Legal tender
THE B52´S Lyrics

We're in the basement, learning to print
We are experimenting in the basement with the art of printing counterfeit money

All of it's hot!
All the fake money that we produce is ready to be used and accepted by others

10, 20, 30 million ready to be spent
We have created a huge amount of counterfeit money that can be easily and quickly used

We're stackin' 'em against the wall
We have confidently collected the fake money and are stacking it against the wall, ready to be used

Those gangster presidents
We are printing fake money using images of former US presidents who have not always had a good reputation

Livin' simple and trying to get by
We are living a simple life and trying to make ends meet by printing money illegally

But honey, prices have shot through the sky
Due to high inflation, we are finding it difficult to meet our needs with our legal income alone

So I fixed up the basement with
I renovated the basement to turn it into a fully-functional printing room for creating counterfeit money

What I was a-workin' with
I used the materials and equipment that were available to me at the time

Stocked it full of jelly jars
I filled the basement with jars of ink that we use to print the counterfeit money

And heavy equipment
I also invested in high-quality machines and other heavy equipment that help us produce fake money more efficiently

Walk into the bank, try to pass that trash
We attempt to use the counterfeit money in a bank to pass it off as real currency

Teller sees and says "No!"
The bank teller immediately recognizes the fake money and denies its use

We need new bills, they're pristine
The teller informs us that the bank only accepts new, crisp bills and not those that appear worn or otherwise damaged

Don't you know that change is obscene?
The teller accuses us of trying to make change (i.e. split the bills into smaller ones) which is a suspicious behavior

We are turning profits, we're turning friends
We are making significant profits by creating and using the counterfeit money, and are gaining new friends who assist us in the process

Then we're turning the something, the future depends
We are using the fake money to turn something (perhaps the economy, currency exchange, or other factors) that the future may become heavily dependent upon

Legal tender, that's how we've grown
Our growth has come from the use of counterfeit money that we pass off as legal tender

10, 20, 30 million counterfeit dollars
We have created millions of dollars in counterfeit money to be used and circulated illegally

Ready to be spent.
The counterfeit money we produced is ready to be used for any purpose, despite its illegal origin