The live version I saw at Red Rocks in September of 1985, without altered lyrics, was better.
Posted on 01/14/2011 8:18:35 AM PST by SeekAndFind
It may be a classic rock song but 26 years after it was first released Dire Straits hit Money For Nothing has been banned from radio.
The song was ruled too offensive for the airwaves in Canada because it contains the word 'f****t' and can now no longer be played in its original form.
Any station that wants to play the song will have to edit it or disguise the word, according to ruling by the Canadian Broadcasts Standards Council.
The decision came after a listener complained that the broadcast of unedited version of the song – which mentions the word three times – was 'extremely offensive' to gay, lesbian and bisexual people.
The songs second verse contains the offensive word three times. It says: ‘The little 'f****t' with the earring and the makeup. Yeah, buddy, that’s his own hair'
‘That little 'f****t's' got his own jet airplane. That little 'f****t' he’s a millionaire'.
The entire verse is edited out of some versions of the song, or the word is simply replaced.
The council concluded that 'f****t'. when used to describe a homosexual man, is a word 'that, even if entirely or marginally acceptable in earlier days, is no longer so.'
'The societal values at issue a quarter century later have shifted and the broadcast of the song in 2010 must reflect those values, rather than those of 1985.'
Co-written in 1985 by Mark Knopfler and Sting, Money For Nothing is penned from the perspective of a working class man who spends his time watching music videos and comments on what he sees.
In an interview with Rolling Stone around the time the song was released Knopfler said: ‘I got an objection from the editor of a gay newspaper in London - he actually said it was 'below the belt.'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
The live version I saw at Red Rocks in September of 1985, without altered lyrics, was better.
Is the song it’s accidentally based on still acceptable? (It’s about a teacher trying to avoid the temptation to have sex with his young pupil.)
Young teacher, the subject
of schoolgirl fantasy
She wants him so badly,
knows what she wants to be
Inside her there’s longing
This girl’s an open page
Book marking - she’s so close now;
this girl is half his age
Don’t stand, don’t stand so don’t stand so close to me
Her friends are so jealous;
you know how bad girls get
Sometimes it’s not so easy
to be the teacher’s pet
Temptation, frustration
so bad it makes him cry
Wet bus stop, she’s waiting;
his car is warm and dry
Don’t stand, don’t stand so
Don’t stand so close to me
Loose talk in the classroom,
to hurt they try and try
Strong words in the staffroom;
the accusations fly
It’s no use, he sees her;
he starts to shake and cough
just like the old man in
that book by Nabokov
Don’t stand, don’t stand so Don’t stand so close to me
Don’t stand, don’t stand so Don’t stand so close to me
(The melody of the refrain is the same; that’s why Sting, the composer, sings Dire Straits’ refrain.)
#1
Exactly.
Then you think a rich porn star is the pinnacle of a successful life?
In case you haven't guessed...
Any questions?
Nowadays it’s tame. But I see your point. Probably not.
It takes only 1 complaint from a leftist to get speech banned.
That song is a classic. It will always remind me of my first semester in law school. It was everywhere. Great memories.
The FCC should require us to use a browser that automatically replaces offensive words with words that unite us.
It could replace angry white hate speech with Obama quotes.
For example, “unalienable rights” could be replaced with “get in their faces.”
Why on earth would you think that?
Oddly enough, the "little faggot" on MTV most likely isn't even gay in the MFN scenario... the earring and the makeup are part of a show business persona adopted for the music videos. Your average construction crew doesn't necessarily get this, and from my exposure to such crews I can tell you that the term they would adopt for such a character is nailed dead-on in the Dire Straits song.
Don't construe my answer to mean any more than that, or any endorsement of any lifestyle. In interpreting the song it's important to remember that Knopfler is in fact a rock star, and he wrote the song to remind his self-pitying rock start brethren that as a group they really do have it easy.
After all, they could be installing microwave ovens for a living.
I said it because you said “that little “faggot” is a millionaire. So who’s the fool...”
You said “the guy schlepping refrigerators and color TVs all day...” Refrigerator guy hasn’t prostituted his morals for money.
That's my perspective, but not the perspective of your typical construction crewman.
And it does not follow that one must be a prostitute if one is homosexual, i.e. a "little faggot." That may or may not be true of rock stars.
That's my perspective, but not the perspective of your typical construction crewman.
And it does not follow that one must be a prostitute if one is homosexual, i.e. a "little faggot." That may or may not be true of rock stars.
RE: It takes only 1 complaint from a leftist to get speech banned.
Yes, and only 1 complaint from an atheistic parent to get God out of schools.
He’s gay??
No big deal; I own the album.
I used to have it on vinyl ... sold it in Norman when I sold my Steve Earle collection and other stuff that’s probably worth a lot now.
I heard Money for Nothing on the radio a few months ago. The reference to “faggots” was edited out. I don’t remember what they replaced it with. I think it was a station in Milwaukee.
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