Dire Straits - homophobes?

[Deja Q]

ARTIST: Dire Straits
TITLE: Money for Nothing




I want my, I want my MTV
I want my, I want my MTV

/ Em7 - - A / /

Now look at them yo-yo's, that's the way you do it
You play the guitar on that MTV
That ain't workin', that's the way you do it
Money for nothin' and your chicks for free
Now that ain't workin', that's the way you do it
Lemme tell ya, them guys ain't dumb
Maybe get a blister on your little finger
Maybe get a blister on your thumb

/ Em7 - - - / - - G A / :

{Refrain}
We got to install microwave ovens
Custom kitchen deliveries
We got to move these refrigerators
We got to move these color TV's

/ C - G - / C - D - / Em7 - - - / A - B - C# - - - /

The little faggot with the earring and the makeup
Yeah, buddy, that's his own hair
That little faggot got his own jet airplane
That little faggot he's a millionaire

{Refrain}

I shoulda learned to play the guitar
I shoulda learned to play them drums
Look at that mama, she got it stickin' in the camera
Man we could have some
And he's up there, what's that, Hawaiian noises
Bangin' on the bongos like a chimpanzee
Oh, that ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Get your money for nothin' get your chicks for free

{Refrain}

Now that ain't workin' that's the way you do it
You play the guitar on that MTV
That ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Money for nothin' and your chicks for free

Money for nothin' and chicks for free
I want my, I want my, I want my MTV
{Repeat, ad lib to fade)

[baldguy]

1. Knopfler wrote as a character - not as himself.

From Wikipedia:

The lead character in 'Money for Nothing' is a guy who works in the hardware department in a television/custom kitchen/refrigerator/microwave appliance store. He's singing the song. I wrote the song when I was actually in the store. I borrowed a bit of paper and started to write the song down in the store. I wanted to use a lot of the language that the real guy actually used when I heard him, because it was more real.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_For_Nothing

[Strong Atheist]

8. I heard the same story... don't know if it's true .... nt.

[ComerPerro]

10. Exactly

[donheld]

2. HypnoToad that was a long time ago

I don't think Mark Knoffler ment to be homophobic, but even if he had he may have grown up and changed his ideas.

[khashka]

3. Not homophobic

He wrote as a character. Some of my characters have opinions I find repulsive, that's just the way it goes :)

You could also accuse him of demeaning women - in my experience few of them like being called "chicks".

If he was making fun of anyone, it was the guy he was writing about.

Khash.

[LoZoccolo]

5. Not just a character...

...but one based on someone he actually saw in an appliance store.

[khashka]

9. True

but it's still a character.

Knopfler has said he used what he heard said, including what might be considered offensive. Even MTV required an edit without the word faggot. Personally I found the edit offensive - Knopfler was merely repeating the man's words to make a point. Humourously. It's a funny song - he skewers the guy who was talking, the cult of celebrity, the envy of people who work hard for those for whom everything seems to come easy, MTV - basically anyone he can aim at.

I might have found what the guy said to be homophobic and offensive, but not Knopfler's take on it. I don't know how he feels about homosexuality, but I didn't find this song homophobic at all.

Khash.

[Deja Q]

12. Logical, and thanks for the edification.

I'd read the thread with great interest.

I think I'll stop by the music store tonight...

[jpgray]

13. For a balding, headband-wearing, ugly-voiced Scottish guy

Nothing comes easy. :D

[Left Is Write]

17. That's right.

Knopfler was making fun of the type of guy who would say those things.

[GOPisEvil]

4. I understand M. Knopfler was relaying a conversation he overheard.

So, those are the words of someone else, not his own thoughts.

[LoZoccolo]

6. A funny part of this song.

Look at that mama, she got it stickin' in the camera
Man we could have some

I thought it was:

Look at that mama, she's sickening the cameraman.
Oh we could have some.

And like, I didn't know what the real version was until I saw your post.

[anarch]

7. not really...but the "Dour Straights" are definitely homophobic n/t

[SOteric]

11. No. No more

than Stephen King is a gruesome murderer or Danielle Steele is married to 60 rich men after passionate whirlwind romances.

