Songfacts®:

• The first track on Arkells third album, High Noon, is reminiscent of the song "Deadlines" that begins their critically acclaimed and commercially successful 2008 debut album, Jackson Square. In our interview with Arkells lead singer and guitarist, Max Kerman, he called "Fake Money" a "Deadlines: Part 2" because of their similar themes.
• The band wanted to come out swinging with this tune on High Noon and showcase that at their core they are still a five-piece rock and roll band. "Fake Money" is Arkells first "protest song" and meant to be a fist-pumper.
  
  The song is about people in the position of power such as business men and investment bankers who control money. They can sometimes act recklessly with other people’s money treating it like a fun game. They can behave like children with money causing disastrous outcomes rather than responsibly handling it. The opening verse of the song displays this meaning well:
  
  Oh, you're just a boy
  A little banker boy
  Everything's a game
  Now everyone's your toy
• The title of the album was partly inspired by the 1952 western film High Noon starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly because of the cinematic theme of the album. The title was taken from a lyric in "Fake Money" when Kerman sings, "You're some cowboy at high noon."
  
  In our interview with Kerman, he explained the meaning behind the title of the record, "I think at high noon there is a moment of complication and there should be some clarity after the fact. A lot of these songs are trying to provide that clarity."