with their last two singles, "Money On Your Tongue / Vicodin & Wine" lasted 7 weeks on chart. On airplay, the songs charted separately, and had strong chart runs independent of each other. "Vicodin & Wine" proved to be the stronger of the two, peaking within the top 10 and clearing 100,000 accumulative spins before reaching recurrency. "Money On Your Tongue" was still a major airplay hit in its own right, also reaching recurrency. Both songs charted in the lowest section of the Australian top 100 airplay chart, with minimal airplay; this was purely on the back of the band's chart history, as neither song was formally released, and did not chart on the ARIA singles chart. "Money On Your Tongue" reached a top 50 peak on the US Hot 100 in 2009 prior to its release as a single; this was due to decently strong digital sales when the album was first released.

Chart Run
TOTAL: 179,533
 * Week 1: #3 - 57,221
 * Week 2: #7 - 38,848
 * Week 3: #12 - 27,893
 * Week 4: #15 - 18,874
 * Week 5: #20 - 17,322
 * Week 6: #23 - 11,564
 * Week 7: #32 - 7,811