Posts: Music / What happened to the little faggot with the earring and the make-up?

Frustrated that I cant ever sing along with that lyric anymore as its missing from the radio version of "money for nothing" by dire straits, I looked it up.


The observations of the character included references to a musician "banging on the bongos like a chimpanzee" and a description of a singer as "that little faggot with the earring and the makeup", and lamenting that the artists got "money for nothing and chicks for free". These lyrics were widely criticised as sexist, racist and homophobic statements, and in some later releases of the song the lyrics were edited for airplay; "faggot" for example is often replaced with "mother": "little mother, he's a millionaire".

When the song is included in rotation as part of a music feed played in stores, or restaurants "faggot" is usually turned backwards.[citation needed] The entire second verse was edited out for content and length for radio and video airplay, and on the 7" single. This edited version is included in the compilation albums Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits and Money for Nothing.

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.


It sucks that someones artistic assessment of a particular behavior has to be edited out. We can't kick faggots off of the world, so why do we have to prune them out of our culture?

You have officially put more thought into the Dire Straights than anyone in history.

Dylan: You have officially put more thought into the Dire Straights than anyone in history.

no more than the excessive gh you put into it.

spazdaq:



no more than the excessive gh you put into it.

That's a mispelling I'm proud of.    

I thought you only had an eyebrow ring.

ultron: I thought you only had an eyebrow ring.

i have an earring too.