# Explain a line from Jesus Christ Superstar **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [November 16, 2020, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-a-line-from-jesus-christ-superstar/925714 "2020-11-16T16:06:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2020, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-a-line-from-jesus-christ-superstar/925714/1 "2020-11-16T16:06:12Z")
In the song Blood Money, Judas approaches the high priests about helping them arrest Jesus. After Judas whines for a while about how conflicted he is by all this, this dialog ensues: > Priests: > Your help in this matter won’t go unrewarded > We’ll pay you in silver - cash on the nail. > We just need to know where the soldiers can find him > With no crowd around him > Then we can’t fail. > > Judas: > I don’t want your blood money! > > Caiaphas: > Oh, that doesn’t matter - our expenses are good. My question is about Caiaphas’ last line. What does this mean? I can’t make sense of it using any meaning of “expenses” that I’m familiar with. I’ve always kind of vaguely interpreted it as meaning “don’t worry, we have plenty of money to pay you”, but that doesn’t really seem to be the meaning, nor is it an appropriate response to Judas’ statement that he doesn’t want the money. So what’s the real meaning? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2020, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-a-line-from-jesus-christ-superstar/925714/2 "2020-11-16T16:12:15Z")
I imagine that the 30 pieces of silver can go on their expense account—they’ll be reimbursed for whatever they spend on the “Get Jesus!” project. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2020, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-a-line-from-jesus-christ-superstar/925714/3 "2020-11-16T16:13:14Z")
I found these two explanations: But as Jesus said about prideful priests like Caiaphas, “everyone who boasts before God will be taught a lesson; those who approach God humbly are the ones to whom he listens.” A modern corrupt politician would enter such a payment in his ledger (no matter which side he was on) as something like “services rendered”. Caiaphas suggests some similar legalistic sleight of hand: Call it “expenses” not “blood money”. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2020, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-a-line-from-jesus-christ-superstar/925714/4 "2020-11-16T16:16:10Z")
Caiaphas is misunderstanding Judas’ reason for not wanting the money. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2020, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-a-line-from-jesus-christ-superstar/925714/5 "2020-11-16T16:19:07Z")
Now I’m interested in the origin of “cash on the nail.” Has Cecil ever addressed the topic? 🤔 ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2020, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-a-line-from-jesus-christ-superstar/925714/6 "2020-11-16T16:21:24Z")
“There were a lot of drugs in the late 60s” was the explanation I always went with for a lot of the lines in JCS I think it’s supposed to show a disconnect between the ways that Judas and Caiaphas & Annas are looking at the situation and the transaction. And at that point - they think he’s in it for the reward money/bounty. It’s after he refuses it twice, they change tactics about how & why he should take the money. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2020, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-a-line-from-jesus-christ-superstar/925714/7 "2020-11-16T16:27:56Z")
> **[Cash on the nail and cash on the barrelhead](https://grammarist.com/idiom/cash-on-the-nail-and-cash-on-the-barrelhead/)** > > Cash on the nail and cash on the barrelhead are two idioms that mean the same thing but come from very different sources. We will examine the definitions of cash on the nail and cash ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2020, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-a-line-from-jesus-christ-superstar/925714/8 "2020-11-16T16:31:37Z")
Thanks for that link! 👍👌 I knew about “cash on the barrelhead” (I used to do 1800s Living History), but I never would have guessed where “nail” came from. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2020, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-a-line-from-jesus-christ-superstar/925714/9 "2020-11-16T18:00:03Z")
I always just thought of it as the church viewing the killing of Jesus simply as a business transaction, and saying they could readily afford it. Sorta like they were expensing it out of petty cash. When I saw the title, I thought it was going to ask about a jaded faded mandarin! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-a-line-from-jesus-christ-superstar/925714/10 "2020-11-16T18:03:18Z")
The Sanhedrin, not the Church! 😲😉 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2020, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-a-line-from-jesus-christ-superstar/925714/11 "2020-11-16T18:16:09Z")
nevermind ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2020, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-a-line-from-jesus-christ-superstar/925714/12 "2020-11-16T19:51:42Z")
The next line from Caiaphas is “It isn’t blood money; it’s a fee, nothing more.” So yeah, accounting detail. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2020, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-a-line-from-jesus-christ-superstar/925714/13 "2020-11-17T02:22:51Z")
I hadn’t heard of “cash on the nail” until today. There’s probably a double-meaning intended in this use of the idiom, too, if you think about it.