# Songs about homophobia? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 25, 2005, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-homophobia/296179 "2005-03-25T09:06:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sample\_the\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sample\_the\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sample_the_Dog)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-homophobia/296179/41 "2005-03-26T04:30:12Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > I lived in Michigan when the song was released. I don’t recall ever hearing it without that verse. The video includes it. Interesting. A lot of songs with hot-button lyrics have single tracks cut for radio, of course, eg Steve Miller’s “Jet Airliner” with “funky shit” changed to “funky kicks”, or the Knack’s “Good Girls Don’t” with the “sitting on your face” line removed. Nowadays they seem to prefer just blanking the words, as in the radio version of Staind’s “It’s Been A While”, or Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” (which imho should be deleted altogether) which expurgate “the F-word”. Would be very interesting to survey the protocols in various parts of the country for using these “radio friendly” versions vs the original album cuts on the air. Down here, the trend seems generally toward cleaned-up lyrics, although I heard the album track of “Good Girls Don’t” on a lunch hour “retro” show recently. Also read an excerpt of a New York Times interview w/ Knopfler, who was pretty teed off at many folks’ inability to understand the device of creating a fictional character as a narrator. Seems he got a lot of crap from certain quarters over the “faggot” lines. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-homophobia/296179/42 "2005-03-26T07:15:35Z")
> [@Sample\_the\_Dog](#): > > Joe Jackson’s “Real Men” You beat me to that one. One of the best songs about gender that I’ve ever heard. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-homophobia/296179/43 "2005-03-26T07:46:09Z")
> [@Sample\_the\_Dog](#): > > oh-kaaaay… just dug up the lyrics to “Uneasy Rider 88”. Wow. To quote a little of another opus from Senator… I mean, Mr. Daniels: > [@](#): > > This fella walked up and said, “I’ll buy this round.” > And he set down on the barstool next to Jim. > He looked like a girl, but he talked like a guy; > Had lipstick on and mascara in his eye, > And everybody in that place looked just about like him. > I said, “Jim, this ain’t our kinda bar. > […] > I said, “Jim, don’t do it! There’s something amiss! > And there’s fellers dancing and fellers kissing! > There’s a feller in high-heel shoes wearing panty hose.” > […] > He said, “I love it when you get that fire in your eyes.” > I said, “Well, pardner, try this on for size -” > And I unloaded on him - He went out like a light. > Everybody in that place musta been his friend. > They all headed for me. I said, “This is the end.” > ‘Cause where I come from, we don’t give up without a fight. > They were screamin’ and yellin’, scratchin’, and clawin’. > I was punchin’ and hittin’ and kickin’ and pawin’ - > I was holdin’ my own ‘cause I’ve been in a scrap or two. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-homophobia/296179/44 "2005-03-26T07:48:44Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > > [@Sample\_the\_Dog](#): > > > > Joe Jackson’s “Real Men” > > You beat me to that one. One of the best songs about gender that I’ve ever heard. It’s covered by Pansy Division, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-homophobia/296179/45 "2005-03-26T08:57:04Z")
> [@Sample\_the\_Dog](#): > > Oh, and Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing”. This verse was purged from the radio version: > > _That little faggot with the ear ring and the makeup – > yeah, buddy, that his own hair. > That little faggot got his own jet airplane. > That little faggot, he’s a millionaire._ > > In case there’s anyone out there who has somehow managed not to hear the 2nd most overplayed song in the history of rock music, the speaker of song’s lyrics is a deliverer/installer for an appliance company, talking with his buddies about music videos playing on the TV sets on display. > > I’ve heard it reported that Mark Knopfler actually overheard the line “money for nothing and chicks for free” along with the remaining lyrics’ basic sentiments in that setting, but haven’t heard/read Knopfler himself saying that. I always used to get pissed off when I heard this song, but someone told me it was a personal attack on David Geffin who screwed them over on some record deal. Doesn’t make the lyrics any less homophobic, but at least explained why they felt the need to put it in the song. ---
**Author:** ![Sample\_the\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8797f3/32.png) [@Sample\_the\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sample_the_Dog)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2005, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-homophobia/296179/46 "2005-03-26T14:07:09Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > I always used to get pissed off when I heard this song, but someone told me it was a personal attack on David Geffin who screwed them over on some record deal. Doesn’t make the lyrics any less homophobic, but at least explained why they felt the need to put it in the song. I don’t see any support for that theory. Clearly, the song is an attack on bigots. Knopfler had a negative attitude about the sentiments expressed by the narrator of that song. It’s a slam against the speaker himself, not against anyone who might possibly be identified as the “little faggot”. [Anecdotage.com](http://Anecdotage.com) cites a Rolling Stone interview with Knopfler: > [@](#): > > “That came from a big meathead working in an electrical appliance store in New York,” Knopfler recalled. “He was watching MTV while moving boxes. I spied on him through a little gap in the microwave section, and the lines he was coming out with were so classic that I had to write them down as fast as possible! He actually said things like, ‘What’s that? Hawaiian noises?’ and ‘Maybe get a blister on your little finger.’ And then he said, ‘That ain’t workin’’ - little did he know!” There’s also this from Knopfler (translated back into English by [Jose Brihuega](http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/1794/) from a Spanish reprint of a Ken Tucker / David Fricke interview w/ Knopfler in Time magazine (I don’t have the original, but this is consistent with other statements by Knopfler): > [@](#): > > “I can’t understand why supposedly intelligent journalists distort the words of my songs. I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to write songs adopting another character’s point of view. People usually identify the singer with the things he’s saying. The character in Money for Nothing is an absolutely ignorant man, a guy with a narrow outlook.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-homophobia/296179.md?page=2)