A Literalist Reaction to Money for Nothing by Dire Straits 

I heard this song a ton growing up, and I've never heard of anyone harmed by these lyrics.

I find it funny how people think the video for this is so bad, without realizing how cutting edge it and expensive it was.

The three other must-listen DS songs are: "Sultans of Swing" (Alchemy Live performance), "Brothers In Arms", and "Industrial Disease".

Mark Knopfler was a reporter for a local newspaper for a while, before he made it as a musician. That's were his habit of listening to people and always being open to everyday stories came from.

As a drummer, you definitely get blisters when you start playing, if you practice and play a lot. With time, they eventually turn into calluses.

Unlike 99% of songs, watching this one without the video does a great deal to obscure the context.

I loved that Mr. Literal pointed out that the VERY WORDS of the guy complaining in the appliance store became lyrics sung by guitarists on MTV. If that working stiff ever heard this song, he would clearly have to recognize his own words, and spent the rest of his life telling everyone he inspired that song, only to be ridiculed and not believed. Probably one of the most poignant ironies I've ever heard.

Dave, Dave,Dave…that song could go on for 10 minutes more. It’s a great driving song.

This was a good one to introduce Dave to Dire Straits (I agree that the album cut is overly long, 3 1/2 to 4 min is just about right on this one). A couple songs that are just under the surface: Skateaway and Industrial Disease.

Telegraph Road is a great song, it's long but, worth it. And a good story for Dave to go over.

I love these guy's reactions! I first came upon them for a reaction to my favorite band RUSH.

Great review! Two excellent points ..adding a bongo solo/background and the idea of the writing credit for the worker who was complaining. Brilliant.

The bongo line was making fun of the popular video games called donkey Kong where you literally had to use a special bongo controller to play the game. The whole song was making fun major things going on in society at the time.

Yay Jon - glad you brought Dire Straits to the show! Telegraph Road and Brothers in Arms both come to mind for great literalist reactions. Cheers!

The Mark Knopfler and Chet Atkins albums were good. Two great guitarist together.

i want my MTV was a slogan by mtv they used to play that to advertise mtv .I watched them play this live 1986 it was awesome they were awesome it was that song that got me to go to there concert .

The lyrics were written from an overhead conversation at at a retail store-hence the comments about MTV.😀❤️

The metallic sound that occasionally comes in is either the DX1 or the DX7 synthesizer

Dang, just finding out now after all these years that was Sting! I had always just assumed it was some random member of the band.

walk of life, sultans of swing are two more of my DS favorites

Yea, probably right! Poking fun at MTV

It has since been edited to not have the word Faggot anymore. I think the radio edit took the song down to around 4 1/2 minutes and removed the Faggot Verse entirely. I honestly was never really bothered by it, and I thought it added color to the character that was being painted (The blue collar installer). Yes, I am gay, so I do no the hurtfulness that word brings, and have had it slung my way more than once by idiots and religious zealots, but I never felt this was being used as a slur in the song.

Man I really like the concept of this reaction channel really cool lads

Mark Knopfler is at the top of my list of great guitar players. If you play guitar, it's a pretty good bet that you've explored his playing. Sultans of Swing is another song written by MK observing others. The back story of this song sounds familiar but didn't know the guitar tone was ZZ Top influenced. Actually makes sense though, I remember ZZT were MTV darlings and I kinda remember ZZT giving MTV credit for their band's popularity.

A great Dire Straits song is Private Investigations.

You gonna tell me Knophler doesn’t know about blisters on his fingers cmon man

I thought you were a Weird Al fan and so was surprised you weren't familiar with his parody (Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies*). Mark Knopfler gave the ok as long as he could play guitar on the parody. And according to Al, the strange name of the song was decreed by lawyers (he just wanted to call it the Beverly Hillbillies). On your own, you should watch the original video, then watch Al's version.

I recommend Sultans of Swing Alchemy Live.

great song guys. I got one for you. It'll shine when it shines, by Ozark mountain daredevils. lots of love

I think it's a jealousy song that the working class wishes they were like the people on MTV.

