MILLION DOLLAR FACE
(words and music by Rick Springfield)
You were hungry for the lights,
You spent your nights with socialites
You're a million-dollar baby
With the million dollar blues
And you only gave your time to people you could use
Million dollar face with million dollar grace
You got off to a real bad start
Million dollar face in million dollar lace
You wound up with a two cent heart
You were mine for just a while
But true to style and with a smile you said,
"I have to leave you, baby, hold me one more time
'Cause I know where I should be and it's a long hard climb"
Million dollar face with million dollar grace
You got off to a real bad start
Million dollar face in million dollar lace
You wound up with a two cent heart
Million dollar face with million dollar grace
You got off to a real bad start
Million dollar face with million dollar lace
You wound up with a two cent heart
(total playing time: 2:49 )
Song Facts: This can be found on
Wait for Night.
More Reviews:
I adore this song. It is the first Rick song I ever really loved and listened to continuously. This was the one that kept me going until WCD came out. My friend actually had WFN (which is how I heard it) and I would always listen to this one song over and over when I’d spend the night with her. I was so upset for the longest time because I could not get a copy of my own. Once Rick took off and RCA released the remake, I was happy to own it, but so upset about the cover art change!!! I love the B&W cover – always makes me think “Australian Gigolo.” LOL
This song is a personal one in that I have someone in my life who is just like this. A beautiful person physically, but not much of a human being – so the connection was instant. I love the dramatic music, the saxophone, the heavy piano, and Rick’s almost crooning mannerisms while he sings…(I have to leave you ba-a-by.) This just reeks of smoky piano bars, old 40’s movies, and “Bogart mystique.” Oh – I love it!!!
I categorize “Million Dollar Face” as vanity as opposed to say greed as I think that she *KNOWS* she can get by on her looks. (And you only gave your time to people you could use…) People who USE have a sense that they have some kind of quality other’s want. So, to a degree, they can not only get away with using others, but in their blind self-love, they do not realize or care that their actions are wrong. To my way of thinking, it does take a great amount of vanity to say “I know where I should be, so I am leaving you in order to do what I want.” I love to hate the woman in this song. And Rick’s soulful voice just makes me feel all the worse for him and his broken heart.
Favorite line… “But true to style and with a smile” – it just rolls off the tongue and says so much in so few words…I envy his ability to do that!!!
Overall on my personal Rick scale – this one is a strong 8 of 10!
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I'm just going to start this one out with a bang and say this song reminds me of an After School Special. Do you remember those from the 70's and early 80's? I loved them, and would clear my schedule (ha! a teenager with a schedule) so as to be home to catch them when they aired. I don't know if it's the cheesy 70's music that accompanies this song that takes me back to the After School Special days - you know, it sounds all weepy & harpy like- or if it's the subject matter, but either will do.
I picture this beautiful girl, born poor - or at least without the millions she desires- who is going to use her looks to get what she wants. A common theme for a lot of songs, and frankly I think Rick could've done better than this one if he really and truly wanted to tell this story. She uses people to climb the social ladder and Rick was one of her rungs. I'm thinking he's seen her type before. Just a hunch I have.
So here's this girl from Podunk who wants to be a model, but has no "heart". Unlike those aforementioned television programs, there is no moral to the story (song) here. The moral would be that she realizes what a crappy person she's turned out to be and that's no way to live - and she's going home to Hank that she left on the farm, who loves her for who she is and not how beautiful she may be.
But wait! A revelation occurred to me whilst listening to this song for about the hundredth time..... could Rick be talking about himself?
Nah...
Ahhhhhhhhh, once again our hero is disappointed in love......*who are
these loser women and how does he always find them???...LOL* This is a very pretty tune, even tho the
lyrics are simple. There are some great lines, such as "million dollar face, with million dollar grace"
and "you wound up with a two cent heart" or "hungry for the lights, you spent your nights with socialites"....He sure can find the
rhymes, can't he?. Rick's voices sounds so soulful and full of longing.....*achingly so*. This is an emotional song for me, since it
is tied to a very fond memory of my Mom..*R.I.P* It was NYE '82....I was long married and out of my parents house, but I returned home
that day to help Mom decorate the house for one of her spectacular New Year's Eve Open House
Parties. As we were taking a break from blowing up balloons and draping streamers, we sat at the kitchen table
talking....the sane kitchen table where we'd had our "heart to heart talks when I was a teen.....the same kitchen table where Mom informed
my that we were goin' to see the Beatles for the first time when I
was 11 years old.....the same kitchen table where my hubby had asked for my hand in marriage...*Sheesh, if those kitchen walls could talk*
I whipped out my Sony Walkman and let Mom listen to "Million Dollar
Face" from my newly acquired WFN. Mom wasn't really into Rick's music, altho she always supported my "RickHabit", but I thought she
would like this song. And sure enough she loved it!! I think she like
the philosophy of the song....*you can't really be beautiful without a good heart*. I remember a warm and fuzzy feeling coming over me,
as I'd finally "converted" Mom......at least to one of Rick's songs!!
This is not one of my favorite Rick songs but I do think it is one of
the best on the CD.
I can almost imagine that he met a lot of girls that were like this...looked really good on the outside but did not have much on the
inside. It is weird to think that someone may have passed him over for someone who they thought would make more money or be more famous.
This is hands down my favorite song on the whole album. I'm a sucker for a slow song, and I love the music and the feel of this one. I really love his voice on this too.
He's rhyming all over the place, but they just fit better for me in this song than in some of the others.
I can imagine that he did meet a lot of beautiful people with not much heart that were on a mission. My favorite line is:
I have to leave you baby, hold me one more time
Cause I know where I should be and it's a long hard climb
It's like she wants one last moment of something real before she goes up that social ladder she's about to climb.
I do think there are probably moments he could apply this to himself. Hopefully fleeting moments.
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