Comments on: Misheard lyrics in Dire Straits' 'Money for Nothing'?

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

obiwanwasabi — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 23:46:34 -0800

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?

By: pompomtom

pompomtom — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 23:48:33 -0800

It is 'hawaiian'.

By: Skot

Skot — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 00:03:45 -0800

Yeah, it's "Hawaiian." Knopfler basically cribbed many of the lines from a worker in an appliance store.

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 00:07:36 -0800

I vote for "hawaiian" too.

By: planetkyoto

planetkyoto — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 00:36:53 -0800

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.

By: O9scar

O9scar — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 00:48:40 -0800

oo-wa moo-vah.

I had the ~~album~~CD 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"

By: shelleycat

shelleycat — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 00:53:13 -0800

I always thought it was Hawaiian oysters. The noises version makes more sense though.

By: Happydaz

Happydaz — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 01:04:24 -0800

Isn't it checks for free, not chicks?

By: IndigoRain

IndigoRain — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 01:38:00 -0800

It's chicks, Happydaz.

By: pantsrobot

pantsrobot — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 02:03:18 -0800

Haha, that would have been a great ad for a bank 20 years ago:)

By: prentiz

prentiz — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 02:03:32 -0800

I always heard it as "how are you noises"...

By: Clay201

Clay201 — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 02:10:44 -0800

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.

By: LeeJay

LeeJay — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 02:29:56 -0800

I always heard, "Oh, I hear noises".

By: mykescipark

mykescipark — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 03:01:13 -0800

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.

By: ed\26h

ed\26h — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 03:04:30 -0800

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.

By: ewkpates

ewkpates — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 03:37:11 -0800

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.

By: DrtyBlvd

DrtyBlvd — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 04:59:35 -0800

Me ears are alight.

By: staggernation

staggernation — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 05:56:02 -0800

I want my own TV!

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 06:31:31 -0800

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

obiwanwasabi: you've been mondegreened.

By: slimepuppy

slimepuppy — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 07:34:35 -0800

Excuse me while I kiss this guy.

(The link's a great database of misheard lyrics. You should submit this.)

By: cortex

cortex — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 07:35:24 -0800

Scuse me while I get disguised.

Mondegreens represent!

By: geoff.

geoff. — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 08:06:50 -0800

Dire Straits - Money for Nothing

That little faggot got his own jet airplane!

Definitely a "w" sound on the Hawaiian noises.

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 08:11:08 -0800

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.

By: deborah

deborah — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 14:25:23 -0800

Heh. I've always heard it as "whining" noises.

By: obiwanwasabi

obiwanwasabi — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 17:57:26 -0800

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.

By: Melinika

Melinika — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 21:15:21 -0800

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.

By: Devils Slide

Devils Slide — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 05:13:43 -0800

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".

By: ed\26h

ed\26h — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 17:25:34 -0800

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.