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'Homophobic' Dire Straits hit Money For Nothing banned from radio... 26 years after its release
Daily Mail ^ | 01/14/2011 | Liz Thomas

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 ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: canada; direstraights; direstraits; extremelygay; homophobia; homosexualagenda; justfoundout; moneyfornothing
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To: Reo

The live version I saw at Red Rocks in September of 1985, without altered lyrics, was better.

61 posted on 01/14/2011 9:34:36 AM PST by A.A. Cunningham (Barry Soetoro is a Kenyan communist)
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To: TXnMA
What about the term "Turd Burglar"? Can we use "Turd Burglar"?
62 posted on 01/14/2011 9:35:12 AM PST by Oberon (Big Brutha Be Watchin'.)
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To: panaxanax

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.)


63 posted on 01/14/2011 9:41:22 AM PST by dangus ("The floor of Hell is paved with the skulls of bishops" -- St. John Crysostom ("the Golden-Mouthed"))
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To: justrepublican
The first time I heard the song I installed 600 yards of carpet in 18 hours, in a huge room, boombox full out. Played it over and over.

#1

Exactly.

64 posted on 01/14/2011 9:59:16 AM PST by rdb3 (The mouth is the exhaust pipe of the heart.)
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To: Oberon
Not to mention that song itself vindicates the "faggot" in question... say what you like about him, that little "faggot" is a millionaire. So who's the fool... the "faggot" with the earring and the makeup, or the guy schlepping refrigerators and color TVs all day?

Then you think a rich porn star is the pinnacle of a successful life?

65 posted on 01/14/2011 10:24:23 AM PST by donna (Political Correctness is cultural Marxism - Marxism translated from economic into cultural terms.)
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To: Oberon; Alamo-Girl; betty boop
Use whatever suits you. It's your pen/keyboard.

In case you haven't guessed...

  1. I believe in the First Amendment. (It's in the Constitution.)

  2. I don't believe in "the right to NOT be offended". (It's NOT in the Constitution.)

  3. I abhor anyone who befouls a perfectly good word by using it as a euphemism for a perversion.

  4. I have no space on my planet for those who try to force acceptance of that which has been evil since the dawn of civilization as "good".

  5. I have no space on my planet for those who try to defile that which has been the ethical foundation of civilization since the dawn of time (marriage and the family).

  6. I propose a place for those in 3-5, above: 100 miles from the surface of the Earth (either direction).

  7. I have less than zero use for "Political Correctness" -- in any form.

Any questions?

66 posted on 01/14/2011 10:26:57 AM PST by TXnMA ("Allah": Satan's current alias...)
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To: SeekAndFind

Nowadays it’s tame. But I see your point. Probably not.


67 posted on 01/14/2011 10:31:40 AM PST by Colonel_Flagg ("I'd rather lose fighting for the right cause than win fighting for the wrong cause." - Jim DeMint)
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To: SeekAndFind
"The decision came after a listener complained ..."

It takes only 1 complaint from a leftist to get speech banned.

68 posted on 01/14/2011 10:41:34 AM PST by UnwashedPeasant (Don't nuke me, bro)
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To: panaxanax

That song is a classic. It will always remind me of my first semester in law school. It was everywhere. Great memories.


69 posted on 01/14/2011 10:51:13 AM PST by Buckeye Battle Cry (Conservatives want a CHOICE not an echo - No more RINOs!)
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To: SeekAndFind

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.”


70 posted on 01/14/2011 11:00:27 AM PST by UnwashedPeasant (Don't nuke me, bro)
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To: donna
Then you think a rich porn star is the pinnacle of a successful life?

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.

71 posted on 01/14/2011 11:03:21 AM PST by Oberon (Big Brutha Be Watchin'.)
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To: Oberon

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.


72 posted on 01/14/2011 11:15:06 AM PST by donna (Political Correctness is cultural Marxism - Marxism translated from economic into cultural terms.)
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To: donna
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.

73 posted on 01/14/2011 11:25:34 AM PST by Oberon (Big Brutha Be Watchin'.)
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To: donna
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.

74 posted on 01/14/2011 11:25:42 AM PST by Oberon (Big Brutha Be Watchin'.)
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To: UnwashedPeasant

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.


75 posted on 01/14/2011 11:35:24 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: VanDeKoik
Too true.

New edition of 'Huckleberry Finn' to lose the N-word
76 posted on 01/14/2011 12:17:28 PM PST by Kozak ("It's not an Election it's a Restraining Order" .....PJ O'Rourke)
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To: raccoonradio

He’s gay??


77 posted on 01/14/2011 1:02:17 PM PST by POWERSBOOTHEFAN (Fear can hold you prisoner.Hope can set you free.(Shawshank Redemption))
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To: SeekAndFind; Tax-chick

No big deal; I own the album.


78 posted on 01/14/2011 1:35:32 PM PST by Anoreth (....a fetid behemoth of toxic pustules oozing all over the basement....)
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To: Anoreth

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.


79 posted on 01/14/2011 2:10:36 PM PST by Tax-chick (The gifts we have, we are given to share.)
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To: SeekAndFind

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.


80 posted on 01/14/2011 3:36:51 PM PST by virgil
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