[skygazer]

21. She's NOT?!

Another illusion smashed. :grr:

[aclog]

14. The term faggot is used as an insult

like asshole. Or motherfucker. I mean, I've called my brother a motherfucker before lol

It doesn't necessarily literally connote you think someone is a homosexual, although it clealy is demeaning to gays

That sounds bad I guess, but its true

[jobycom]

15. I didn't like that part even back then, but I won't judge the whole band

by one phrase. It was a good song, it was a characted's voice in the song. I've used words in stories that I wouldn't use in real life.

On the other hand, it was a choice he made, it influenced a lot of people, and when I use words or stereotypes I don't like, it's always in a way that criticizes the use, like with a negative character using it.

I don't know Knopfler's real views, and I don't know that England has the same sense of "PC" as America. Because of our murderous racist past, I think derogatory names in America have more serious connotations than in England. That's an unscientific impression of mine from watching BBC from time to time, I guess.

[khashka]

16. Trust me....

I grew up in England. There is no less racism there than here. I think most British people find it repulsive... but it exists. Very much so. Try being Pakistani, Indian or West Indian. In the last 30 years things have gotten a lot better - but not good enough.

I think the majority of Britons don't give a good goddamn about racism. But not in a bad way - just that they don't see why people would discrimate against someone based on skin colour or language or cultural heritage. But it surely does exist.

Maybe things are a little worse here ....racism has become so ingrained into the culture. I was just thinking that all the beautiful black women look like dark-skinned white women. And it bothered me. Aren't black women beautiful? And black men? God forbid you have negroid features! The Black Is Beautiful movement never went far enough.

I've lived with discrimination all my life - being told over and over that I am not worthy, not beautiful, not acceptable. I can't compare my experience to that of black people. But I do have a clue. And it makes me furious.

Khash.

[KamaAina]

18. Don't forget he's anti-Hawaiian to boot

What's that? Hawaiian noises?
Ya' bangin' on your bongo like a chimpanzee...

:sarcasm:

[Xithras]

19. Faggot is an interesting word. Like Gay, it didn't used to be about gays.

Faggot actually used to be an insult for dependent women; women who could not survive without men to help them. The meaning gradually changed to mean anyone who was effeminate, scrawny, or weak. Since the popular perception of gays is that they're all effeminate, the word began being used for them, and nowadays is almost exclusively used as an insult for gay people.

When that song was originally written in the mid-80's, a lot of people still used it as a general insult for weak or skinny people. Calling somebody a faggot back then was definitely an insult, but it wasn't synonymous with gay. Times change, meanings change, and words change. It's like Mark Twain and the word ni***r...people get offended when they see it in his books today but often don't realize that it wasn't an offensive word in Twains day.

[skygazer]

22. Missing the point with Twain

Particularly as used in Huckleberry Finn. Every character in the book used the word and it drove home the fact that in those times a black man was simply a non-person, a piece of property. Twain was making a very serious point when he created the character of Jim, the only person Huck meets who is honest, true and a real friend. When Huck reaches his epiphone, the realization that perhaps slavery is wrong and that he's going to help set Jim free, it's a huge step because he's bucking every tradition and law that he's grown up with.

Twain knew exactly what he was doing. In his own way, Knopfler did, too (though I don't credit him with Twain's talent!).

[khashka]

23. Missing the point with Twain redux

Twain knew exactly what he was writing. His use of the word "nigger" was offensive? It was supposed to be! Drive the point home! Make people ashamed of ever hadding said it!

In many ways Twain was not a good man. But in many ways he was a great man.

Khash.

[skygazer]

24. I love Huckleberry Finn

It's one of the most profound and truest books I've ever read. And it wasn't just racial bigotry that Twain took on - he pointed out the idiocy and the absurdity of the entire human condition (things like the lynch mob and the families who'd been having a feud for so long they'd forgotten the original reason for it, not to mention religion) with sly humor and keen vision.

[gizmo1979]

20. I thought he was gay.

[bullwinkle428]

25. I've seen Mark Knopfler perform in concert twice in the last

few years, as a huge (HUGH...OMG) fan of his going well back to the Dire Straits days. He deletes the word "faggot" when playing "Money for Nothing", changing it to "cowboy" (yes, I know, but this was at least a year before the debut of "Brokeback") or "monkey" or "mothertrucker", as in "that little mothertrucker is a millionaire"! If you want an insight into his political views, listen to "Don't Crash the Ambulance" - a stinging depiciton of a possible conversation between Bush Senior & Junior...