Money for Nothing analysis by Sebastian Franjou

Money for nothing, from the 1985 Dire Straits album Brother in arms, is a now classic Grammy winning song famous for it's guitar riff and computer animated video. It's ironic lyrics are sung in the words and from the perspective of a convenience store worker Mark Knopfler, the band's frontman, onunce encountered. The song has a double meaning : we can understand it as a criticism of the music star system, but also as of certains poeple's point of view about it. 

Fist of all, listen to the song and read the lyrics : 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTP2RUD_cL0

(I want my MTV)

Now look at them yo-yo's that's the way you do it
You play the guitar on the M.T.V.
That ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Money for nothin' and your 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 color T.V.'s.

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 kitchen deliveries
We gotta move these refrigerators we gotta move these color T.V.'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?
You bangin' on the bongos like a chimpanzee
Oh 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 color T.V.'s.

Listen here
Now that ain't workin' that's the way to do it
You play the guitar on the M.T.V.
That ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Money for nothin' and your chicks for free
Money for nothin' and the chicks for free
(Get your) Money for nothin' and chicks for free
Money for nothin' and the chicks for free (I want my, I want my MTV)
Money for nothin' and the chicks for free 

The opposition beetween "play" and "working" in the first line hints that the musician's task is one of the esay kind, the repetition of "mayben get a blister" confirms this, accentuating the small risk of beeing hurt and the superficial caracter have such a wound. After all, these musician's are getting "money for nothing", not for working ! But is making music really that easy ? 

Certainly not  : all they produce is "noise" (to musicians out there : keep practicing!), but the real show is for the eyes : the verbs "see" and "look" are used extensively, but never listen or hear. That's why the artists take such care of their looks : putting "earing", "makeup", "hair". No wonder that the only comparaison that the common man can think of after watching their video is visual : "bangin' on the bongoes like a chimpanzee", a spectacular but antimusical use of a musical intrsument. 

So, what does this eye-music industry make you ? Well, pretty successful, thank you very much. The triangle of american success is here : money ("millionaire"), a pricy and ostentatious transportation mean that also shows an international popularity ("jet plane")  and, last but not least, success with the ladys ("chicks for free").

But who's talking here ? Just your average Joe, a convenience store employee, and he don't talk fancy either ("ain't" . And remember : you always are average Joe. And what do they think of above average Joes, showing off on television ? The poeple watching have mixed feelings about the stars. They disrespect them, calling them "faggot" and "mama", but they also admire them : after all, they personally ("let me tell you") recognise that "these guys ain't dumb". That is because of envy : they would like to be where the stars are : "that's the way you do it". That's why they "shoulda learned to play the guitar". Again the repetition shows the importance of this : seeing how easy it could've been, they regret their life choices, and regret lead to envy, and envy leads to hate, and perhaps I'll stop here but the point is that this system doesn't bring positive feelings.

This worker surrounded by TV's : he "move[s] these colour TV's", he has one at home and all he want's to do is go behind the screen with the stars, as he does in the video. This shows that he wants to go through the looking glass and live their life in their place. Now that's envy, pure and simple, but is it because of the man's nature, or of the fact that he is surrounded by a wall of Tv's continuously flooding him with their faces in HD (well it's not exactly HD in 1985 but you get the concept) ?

This is the portrait of a music industry viewed by the masses : dominated by TV, and that promotes looks instead of music. We can therefore point a double critic : one of the industry itself, plainly formulated by the song, and a second one, hidden through irony, of the ignorant who disses all musicians alike, although it is well known that you don't write a song that's still popular 30 years after it's release without getting a little more than a blister on your little finger.

Pretty ironic that MTV chose this song to open it's european version, isn't it ?

 By Sebastian Franjou