| Dire Straits – Money For Nothing Lyrics | 3 years ago |
| @[roadki11:35053] I don't remember the artist that was on the television at the time that Joe made the remark. Joe was rather crude with his language at times. I made the comment to him that the artist had his own jet to put things in perspective for him. He was acting like being a musician wasn't much to it. I had seen something just a day or two earlier about the artist and his lavish lifestyle which had mentioned his private jet. After this many years I can't remember who it was. I do know it wasn't Boy George or Elton John. | |
| Dire Straits – Money For Nothing Lyrics | 3 years ago |
| @[roadki11:35052] I don't remember the artist that was on the television at the time that Joe made the remark. Joe was rather crude with his language at times. I made the comment to him that the artist had his own jet to put things in perspective for him. He was acting like being a musician wasn't much to it. I had seen something just a day or two earlier about the artist and his lavish lifestyle which had mentioned his private jet. After this many years I can't remember who it was. | |
| Dire Straits – Money For Nothing Lyrics | 9 years ago |
| @[tcheeser:530] Just for the record, it was not Boy George that was on the television at the time so it is doubtful that Boy George was the subject. It was more a depiction of working guys having a conversation and lamenting the hard physical work of their job versus the relatively "easy" work of playing a guitar. I made the comment about wearing blisters on your fingers in recognition of the fact that each job has its difficulties. | |
| Dire Straits – Money For Nothing Lyrics | 9 years ago |
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I am actually one of the people quoted in the song. Mark Knopfler did write the song while he was in the store. He wrote it in the furniture department of Dillard's Department Store at McCain Mall in North Little Rock, Arkansas of all places. He overheard me griping at an employee that I supervised. He sat at a dining room table that was on display and wrote the song. Joe was the other guy quoted. We were getting ready to move some refrigerators and store some color televisions behind them. In fact, the video pretty accurately depicts the electronics/appliance department in that store as it was then before it was remodeled. In fact, the tile floor was black and white as in the video and there was a wall of televisions in the back part of the electronics department. I had gone over the list of things we needed to accomplish while we were on the way out to the electronics department. Joe was a little difficult to motivate. He was griping about having to work. I made the comment that I should have learned to play the guitar like the guy that was playing on MTV which was on the televisions in the department. As Joe continued to gripe about working, I asked him if he thought you got money for nothing and the check's for free? At that point Mark Knopfler politely interrupted me and asked, "Did you say the Chicks are free?" I corrected him and told him the check's for free. My southern accent and his foreign accent probably made it difficult for him to distinguish that subtle difference at first. He said "The chicks for free would work better." I looked at him a little strange and he said, "Oh, I am a song writer and I was thinking about some lyrics for a song." He quickly asked a sales lady from the furniture department for a piece of paper and pen. He wrote our comments down and quoted it accurately with the exception of the checks/chicks change for artistic expression. He then asked me if I owned the copyright to those comments. He tried to talk legalities with me but I told him (not knowing at the time who he was) to use it and make a bunch of money and blew it off as a songwriter wannabe. Little did I know that it would become one of the most popular songs of the decade if not of the rock era. The reference to the Hawaiian noises was from my comments about a nature show that was on one of the televisions that happened to be tuned to a nature program. There was also a program about a musician playing the bongos and hence the reference to the guy beating on the bongos like a chimpanzee. The sales lady was concerned that this guy was writing down all our comments and came and told me. I told her I was not concerned about it. I was surprised when I saw it on MTV for the first time. I then realized all the comments were quotes of Joe and myself. |
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