Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing" Censored by the local classic rock station...

105.9 FM ^ | 2/18/14 | sff

[SoFloFreeper]

105.9 FM is the local classic rock station in south Florida.....just a few minutes ago, I was bored with everything else on the radio and hit that station...just in time to hear the beginning of the hit "Money for Nothing"...

Imagine my surprise when the lyric got to: "That little faggot with the earring and the mink coat, Yeah, buddy, thats his own hair. That little faggot got his own jet airplane. That little faggot is a millionaire!"

Funny lines....but the dreaded "slur" was clipped out! Absurd.

Anyway, since I RARELY listen to music radio, I was wondering if this song has been suffering from the politically correct hacks for a long time? Or is it just a phenomenon of the rabidly liberal Miami media?

[Political Junkie Too]

Sounds like they don't want to get caught up in any of that of funky [kicks] going down in the city.

-PJ

[TalBlack]

It’s only fair that they edit out ‘faggot’, I mean they don’t stand for “cracker” Or “honky” Right...?

[boop]

Oops, in Hot Legs Stewart says "now you're pu$$y's whipped".

My mistake.

[Ransomed]

Not on the radio, but I do recall hearing it on HBOs Eastbound and Down.

Freegards

[raccoonradio]

Kids’ radio show, Kids America, took Steve Martin’s hit King Tut:

“Buried with a donkey, he’s my favorite honky”
And changed the last part to (a repeat of when Steve sings)
“Did you do the Monkey (dance)?”

Old American Top 40 shows are being re-aired. A friend in LA recorded KOLA’s rebroadcasting of one show (they originally were sent to stations on vinyl and more recently got transferred to CD-R). Casey played the Isley Bros. hit “Fight the Power”—complete with the line “with all this bulls—t coming down”. There it was. No edit. Even back then...

[SamAdams76]

I have the original "Brothers In Arms" CD from around 1985 so the MP3s I ripped from it still have the original lyrics.

There have always been nervous nellies worried about rock and roll lyrics. Back in the 1960s, way before Tipper Gore, much fuss was make over the Rolling Stones song "Let's Spend The Night Together" and were in fact forced by Ed Sullivan to sing "Let's Spend Some Time Together." Rather lame.

Even an innocuous song like "I Want To Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles had a little controversy because some people (including Bob Dylan) thought they were singing "I Get High" instead of "I Can't Hide" in the lyrics. The Beatles of course went on to record "(I Get High) With A Little Help From Our Friends" which caused many people to get into a snit.

In my experience, bringing attention to a rock song on account of it's lyrical content invariably boosts it's appeal to the young kids.

In fact, during Tipper Gore days, when she was furiously affixing warning labels to record albums that featured racy or offensive lyrical content, the sales of those recording would usually rocket.

In fact, it became such a badge of honor for an up-and-coming band to sport the Tipper Gore label on their recordings that they would intentionally insert controversial lyrics into their songs in order to earn the coveted Tipper label.

[Texan5]

The classic rick station I listen to doesn’t even censor Pink Floyd’s “Money”, or “Black Betty” or even-gasp-this one-
“Gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields,
Sold in a market down in New Orleans.
Scarred old slaver know he’s doing alright.
Hear him whip the women just around midnight.
Ah brown sugar, how come you taste so good?
Ah brown sugar, just like a young girl should”.

And I won’t put the rest of it here, because I don’t know if there are those who get offended here or not-but I think censorship is evil...

[castlegreyskull]

I heard this before, and he just plays a guitar chords through it, instead of the “little faggot” part. I think it happens about 1/3 of the time I hear it on the radio.

[headless_thompson_gunner]

So, roll the dice and turn him on to Celine Dion. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.

[fieldmarshaldj]

GAY.

[blam]

I’m 70 years old and my son told me recently that calling someone a ‘commie’ wasn’t cool anymore.

[Texan5]

I don’t see what the problem is with people listening to what they like-I don’t like rap, but I don’t care if someone else does-I like heavy metal and hard rock, but I don’t expect to be ragged on for listening to it...

[Texan5]

Seriously? I didn’t get that memo-so what do they get called now? Bolsheviks? F’n Marxists?

The contractor I work for yells “Communist!” and bangs his fists on something if he gets pissed on a jobsite where there are people to hear besides our crew-if there are no others, however, he just lets fly...

[Texan5]

MrT5 gleefully pointed out the last line in “Hot Legs” to me when we were driving someplace-I’d never noticed it either...

[SamAdams76]

What's ironic is that when I was growing up, my parents never tried to censor anything from me. In fact, my father even showed me where he kept his Playboy magazines when I was about 12 years old (I'd go to jail for that today). I grew up watching, listening to and reading whatever I wanted. My mother believed that so long as I was reading something, it was a good thing. Didn't matter if it was MAD Magazine or some trashy sexually explicit dime-store novel.

Yet I grew up to be rather conservative. Never took drugs and didn't have sex until I was married. I also almost never curse, don't keep pornography of any kind in the house and I'm very selective about what is shown on my television. No video games of any kind either. If my sons wanted to watch trashy TV or play Nintendo, they had to go over somebody else's house.

Yet many kids I grew up with, who had helicopter parents forbidding them to do this and to do that grew up to have all sorts of issues.

Makes me wonder whether all this censorship makes any difference at all.

[Iscool]

I’m 70 years old and my son told me recently that calling someone a ‘commie’ wasn’t cool anymore.

Yep...They have succeeded in brainwashing them...

[Oliviaforever]

You may need to read the actual lyrics.

[VerySadAmerican]

I just pointed out to my wife that Dire Straights changed the words. Mark Knoffler has been singing a “different tune” for years. I don’t think he says “chimpanzee” either.

[Texan5]

Censoring makes it worse-the thrill of the forbidden...

I was brought up in a conservative family, in the boonies. My parents never censored, either-we were taught not to swear in other places, not to use slang in public, etc of course. My parents listened to rock and roll, and taught us to dance. We were taught how to politely drink wine or beer on special occasions as teens, but we knew better than to ever drink anywhere but at home and family parties. That would get my parents sent to jail today...

When I was 9 or 10, my mom was reading “Peyton Place”, found out I’d been doing a clandestine read of the book when she wasn’t home because I left the bit of notebook paper I was using to mark my place when I put it back in the bookcase. All she did was ask me very gently if I understood what I was reading about-my place that was marked was where the cad Rodney practically raped a girl with graphic language and detail-and I said I did not.

[mikeus_maximus]

Saw Mark Knopfler at Chastain Park just a few years ago. The crowd was great and was waiting all night for him to play it.

He never did. He’s apparently gone PC. It was very disappointing.