“Two Tickets to Paradise” by Eddie Money

"Two Tickets to Paradise" comes off Eddie Money's self-titled 1977 debut, and it became the song his name would be tied to for good. Money wrote it himself, Bruce Botnick produced, and Andy Johns engineered and mixed it, and it moves like a getaway car: Jimmy Lyon's guitar slick and bright, Gary Mallaber and Lonnie Turner locking the groove down, Money's voice hoarse and hungry over the top. Cash Box praised its punch and its rough-and-ready singing.

But it isn't really a beach postcard. Under the vacation promise it's a song about wanting out, the itch to change your life and be somewhere, or someone, else. Released as a single in June 1978, it reached 22 on the Hot 100 and settled in for good on classic rock radio, and his life story later became a stage musical borrowing its title.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.