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Lyrics:
About to take a trip through time, 10,000 years ago
Back before nickels and dimes, how does the story go?
Verse 1: Before Money
About to take a trip through time
On your mark, ready, set, here we go
Way back when, when there was no money
It was about ten thousand years ago
People did move from place to place
Looking around for food to chase
Groups in the wilderness, they would trade
Food they caught, a coat they made
But after that, people learned to farm
No need to move around anymore
Towns started sprouting up
With carpenters, weavers, and more
Verse 2: Bartering, First Forms of Money
By what is known as bartering
It's how they all kept on living
Vegetables and plants, camels
Cows, and sheep were the kinds of things
Commonly traded but over time became dated
So a newer system using currency was created
Developed by the Chinese
For money they used cowries
Colorful shells found in the oceans of the Far East
Verse 3: First Coins
Sumerians from Mesopotamia
May be the ones who created the first coin
5,000 years back
Over time, money became round and flat
Easy to count and stack
Then the Greeks began to print coins
With designs in tact
In fact, symbols of leaders, they began printing
The stamping of metal coins, today we call minting
Verse 4: First Paper Money
Sprinting back to China 2,000 years, we'll find the
First form of paper money printed and designed for
People to make their purchases
Of many goods and services
Around the world, many countries never heard of this
Then Europeans started using promissory notes
Which promised that you owed someone
A solid piece of gold
Chorus
Verse 5: Colonial Money
To America, settlers came
From Holland, England, France, and Spain
What did they use for money, you're wondering?
Simply money from where they're coming from
Then they all started to moan
They ran out of money they brought from home
So the colonies made their own
And that enraged the British throne
Won the war, had to pay our soldiers
But our paper notes were worthless
So at last, our new nation created the dollar system
Verse 6: First Dollar
In 1792, Congress did approve
A law that would state it's the dollar we shall use
A currency that's built on the decimal system
Cents are one-hundredth of a dollar, so listen
Philadelphia Mint made the nation's first coin
In 1861, paper dollars were employed
Verse 7: Printing Money
All our paper money is printed in Washington
Funny, 'cause it's not paper, but really a special blend
Of cotton and linen made with special permission
From the nation's Bureau of Engraving and Printing
About 30 bills are printed on a single sheet, see?
Then they're torn apart, pressed, starched
Bundled neatly
Verse 8: Largest Bills, Federal Reserve
$100,000 bill, the largest we created
Today, a hundred is the highest bill that's circulated
Not so long ago, all your dollars and your dough
Were redeemable for some solid bricks of gold
That was the gold standard, it no longer exists
But the concept of value behind money still persists
Chorus