Misheard lyrics in Dire Straits' 'Money for Nothing'?

August 1, 2006 11:46 PM

Have I really misheard the lyrics to Dire Straits' Money for Nothing all these years?

Every link I click from a Google search for "money for nothing lyrics" gives me these lines:

And he's up there, what's that? Hawaiian noises?
Bangin' on the bongoes like a chimpanzee
That ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Get your money for nothin' get your chicks for free

I've always heard 'oh, I hear noises', not 'Hawaiian noises' (whatever the hell they are). Am I deaf? Or do lyrics sites just steal everybody else's text, including mistakes?

posted by obiwanwasabi to Media & Arts (27 answers total)

It is 'hawaiian'.
posted by pompomtom at 11:48 PM on August 1, 2006

Yeah, it's "Hawaiian." Knopfler basically cribbed many of the lines from a worker in an appliance store.
posted by Skot at 12:03 AM on August 2, 2006

I vote for "hawaiian" too.
posted by Jimbob at 12:07 AM on August 2, 2006

But, yes, lyrics sites do parasite from each other, as you can easily tell when you find exactly the same ridiculously mistranscribed lyrics on ALL the lyrics sites.
posted by planetkyoto at 12:36 AM on August 2, 2006

oo-wa moo-vah.

I had the albumCD back in the day, and those were the lyrics in the booklet. So to answer your question - yes, you have misheard all this time.

I find it funny that the lyrics say "chimpanzee" because he says something that sounds like "chimp-pets"
posted by O9scar at 12:48 AM on August 2, 2006

I always thought it was Hawaiian oysters. The noises version makes more sense though.
posted by shelleycat at 12:53 AM on August 2, 2006

Isn't it checks for free, not chicks?
posted by Happydaz at 1:04 AM on August 2, 2006

It's chicks, Happydaz.
posted by IndigoRain at 1:38 AM on August 2, 2006

Haha, that would have been a great ad for a bank 20 years ago:)
posted by pantsrobot at 2:03 AM on August 2, 2006

I always heard it as "how are you noises"...
posted by prentiz at 2:03 AM on August 2, 2006

Around 1989 or 1990, I was told by a former resident of the Hawaii that the song was "banned" there because this line was judged so offensive. I suspect that this individual vastly overstated the case and that, at most, a few radio stations declined to play it. Googling "'Money For Nothing' + Hawaii + banned" returns no relevant hits.
posted by Clay201 at 2:10 AM on August 2, 2006

I always heard, "Oh, I hear noises".
posted by LeeJay at 2:29 AM on August 2, 2006

It's hard to imagine a song based on outrage over free checking, so "chicks" would be the more logical answer from a human-nature standpoint, in any case.
posted by mykescipark at 3:01 AM on August 2, 2006

I think the assertion would be that the person in question is being written checks for providing no goods and/or performing no service. A la money for nothing.
posted by ed\26h at 3:04 AM on August 2, 2006

1. I hate hate hate censorship. I hate hate hate it when artists change their work or message because someone is offended. To quote the master of offensive art...

"You find me offensive? I find you offensive
For finding me offensive..."

It does sound like Hawaii music! They do look like chimpanzees and faggots! That's what ignorance thinks! Take the opportunity to educate.

2. This is a great song. What blue collar workers say every day isn't art, but understanding how and what to highlight, bringing out the contrast, adding the texture of reality that ordinary people often miss... that's art.

An idle poet, here and there,
Looks round him, but, for all the rest,
The world, unfathomably fair,
Is duller than a witling's jest.
posted by ewkpates at 3:37 AM on August 2, 2006

Me ears are alight.
posted by DrtyBlvd at 4:59 AM on August 2, 2006

I want my own TV!
posted by staggernation at 5:56 AM on August 2, 2006

Bitter Old Punk: 'Scuse me while I kiss this guy.


obiwanwasabi: you've been mondegreened.
posted by CunningLinguist at 6:31 AM on August 2, 2006

Excuse me while I kiss this guy.

(The link's a great database of misheard lyrics. You should submit this.)
posted by slimepuppy at 7:34 AM on August 2, 2006

Scuse me while I get disguised.

Mondegreens represent!
posted by cortex at 7:35 AM on August 2, 2006

Dire Straits - Money for Nothing

That little faggot got his own jet airplane!

Definitely a "w" sound on the Hawaiian noises.
posted by geoff. at 8:06 AM on August 2, 2006

That's a great link slimepuppy.

I've always really liked the "and the chicks for free" line and think it's funny so many people misheard it as something banking related.
posted by CunningLinguist at 8:11 AM on August 2, 2006

Heh. I've always heard it as "whining" noises.
posted by deborah at 2:25 PM on August 2, 2006

I hear the W sound - it's just that in Australia, "oh I hear noises" is pronounced "o-wi-hear-noises", with a 'w' sound joining the "oh" and "I". I guess "o-wi-ear" sounds like "Hawaii". Thanks everybody.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 5:57 PM on August 2, 2006

I always thought it was "her whinin' noises", because in the video at the point they sing that lyric the character is commenting on/gesturing to a female singer's video.
posted by Melinika at 9:15 PM on August 2, 2006

It's "Hawaiian noises".

I find it funny that the lyrics say "chimpanzee" because he says something that sounds like "chimp-pets"

I think that line made Knopfler laugh, so you're hearing him chuckle while he's singing "chimpanzee".
posted by Devils Slide at 5:13 AM on August 3, 2006

I've always really liked the "and the chicks for free" line and think it's funny so many people misheard it as something banking related.

Read the post bawbag.
posted by ed\26h at 5:25 PM on August 3, 2006