Money Top Ten: Money for Nothing (#3)

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Remember what I said yesterday about the slang term for cigarette in yesterday’s song with “money” in the title? That does NOT apply today. I will tell you the story of this song later in the discussion. Just beware that this is the “unedited” version of this song. And here it is. #3: Money for Nothing - Dire Straits The song originated in a Circuit City, or some store like it. Mark Knopfler was in a store and saw a wall of TVs all tuned to MTV. One of the employees, an Archie Bunker/Al Bundy kind of guy who was angry about his manual labor netting him a few hundred a week while people who “ain’t working” at anything except playing “the guitar on the MTV” being millionaires, was mouthing off to a co-worker with a few of the lines that ended up in the song…including the slur about the lead singer of a band “looking gay.” Knopfler said he used a lot of the exact language that the store employee used, which explains the gay slur. Now, for some interesting tidbits about the video. Since it’s badmouthing the MTV generation, videos are seen within the video. The first one, of course, is “Money for Nothing” itself. The second one, listed as “Baby Baby,” was a Hungarian band named Elso Emelet. Their name means “First Floor,” which was the name of the band in the video. (The song was actually called “Stop or I’ll Shoot!”) The second video, “Sally” by the “Ian Pearson Band,” is totally bogus. As for Sting’s co-authorship, he said his contribution to the song was the part he sang, “I want my MTV,” modeled after the Police hit “Don’t Stand So Close to Me.” Dire Strait’s biggest hit. Guess that was working. Money for Nothing Written by Mark Knopfler and Sting Recorded by Dire Straits From Brothers in Arms, 1985 I shoulda learned to play the gee-tar: