'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 15 Nov 20 - 12:35 PM

Why should calling the Democratic Party "the Democrat party" be a way to get under the skin of any Democrat? What's the difference, and where's the reason to be offended?

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 14 Nov 20 - 08:15 PM

The artist's take:

“In a late 1985 interview in Rolling Stone magazine, Knopfler expressed mixed feelings on the controversy:

    "I got an objection from the editor of a gay newspaper in London – he actually said it was below the belt. Apart from the fact that there are stupid gay people as well as stupid other people, it suggests that maybe you can't let it have so many meanings – you have to be direct. In fact, I'm still in two minds as to whether it's a good idea to write songs that aren't in the first person, to take on other characters. The singer in "Money for Nothing" is a real ignoramus, hard hat mentality – somebody who sees everything in financial terms. I mean, this guy has a grudging respect for rock stars. He sees it in terms of, well, that's not working and yet the guy's rich: that's a good scam. He isn't sneering."

    By this he most likely means that the so called "Fa****" knows what he is doing and has a life of luxury, not meaning at all a racial slur. Not withstanding, it might seem controversial, but instead is a tribute to the credit of the LGBTQIA community, especially in rock and roll.” [song wiki]

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 14 Nov 20 - 08:12 PM

I have had it with these monkey-fighting snakes on this Monday-to-Friday plane! (See my previous.)

The album cut runs 8:20+, it has an extended intro and outro and three (3) faggots in the second verse. This is the song the CBSC 'banned.' Problem being it's not licensed for airplay pretty much anywhere on the planet. Pity, the guitar work in the last 1:50 is first rate headphone listening.

The radio edit is trimmed down to an MTV friendly 4:00 and the problematic verse is dropped altogether*. This is also the standard music video cut.

Pants first… then shoes. Everybody involved, from offended consumer to bureaucrat knew the album lyrics and had an opinion about them but, obviously, had never once during the entire process listened to the actual product the record company licensed for radio airplay.

CBSC banned the radio edit for offensive lyrics it did not have. Never mind anybody's opinion of them. There was never anything there to have an 'official' opinion of in the first place.


* Chicks not included.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: robomatic
Date: 14 Nov 20 - 04:09 PM

Well, there are some singers who have modified earlier songs or simply left verses out of them.

Randy Newman I don't know if he has modified "Rednecks" or not. And I haven't heard the song "Short People" on the radio in ages, but that doesn't mean much.

Meanwhile, the right wingers including politicians have developed a way to get under Democratic skins for some time now: truncating the name of the Democratic Party to "Democrat Party". I used to notice it every time they did it, but now I'm beginning to ear-adapt to it and I believe it has crept into usage by those who do not mean to offend, just because they've heard it so many times.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 14 Nov 20 - 11:35 AM

And the Dixie Chicks will always be the Dixie Chicks!!!

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: Thompson
Date: 13 Nov 20 - 09:33 AM

And me thinking it was "chicks for free" that offended!

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 13 Nov 20 - 06:32 AM

Interesting that Money for Nothing is not on the list - showing what stupid pc idiots the Canadians are, they should stick to being lumberjacks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 13 Nov 20 - 06:30 AM

Here is a List of songs banned by the BBC!!

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 13 Nov 20 - 02:13 AM

But the guitar sound is wonderful, all those harmonics, the words are irrelevant.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: Jeri
Date: 12 Nov 20 - 09:43 AM

Wow.
This is an ancient thread.

This has been a non-issue since 2011.

Some people are way too into the whole "recreational offendedness" trip, but whatever...

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 12 Nov 20 - 08:36 AM

Well, if it's in song lyrics, it should not be allowed in a play or movie. Ironically, the character in the song using the word "faggot" is depected as an idiot.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: robomatic
Date: 17 Jul 19 - 03:32 PM

Oh, and let's not forget Randy Newman's immortal "Short People" or my favorite United Nations Promo: "Political Science".

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: robomatic
Date: 17 Jul 19 - 03:27 PM

I am all for absolute freedom of expression - until I am offended.

I don't think I saw the origin of this thread, I remember the MTV primitive but funny and endearing animated version of the song not long after it came out.

I remember the word from my youth, tough I didn't hear it often in any of its meanings: the original bit of wood, the allusion to a cigarette, or the pejorative.

What's on my tiny mind is the moving target nature of the offense. An earlier posting mentioned that the radio version of the song does not contain the offending word.

I have in mind that its so easy to offend or allude by simply using good old plain non-offensive words. How about the Rolling Stones' song "Some Girls" which had a line: "Black girls just want to **** all night, honey I don't have that much jam!" On a "Saturday Night Live" Garrett Morris did a number where he asked the Stones where did they find such girls...he wanted to know.

I also have a warm memory of singing "Imagine" in a chorus in a chu)rch all friendly even though the lyric contains "and no religion, too".

And personally I'd like to find a substitute for the term "Indian giver" because it shows up in a lyric I really like, otherwise: Gordon Bok's "Little River" (It is not Gordon Bok's lyric, he set a poem to music and the poem contains the line)

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 17 Jul 19 - 02:01 PM

Of course, Mark - in the lyrics -is simply quoting what an idiot in a shop is saying.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: meself
Date: 15 Jul 19 - 12:01 PM

I'm disappointed in Yuri Gagarin, but I suppose he was just saying what he had been told to say.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 15 Jul 19 - 07:26 AM

If I was gay, I'd have sense to tolerate certain words in art and songs
if I felt sure they were not intended maliciously.
I would certainly make those allowances for creative works written in the less enlightened past,
when such words were more acceptable in normal everyday common use.

If I was a member of any minority - ditto...

Actually I am, and do...

I get more annoyed by self indulgently over-censorious folks who are too hyper-sensitive and quick to take offence.
Particularly when they are not members of the minority they are being offended on behalf of...

My sister was an LGBTQ+ and disabled rights activist.
She was so full of her own self-importance, so fanatical,
she became utterly obnoxious as a human being.
A complete stereotype, more of a liability and harm to her causes than she would ever accept...
As a close member of family, I knew her history of mental health issues
underlying her unforgiving public persona and zealotry...

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 15 Jul 19 - 06:37 AM

And here's another volte-face. Announced today; computer pioneer and codebreaker Alan Turing will feature on the new design of the Bank of England's £50 note. Can't say that I've ever seen a £50 note!

Bank of England governor Mark Carney said, "As the father of computer science and artificial intelligence, as well as war hero, Alan Turing's contributions were far ranging and path breaking. Turing is a giant on whose shoulders so many now stand."

In 2013, he was given a posthumous royal pardon for his 1952 conviction for gross indecency following which he was chemically castrated. He had been arrested after having an affair with a 19-year-old Manchester man.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 15 Jul 19 - 05:59 AM

Oops. That was me.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Jul 19 - 05:57 AM

"...learning that alternative versions of “Money For Nothing” have existed since 1985,...”

“...and the context in which the word is used demonstrates that “the composer’s language appears not to have had an iota of malevolent or insulting intention.”

Radio Edits "...often come with any necessary censorship done to conform to decency standards imposed by government agencies.”

Translation: “We incorrectly banned the wrong song.” Oopsy.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 15 Jul 19 - 04:32 AM

From a Guardian reader, Raghu Shetty;

Aged 18, I met the world's first spaceman, Yuri Gagarin at Bombay University.

I asked him: "What did you see below from the spacecraft?"

He said: "Nothing much except the clouds of injustice."

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: Mrrzy
Date: 14 Jul 19 - 11:03 PM

Ya learn something new every day.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: meself
Date: 14 Jul 19 - 10:59 PM

... yeah ... except no one was thrown into prison over this one ... or fined ... or - anything, much .......

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: GUEST,Starship
Date: 14 Jul 19 - 08:42 PM

' He was jailed in Mona, Utah, for vagrancy and for singing "Foggy Dew", which the authorities decided was a bawdy song. ' Somewhere near 1930.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: GUEST,Nick Dow
Date: 14 Jul 19 - 07:53 PM

They (not sure exactly who) threw Burl Ives into prison for 30 days for singing The Foggy Dew. Check it out on Wikipedia. The more things change the more they stay the same.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: meself
Date: 14 Jul 19 - 03:53 PM

' proving “the band and the composer considered that there was a less offensive way of presenting the song to the public long ago”'

Now if I were prosecutor and this were a criminal case, I would call that "consciousness of guilt"!

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 14 Jul 19 - 01:49 PM

But I've heard it done live there more than once. What gives?

This just in! (Sept., '11)

Repealed!
"The new decision was based on what CBSC calls “considerable additional information” – such as learning that alternative versions of “Money For Nothing” have existed since 1985, proving “the band and the composer considered that there was a less offensive way of presenting the song to the public long ago” and the context in which the word is used demonstrates that “the composer’s language appears not to have had an iota of malevolent or insulting intention.”

You don't want to sound dumb, don't want to offend
So don't call me a faggot
Not unless you are a friend
Then if you're tall and handsome and strong
You can wear the uniform and I could play along.
[Joe Jackson, Real Men]

Stumbled across this gem searching for "dire straits" nautical folklore. Oh Canada!

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: PHJim
Date: 24 Jan 11 - 04:21 PM

"The only valid censorship of ideas is the right of people not to listen." (Tommy Smothers)

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: PHJim
Date: 24 Jan 11 - 03:53 PM

The ban only applies to stations that are members of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Commission, which is not a government agency. In fact, the CBC, a coast to coast government owned radio station played the song at least two times while reporting the Canadian Broadcast Standards Commission's ban. Canadians can still listen to the song, just not on radio stations that belong to the CBSC.
Just as anyone can still read and buy new copies of the Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, just not in the edition that has been abridged.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: gnu
Date: 24 Jan 11 - 03:22 PM

Smedley... "As for me accusing gnu of being anti-gay, I didn't."

You did. You posted it. I quoted it. You specifically used my name and now you are trying to weasel out of it on a technicality regarding your grammar. Pffft!

I hope I haven't offened any weasels, PETA, the SPCA...

Just don't bother discusiing it anymore. Make your points and leave me out of it. I don't deserve it and I don't need it. If you can't take a joke...

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 24 Jan 11 - 12:52 PM

Savoury Ducks


100

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: GUEST,Reality
Date: 24 Jan 11 - 11:37 AM

This "ban" hasn't stopped any radio stations from playing the song anyway...

So, what's the big deal?

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: Smedley
Date: 23 Jan 11 - 05:43 PM

Apology accepted, however spelled.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: GUEST,Allan Conn
Date: 23 Jan 11 - 05:41 PM

"The song is quite obviously written deliberately from the point of view of a pinhead."

http://victorian.fortunecity.com/stanmer/288/intervw/interv.htm

Quite so in this link he explains in an interview that it is based on a guy he overheard ranting in a hardware store.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: Raptor
Date: 23 Jan 11 - 05:19 PM

Fair enough please accept my apoligy, Bad spelling and all.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: Smedley
Date: 23 Jan 11 - 05:02 PM

It was sung with Sting, not Elton. Get your facts right/

As for me accusing gnu of being anti-gay, I didn't. I complained about a small number of posts/posters, not naming names. He stepped up! For what it's worth, his lame jokes were by no means as bad as a few others, which were specifically aimed at gay people and were not about the song.

I'm not a victim, by the way, I merely reserve the right to express my perceptions, just like everyone else.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: GUEST,999
Date: 23 Jan 11 - 04:55 PM

For those who know, the song was sung with Elton John. He didn`t mind. He`s the `little faggot who`s a millionare`.

He don`t mind. Why do any of you.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: sandinmyears
Date: 23 Jan 11 - 04:49 PM

The meaning of the word makes the difference. Not just the word itself. I remember watching a show with Betty White showing her pet dogs. This was around 1970 and she referred to one of them as a bitch. At that time, the "B" word couldn't be broadcast in the US but it went by because of its meaning.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: Stower
Date: 23 Jan 11 - 04:14 PM

The song is quite obviously written deliberately from the point of view of a pinhead.

That it has been banned reminds me of the reaction to a song by the late great Jake Thackray, 'One Of Them', in which he uses several offensive words relating to groups of people. On one occasion at a performance several audience members walked out shouting - they just didn't get that the lyrics were deliberately written from the viewpoint of a smallminded moron to illustrate just how smallminded morons can be.

I expect a song by Randy Newman - another master of 'character songwriting' - 'Sail Away' will be banned next. If it hasn't been already.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: Stringsinger
Date: 23 Jan 11 - 01:27 PM

Apparently the term comes from Oxford where the lower classmen were required to fetch "fags" (cigarettes) for the seniors. The fetchers became "fags".

The best thing it to do is "fag-gid-a-boud-id!"

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: Tootler
Date: 23 Jan 11 - 11:35 AM

Go into a pub in a working class district in any major city in the UK (and, I bet in Canada and elsewhere) and you will encounter the type of attitude that Mark Knopfler is parodying in Money for Nothing. Not just in pubs, either. My daughter was complaining about someone expressing such attitudes - and worse - in a very loud voice on the bus to work one day last week.

If the CBSC had listened to the song properly instead of reacting in a knee jerk manner to the presence of a single word, perhaps they might have taken a more robust line. Then again, in our present PC world, perhaps not.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: Raptor
Date: 23 Jan 11 - 09:16 AM

How dare you accuse gnu of being anti-gay I read nothing in his posts that hint that here or in any other threads. Be gay all you want but stop being a victim as Little Hawk points out everyone gets picked on but that doesn't mean everyone is picking on you. They are picking on Mark Knopfler for pointing out the ignorance of gay hate.Its all misunderstood.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: GUEST,Callie
Date: 23 Jan 11 - 05:43 AM

He is singing IN CHARACTER. He's showing up how ridiculous the character is.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: Smedley
Date: 23 Jan 11 - 04:38 AM

Little Hawk, you're quite right, but I'm an optimist. I keep hoping there's at least one straight person out there somewhere who can transmute their prejudices into something fresh.......

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 22 Jan 11 - 09:33 PM

The intolerant take refuge in excessive political correctness.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: gnu
Date: 22 Jan 11 - 09:28 PM

Smedley... "Gnu, be as anti-gay as you feel you need to be, but why not break a habit and do so with just a glimmer of originality ?"

I don't care in the least if you or anyone else is gay. I DO, however, care if you are a gentleperson and have a sense of humour. Your post is unblievably ridiculous. How dare you! I am beside myself. Your intolerance really bothers me.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: Little Hawk
Date: 22 Jan 11 - 08:03 PM

Ah, but how can you be sure?

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: GUEST,Allan Conn
Date: 22 Jan 11 - 07:38 PM

"The rich pop singer attacked by the 'narrator' in the lyrics was Boy George."

Would the narrator be jealous of Boy George not only getting money for nothing but also getting his "chicks for free"? IMHO that doesn't sound likely

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: Little Hawk
Date: 22 Jan 11 - 07:07 PM

"be as anti-gay as you feel you need to be, but why not break a habit and do so with just a glimmer of originality ?"

Smedley, it's not easy to come up with an original way of being anti-gay or making jokes and quips about gayness, etc, because all the available and possible ground has already been well and fully covered by the last few thousand years of our western civilization. I fear that you shall remain insulted in the same old familiar ways as long as the rivers flow and the grass grows, to use the old Native American analogy.   

I was a skinny, pacifistic kid with thick glasses...and I got insulted in all the old familiar ways too. Not a glimmer of originality! We all have crosses to bear. ;-)

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 22 Jan 11 - 05:45 PM

Famous old pre- punchlines:
And you, my friend, are pissing on my feet.

Subject: RE: 'Money for Nothing' Banned in Canada
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 22 Jan 11 - 05:33 PM

Two old men sitting on a park bench.

The Jewish man turns to the Chinese man and says, "I've decided to forgive your people for Pearl Harbor."

"What are you talking about? The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor - I'm Chinese, not Japanese!"

"Chinese, Japanese - what's the difference?"

The Chinese man thinks about this for a while, then says, "I've decided to forgive your people for sinking the Titanic."

"What are you talking about? The Titanic was sunk by an iceberg!"

"Iceberg, Goldberg - what's the difference?"