"Money for Nothing" censored in Canada

[Chaser001]

http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2011/01/12/16865021.html

[uwe]

What have we come to?  

Knopfler doesn't like to play the song anymore (unlike other Dire Straits oldies) and I always thought the muisc as ham-fisted as the lyrics (with the riff owing a generous nod to DP's Woman from Tokyo). The song didn't swing and Dire Straits without swing is pretty much a useless exercise for me.

The lyrics I always thought embarrassing for another reason: Obviously, Knopfler overheard a conversation by furniture movers and it stung him because he felt unappreciated for the work he put in his career. But his reaction was arrogant, clumsy and devoid of very little insight of how darn privileged he was with the Dire Straits success. Other people work hard too with less success. In my world, you don't make aloof jokes about furniture movers shaking their heads at your personal wealth. And from someone who was a school teacher I would have perhaps expected a less cynical treatment of the subject. He was certainly no Ray Davies with that lyric. And another popstar multi-millionaire/ex-teacher (Herr Summer) joining in at the end to add to the ridicule pretty much topped it off for me.

That said, Knopfler can be funny "Two men say they're Jesus, one of them must be wrong!":



and can paint a picture with words:




MFN (ATCFF) was obviously written in 10 minutes and on a bad day.

[GonzoBass]

We get the edited version on the radio here.
Have for years and years now.

[uwe]

That is just plain silly.

[ack1961]

Telegraph Rd., to me, is one of the finest songs ever written.
I must've read the lyrics sheet about a thousand times, and it never ceases to hit a nerve.

Money for Nothing on the other hand...a total waste of his talent.
I agree - adding Sting just punctuated the stupidity of it all.

[Dave W]

It's stupid, but nowhere near as stupid as censoring Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn.

The merits of the song have nothing to do with it.

[uwe]

The Mark Twain thing was a subject in German papers too. Political correctness at its worst.

So with "nigger" gone, is "A-rabs" still allowed?

While we're at it we should get rid of the word "moor" in Othello and "Shylock" in The Merchant of Venice should be called "X, a person of either gender and unknown etnicity and religious beliefs". Pippi Longstocking's dad isn't gonna be "negro king" very much longer either. Porgy and Bess is no "negro opera". Martin Luther King never used the word "negro man" and and there was never a movement of black consciousness in French Africa called "négritude" either.

You may still call me kraut though!

[Highlander]

... sometimes a sour-Kraut...?

Can you still give someone a black-look...?

... and heaven help reruns of minstrel shows; Al Johnson will never be seen again...

[Basvarken]

I've always hated Money For Nothing. Stupid uninspired mumbling vocals of Knopfler.
In fact I dislike all Dire Straits songs  

But not as much as my brother maybe...

On my brother's wedding there was a DJ providing the music for the party that was held on a big sail boat in the middle of the IJsselmeer.
My brother and his wife had a list of songs they like and they went through the repertoire with the DJ a few days prior to the wedding.
They had also made a black list. Artists they did not want to hear on their wedding party; Celine Dion, Frans Bauer etc etc. And Dire Straits.

That evening all guest were on deck dancing, drinking, having a good time. The DJ was spinning records, when all of a sudden the intro of Money For Nothing blasted out of the speakers... I have never seen my brother run so fast (with that much alcohol in his system). He flew to the turntable and summoned the DJ to end that song NOW.  
It was a close call. A few more bars of that song and the party would have been dead...

[exiledarchangel]

Telegraph Rd., to me, is one of the finest songs ever written.
I must've read the lyrics sheet about a thousand times, and it never ceases to hit a nerve.

Money for Nothing on the other hand...a total waste of his talent.
I agree - adding Sting just punctuated the stupidity of it all.

Couldn't agree more. Some years ago, a greek music mag had started to pictorialize lyrics of famous rock songs to look like a comic book. They have done "In the name of love" by U2, "riders on the storm" by Doos and some others. But their best work was on "Telegraph road". Oh man, what a song.

[GonzoBass]

...but now that you mention it?

I believe our version here also edits the line,
"Look at that mama,
she got it stickin' it in the camera.
Man, we could have some ____."

Seems to me that I recall him saying "fun" there at one time.
No?

We also get,
"...funky kicks goin' down in the city"
for Steve Miller's "Jet Airliner" too.

How about The Who's,
"Who the f*** are you?"
That one got by for a long time
but I even hear that one edited out to silence now too.

I've always wondered about my fave-

How long before someone finally catches the classic by Brian Adams
where he states at the fade out ending of "Summer of '69",
"Me and my baby, 69"?

[uwe]

Herr Adams has confirmed that the Summer of 69 did not take place in 1969 at all and that the number combination alluded to something entirely else.

[Highlander]

How on earth did the BBC ban eight miles high and let walk on the wild side stroll straight through...

[GonzoBass]

Oh the list we could compile...

From "The Lemon Song" to "Afternoon Delight".

[OldManC]

Obviously, Knopfler overheard a conversation by furniture movers and it stung him because he felt unappreciated for the work he put in his career. But his reaction was arrogant, clumsy and devoid of very little insight of how darn privileged he was with the Dire Straits success.

Judging from Knopfler's hairline even with the first release I doubt that part of the song was autobiographical. Then again, maybe that's why he sounds so pissed off. 

As for the censoring and PC climate we have now where some people can use words that others can't, having grown up hearing the "N" word used liberally on (some) sitcoms, comedy albums, and everyday life, I find the outrage it seems to inspire among some just a bit manufactured (especially when it's OK for some to use the word and not others). I avoid using many words as a matter of principle but I have an issue as soon as someone else decides whether I can or whether my kids should be sllowed to read classic literature that happens to include some of those words.