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Dire Straits

A little something about Dire Straits
You can look at the success of Dire Straits in two, not entirely contradictory ways. Dire Straits can be seen as a pop enigma - an irreverant British pub band that had great success despite their overt ciriticism of the very system that made them famous. At the same time, the band's enormous success in the mid 1980s serves as an example of just how clueless pop culture's outlets and customers are. Unlike most acts mentioned at the this site that formed in 1970s England, Dire Straits did not start as a talentless punk band. Songwriter/guitarist Mark Knopfler's interests were more traditional - he was into the blues - and his guitar playing was compared to some of the big names of 70's rock. In 1978 they recorded their first album, and had a hit with the beautiful "Sultans of the Swing." The bands' heyday would come a few years later, with the release in 1985 of their Brothers In Arms LP. The album included a track that poked fun at the rising music video industry, and at the bands that rose to stardom via MTV. The song's harshest attack was aimed the androgynous new romantics (repeatedly referred to the song as "little faggots") who, regardless of musical background or talent, became pop icons in the video age. The track - "Money for Nothing" - even included MTV regular Sting supplying backing vocals, chanting that pop stars get their "money for nothing, and their chicks for free" But rather than causing a stir in the music industry or unleashing a backlash by the video community, MTV embraced the song as their new anthem. The video, which featured sophisticated (for the time) 3-D computer animation, went into heavy rotation, and the band became international superstars. The message of the song, meanwhile, was evidently lost on everyone. Dire Straits and the bands' individual members have continued to work since the mid 1980s, but without coming near to equalling the success of Brothers In Arms. Perhaps they found it too difficult to live the life of an old-fashioned American rock band in an electronic age (to this day most Americans would argue with the suggestion that the band was from overseas). Perhaps people took Dire Strait's anti-video star message to heart and turned their backs on video stars like Dire Straits. Then again, perhaps Mark Knopfler and company just realized there was better music waiting to be made than the slop that makes you famous on MTV.

Lyrics featured below: "Money for Nothing", "Sultans of Swing", "Walk of Life" , "So Far Away"

Money for Nothing

Now look at them yo-yo's that's the way you do it
You play the guitar on the MTV
That ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Money for nothin' and chicks for free
Now that ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Lemme tell ya them guys ain't dumb
Maybe get a blister on your little finger
Maybe get a blister on your thumb

We gotta install microwave ovens
Custom kitchen deliveries
We gotta move these refrigerators
We gotta move these colour TV's

See the little faggot with the earring and the makeup
Yeah buddy that's his own hair
That little faggot got his own jet airplane
That little faggot he's a millionaire

We gotta install microwave ovens
Custom kitchens deliveries
We gotta move these refrigerators
We gotta move these colour TV's

I shoulda learned to play the guitar
I shoulda learned to play them drums
Look at that mama, she got it stickin' in the camera
Man we could have some fun
And he's up there, what's that? Hawaiian noises?
Bangin' on the bongos like a chimpanzee
That ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Get your money for nothin' get your chicks for free

We gotta install microwave ovens
Custom kitchen deliveries
We gotta move these refrigerators
We gotta move these colour TV's, Lord

Now that ain't workin' that's the way you do it
You play the guitar on the MTV
That ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Money for nothin' and your chicks for free
Money for nothin' and chicks for free

Sultans of Swing

You get a shiver in the dark
It's been raining in the park but meantime
South of the river you stop and you hold everything
A band is blowing Dixie double four time
You feel all right when you hear that music ring

You step inside but you don't see too many faces
Coming in out of the rain to hear the jazz go down
Too much competition too many other places
But not too many horns can make that sound
Way on downsouth way on downsouth London town

You check out Guitar George he knows all the chords
Mind he's strictly rhythm he doesn't want to make it cry or sing
And an old guitar is all he can afford
When he gets up under the lights to play his thing

And Harry doesn't mind if he doesn't make the scene
He's got a daytime job he's doing alright
He can play honky tonk just like anything
Saving it up for Friday night
With the Sultans with the Sultans of Swing

And a crowd of young boys they're fooling around in the corner
Drunk and dressed in their best brown baggies and their platform soles
They don't give a damn about any trumpet playing band
It ain't what they call rock and roll
And the Sultans played Creole

And then the man he steps right up to the microphone
And says at last just as the time bell rings
'Thank you goodnight now it's time to go home'
and he makes it fast with one more thing
'We are the Sultans of Swing'

Walk of Life

Here comes Johnny singing oldies, goldies
Be-Bop-A-Lula, Baby What I Say
Here comes Johnny singing I Gotta Woman
Down in the tunnels, trying to make it pay
He got the action, he got the motion
Yeah, the boy can play
Dedication devotion
Turning all the night time into the day

He do the song about the sweet lovin' woman
He do the song about the knife
He do the walk, he do the walk of life

Here comes Johnny and he'll tell you the story
Hand me down my walkin' shoes
Here come Johnny with the power and the glory
Backbeat the talkin' blues
He got the action, he got the motion
Yeah, the boy can play
Dedication devotion
Turning all the night time into the day

He do the song about the sweet lovin' woman
He do the song about the knife
He do the walk, he do the walk of life

Here comes Johnny singing oldies, goldies
Be-Bop-A-Lula, Baby What I Say
Here comes Johnny singing I Gotta Woman
Down in the tunnels, trying to make it pay
He got the action, he got the motion
Yeah the boy can play
Dedication devotion
Turning all the night time into the day

And after all the violence and double talk
There's just a song in the trouble and the strife
You do the walk, you do the walk of life

So Far Away


Here I am again in this mean old town
And you're so far away from me
And where are you when the sun goes down
You're so far away from me

CHORUS {begin}
So far away from me
So far I just can't see
So far away from me
You're so far away from me
CHORUS {end}

I'm tired of being in love and being all alone
When you're so far away from me
I'm tired of making out on the telephone
And you're so far away from me

CHORUS

I get so tired when I have to explain
When you're so far away from me
See you been in the sun and I've been in the rain
And you're so far away from me

CHORUS