Music

Money For Nothing Dire Straits Album Cover

Money For Nothing

Album Credits

All songs by Mark Knopfler*
1, 2 - Produced by Muff Winwood
3, 4, 9, 10 - Produced by Mark Knopfler
5, 6 - Produced by Mark Knopfler & Jimmy Iovine
7 - Produced by Jerry Wexler & Barry Beckett
8, 11, 12 - Produced by Mark Knopfler & Neil Dorfsman

*'Tunnel Of Love' intro from 'The Carousel Waltz' written by Rodgers/Hammerstein II
** 'Money For Nothing' written by Mark Knopfler / Sting

Released: Vertigo/Warner Bros. (1988)

Money For Nothing

  • 1. Sultans Of Swing
    You get a shiver in the dark
    It’s 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’
  • 2. Down To The Waterline
    Sweet surrender on the quayside
    You remember we used to run and hide
    In the shadow of the cargoes I take you one time
    And we’re counting all the numbers down to the waterline

    Near misses on the dogleap stairways
    French kisses in the darkened doorways
    A foghorn blowing out wild and cold
    A policeman shines a light upon my shoulder

    Up comes a coaster fast and silent in the night
    Over my shoulder all you can see are the pilot lights
    No money in our jackets and our jeans are torn
    Your hands are cold but your lips are warm

    She can see him on the jetty where they used to go
    She can feel him in the places where the sailors go
    When she’s walking by the river and the railway line
    She can still hear him whisper
    Let’s go down to the waterline
  • 3. Portobello Belle (live)
  • 4. Twisting By the Pool (remix)
    We’re going on a holiday now
    Gonna take a villa, a small chalet
    On the Costa del Magnifico
    Where the cost of living is so low

    Yeah, we’re gonna be so neat
    Dance to the Eurobeat
    Yeah, we’re gonna be so cool
    Twisting by the pool

    Sitting in a small cafe now
    Swing, swing, swingin to the cabaret
    You wanna see a movie, take in a show now
    Meet new people at the disco

    Yeah, we’re gonna be so neat
    Dance to the Eurobeat
    Yeah, we’re gonna be so cool
    Twisting by the pool

    And we can still get information
    Reading all about inflation
    And you’re never gonna be out of reach
    There’s a call-box on the beach

    Mmm, you’re gonna look so cute
    Sunglasses and bathing suites
    Be the baby of my dreams
    Like the ladies in the magazine

    Yeah, we’re gonna be so neat
    Dance to the Eurobeat
    Yeah, we’re gonna be so cool
    Twisting by the pool

    I’m a twisting fool
    Just twisting, yeah twisting
    Twisting by the pool
  • 5. Tunnel Of Love
    getting crazy on the waltzers but it’s the life that i choose
    sing about the sixblade sing about the switchback and a torture tattoo
    and i been riding on a ghost train where the cars they scream and slam
    and i don’t know where i’ll be tonight but i’d always tell you where i am

    in a screaming ring of faces i seen her standing in the light
    she had a ticket for the races just like me she was a victim of the night
    i put a hand upon the lever said let it rock and let it roll
    i had the one arm bandit fever there was an arrow through my heart and my soul

    and the big wheel keep on turning neon burning up above
    and i’m just high on the world
    come on and take a low ride with me girl
    on the tunnel of love

    it’s just the danger when you’re riding at your own risk
    she said you are the perfect stranger she said baby let’s keep it like this
    it’s just a cakewalk twisting baby step right up and say
    hey mister give me two give me two cos any two can play

    and the big wheel keep on turning neon burning up above
    and i’m just high on the world
    come on and take a low ride with me girl
    on the tunnel of love

    well it’s been money for muscle another whirligig
    money for muscle and another girl i dig
    another hustle just to make it big
    and rockaway rockaway

    and girl it looks so pretty to me just like it always did
    like the spanish city to me when we were kids
    oh girl it looks so pretty to me just like it always did
    like the spanish city to me when we were kids

    she took off a silver locket she said remember me by this
    she put her hand in my pocket i got a keepsake and a kiss
    and in the roar of dust and diesel i stood and watched her walk away
    i could have caught up with her easy enough but something must have made me stay

    and the big wheel keep on turning neon burning up above
    and i’m just high on the world
    come on and take a low ride with me girl
    on the tunnel of love