Telegraph Road would be a good one to react to for good Mark Knopfler Lyrics

You must listen to Dire Straits, Private Investigations.

Great song but I do prefer the radio edit version without the second verse, earing and the makeup and that it was much shorter.

I always took this as making fun of people who make fun of musicians, as if there's no hard work involved in the thousands of hours of practice and sacrifice that goes into achieving mastery and popularity. Like people who see abstract art and say "I could have done that." Yeah, mate, but you didn't (and actually couldn't). Anyway, that's my take.

This was a great album and the singles like this one are the mediocre songs on the album by far. It’s really the deep dive songs that make this album so good imo. I remember it was a popular song, but I never got it, the video itself being on heavy MTV rotation.

lol Songwriter credit doesn't work like that. That guy at the store didn't write the song or didn't even know stuff he said could be a song.

My 'friend' took me to a bar and asked me to play Short People on the jukebox. It started, and people oohed and awed. Then a little old lady came out from behind the bar with a paddle. She asked, "Who played that song?" I raised my hand. She pointed to the jukebox and told me to assume the position. Then she paddled my ass like a golf pro. I guess she didn't get the true meaning. LOL

Just my opinion but while this was a huge favorite of mine at the time & world wide mega hit, tracks 4-9 on the album Brothers are much stronger, powerful & stand up better(Brothers in Arms) Some of the best DS for Literalist review try: Romeo & Juliet, Brothers in Arms, Skateaway, Hand in Hand, Industrial Disease. The use of language, pathose, sly humor, allusions, metaphor and cadence are some of the best in 20th century music. Try

I´ve always thought that Randy Newmans song "Short people" was a satirical song about children. But english is not my first language so... Could you possibly react to Frank Zappa and his "Dumb all over"?

Woke individuals have taken us back fifty years. Back in the eighties we didn't need a cry closet and play dough to get over words. We just said "sticks and stones" and we moved on. Today's woke youth are "shook" by the word used exactly three times. Oh the horror!

I'm afraid I never liked this song its high in my top ten of disliked records. And yes it does take the pee out of normal folk. Good job by Dave to suss this all out.

The literalist is clueless. He needs to study a bit of literature or at least learn about metaphor, about projecting words through another person and taking their point of view, satire, irony and other such subtle ways of expressing ideas. Even if you don't know the backstory of this song, it shouldn't be that hard to figure out that the speaker is a brainless bozo being ridiculed and the message is one of his envy, disparaging the musicians while wishing he could have such seemingly easy success with money and chicks, etc. Mark Knopfler wrote the song using words almost verbatim from the meathead in the appliance store, as the music lover of this channel accurately reports. But really, it should be fairly obvious to an intelligent listener that it's written from that kind of perspective and spoofing the mentality of the speaker. Dave carries his own brain fart further by claiming, half-jokingly but still making a snide assertion about Knopfler, that the guy in the store deserved a co-writer's credit for the song. Do you really not understand that songwriters, novelists and poets do that kind of thing all the time? Artists often take experience from everyday life and transform it creatively into art. In one form, it would be called inspiration or sometimes appropriation. (Dave suggests he slightly gets this.)"Seinfeld" did that constantly, using stories and dialogue taken directly from the "real life" experience of the creators in developing skits. Calling elements of the song "stolen" is both false and insulting. The "I want my MTV" refrain is provided melodically by Sting, and the lyrics are mundane enough to start with that anyone could have said them. Further, the song is a rock classic and the main guitar riff that runs through the song is considered one of the most iconic guitar riffs of all time. So it's surprising that powerful guitar riff is not mentioned here. And NO, it's not too long and the guitar solo that goes on toward the latter stage of the song is powerful and has some variation with guitar and vocal elements while extending the very memorable melody and guitar work.

Mediocre artists borrow. Great artists steal.

Yeah right, Mark Knopfler Is Got nothing better to do that steal a "police" song😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅❤❤❤❤