Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing” Lyrics Meaning

by SMF· Published October 29, 2017· Updated May 10, 2020

“Money for Nothing”is one of the most successful songs performed by the English rock band Dire Straits. As the title suggests, the song’s theme is about musicians who have achieved fame and significant wealth from doing “easy work”.

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According to Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits, the song’s lyrics were inspired by the comments of a delivery man he met at an appliance store in New York. Knopfler stated that while he was at the back of the store, the deliveryman, whose job was to move appliances, was busy watching MTV on the TVs displayed at the store. And after being disgusted by what he was watching, he came up with a number of the song’s famous lines, including “that ain’t working”. 

According to the deliveryman, he felt the MTV performers received money for doing absolutely nothing. And on top of that they got “chicks for free”! Knopfler, who found the worker’s commentary interesting, instantly borrowed a pen and paper and began writing down some of the comments he was uttering about the musicians. According to Knopfler, he wrote most of the song’s lyrics right in the store because his aim was to use as much of the real comments the man made about the MTV performers.

Music Video

The song’s video, which was one of the first music videos in the music industry to make use of computer generated animation, won the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year in 1986. The song’s video made history in on August 1st, 1987 when it became the first music video to be played on MTV Europe.

Writing Credits for “Money for Nothing”

The song was written by Knopfler and Sting, whose only contribution to the song was the line “I want my MTV”. The main reason why Sting shares songwriting credits with Knopfler on the song is because the melody of the line “I want my MTV” is very similar to the melody of his hit song “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” performed by his band The Police.

And by the way, the voice at the beginning of the song singing the line “I want my MTV” is Sting’s voice.

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Majority of the lyrics for “Money for Nothing” were the actual words uttered by the delivery man from the department store.

A Song about Mötley Crüe?

According to Nikki Sixx of the American heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, Knopfler wrote the song about Mötley Crüe.

Controversy

Owing to the use of the word “f*****” in the lyrics, many have over the years strongly condemned the song for being homophobic. As a result of that, these days when performing the song live, Knopfler replaces the offending word with “queenie”.

Release Date of “Money for Nothing”

The song was released on 24th June, 1985 as the second single from the band’s fifth studio album Brothers in Arms. This album made it into the list of the world’s most successful albums of all time. It actually sold over 30 million copies across the globe.

Grammy Honors

“Money for Nothing” was nominated for the Grammy Award for both Record of the Year and Song of the Year but lost both nominations to We Are the World by USA for Africa at the 28th Annual Grammy Awards in 1986. The song, however, won the Grammy for the Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

Chart Success

Money for Nothing peaked at No. 1 in the United States (the Hot 100). It also peaked at position number 4 in Britain (the UK Singles Chart).

Who sings the backing vocals on “Money for Nothing”

In addition to singing the song’s intro, Sting also sings background vocals on the song.