"Two Tickets to Paradise" is a song by American rock singer Eddie Money from his 1977 self-titled debut album, Eddie Money. It was released as a single in June 1978 and reached number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song has since become a staple of classic rock radio, as well as Eddie Money's signature song.
Background and content
Money wrote the song about his girlfriend at the time. His girlfriend's mother wanted her to marry a doctor or a lawyer, not a musician. Money wrote the song in the hope of being allowed to take his girlfriend on vacation.
Release
The 45 RPM recordsingle mix of the song is considerably different from the now more familiar version that appears on the Eddie Money album, a vast number of Money compilation albums, and digital releases of the song. The album version is broken up into three verses and two choruses with a harmony section of "whoa whoa" right before the third verse, while the re-recorded single version is three verses and three choruses, with the third verse sung over the aforementioned "whoa" harmony section. Money re-recorded his entire lead vocal for the single version and guitar riffs were added during the "waited so long" parts. The lyrics to the chorus changed slightly: instead of "I've got two tickets to paradise, I've got two tickets to paradise" after "pack your bags, we leave tonight", it became "Baby, it'll be so nice, for I've got two tickets to paradise". The single mix is substantially different with different lead guitar parts appearing throughout. Lastly, the album version has a conclusive ending featuring a snare and bass drum hit, whereas the single version has a brief fade-out featuring a sustained chord on organ. The single runs 3:07 minutes compared to the 4:00 minute album version. The single version has been reissued on the Playlist: The Very Best of Eddie Money compilation CD. The guitar solo was performed by Jimmy Lyon.
Musical
An autobiographical musical play titled Two Tickets to Paradise is a story of Eddie Money's life and musical focus.
The song appears in the 1994 episode "Homer Loves Flanders" of The Simpsons, in which Homer sings and plays the air guitar to the rock song.
It was also featured in a 2002 episode of The King of Queens where Doug Heffernan and Deacon Palmer attempt to spend $5,000 in one day, and they hire Eddie to play in Doug's living room.
During the summer of 2003, the song was featured on the opening credits to the Fox reality show Paradise Hotel.
Michael Scott of The Office sings a short, parodied version of the song in the 2006 episode "A Benihana Christmas."
The song appears on a 2008 episode of the TV show Unhitched.
In House MD, 2009 episode 6 of season 6, a character says, "In the words of the great philosopher, Eddie Money, 'I've got two tickets to paradise.'"
The song was covered in a 2015 episode of Hawaii Five-0 in the episode "Ua Helele'i Ka Hoku ".
The song appears on the TV show Take Me Out.
Video games
"Two Tickets to Paradise" is used in the 2004 video game, on the fictional Classic rock radio station K-DST.
The song is heard playing in the background of an iconic scene from the 2004 filmSideways in which the lead characters are talking in a bar.
In one of the beginning scenes of the 2007 filmBalls of Fury, Randy's co-performing counterpart can be seen singing a karaoke version of the song with a parrot.
There is a reference in the 2014 movie Good Kill where one of the characters starts singing "I've got two tickets to Paradise..."