    and now i’m searching through these carousels and the carnival arcades
    searching everywhere from steeplechase to palisades
    in any shooting gallery where promises are made
    to rockaway rockaway from cullercoats and whitley bay out to rockaway

    and girl it looks so pretty to me like it always did
    like the spanish city to me when we were kids
    girl it looks so pretty to me like it always did
    like the spanish city to me when we were kids
  • 6. Romeo And Juliet
    a lovestruck romeo sings a streetsusss serenade
    laying everybody low with a lovesong that he made
    finds a convenient streetlight steps out of the shade
    says something like you and me babe how about it?

    juliet says hey it’s romeo you nearly gimme a heart attack
    he’s underneath the window she’s singing hey la my boyfriend’s back
    you shouldn’t come around here singing up at people like that
    anyway what you gonna do about it?

    juliet the dice were loaded from the start
    and i bet and you exploded in my heart
    and i forget i forget the movie song
    when you gonna realise it was just that the time was wrong juliet?

    come up on different streets they both were streets of shame
    both dirty both mean yes and the dream was just the same
    and i dreamed your dream for you and now your dream is real
    how can you look at me as if i was just another one of your deals?

    when you can fall for chains of silver you can fall for chains of gold
    you can fall for pretty strangers and the promises they hold
    you promised me everything you promised me thick and thin
    now you just says oh romeo yeah you know i used to have a scene with him

    juliet when we made love you used to cry
    you said i love you like the stars above i’ll love you till i die
    there’s a place for us you know the movie song
    when you gonna realise it was just that the time was wrong juliet?

    i can’t do the talk like they talk on tv
    and i can’t do a love song like the way it’s meant to be
    i can’t do everything but i’d do anything for you
    i can’t do anything except be in love with you

    and all i do is miss you and the way we used to be
    all i do is keep the beat and bad company
    all i do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme
    julie i’d do the stars with you any time

    juliet when we made love you used to cry
    you said i love you like the stars above i’ll love you till i die
    and there’s a place for us you know the movie song
    when you gonna realise it was just that the time was wrong juliet?

    a lovestruck romeo sings a streetsuss serenade
    laying everybody low with a lovesong that he made
    finds a convenient streetlight steps out of the shade
    says something like you and me babe how about it?
  • 7. Where Do You Think You’re Going?
    Where d’ya think you’re going
    Don’t you know it’s dark outside
    Where d’ya think you’re going
    Don’t you care about my pride
    Where d’ya think you’re going
    I think a you don’t know
    You got no way of knowing
    There’s really no place you can go

    I understand your changes
    A-long before you reach the door
    I know where you think you’re going you
    I know what you came here for
    And now I’m sick of joking
    You know I like you to be free
    A-where d’ya think ya going
    I think you better go with me girl

    You say there is no reason
    But you still find cause to doubt me
    If you ain’t with me girl
    You’re gonna be without me

    Where d’ya think you’re going
    Don’t you know it’s dark outside
    Where d’ya think you’re going
    I wish I didn’t care about my pride
    And now I’m sick of joking
    You know I like you to be free
    A-where d’ya think ya going
    I think you better go with me girl
  • 8. 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 all the trouble and the strife
    You do the walk, you do the walk of life
  • 9. Private Investigations
    It’s a mystery to me – the game commences
    for the usual fee – plus expenses
    confidential information – it’s in a diary
    this is my investigation – it’s not a public inquiry

    I go checking out the reports – digging up the dirt
    you get to meet all sorts in this line of work
    treachery and treason – there’s always an excuse for it
    and when I find the reason I still can’t get used to it

    And what have you got at the end of the day?
    what have you got to take away?
    a bottle of whisky and a new set of lies
    blinds on the window and a pain behind the eyes

    Scarred for life – no compensation
    private investigations
  • 10. Telegraph Road (live)
  • 11. 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 bongoes 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
  • 12. Brothers In Arms
    These mist covered mountains
    Are a home now for me
    But my home is the lowlands
    And always will be
    Some day you’ll return to
    Your valleys and your farms
    And you’ll no longer burn
    To be brothers in arms

    Through these fields of destruction
    Baptisms of fire
    I’ve watched all your suffering
    As the battles raged higher
    And though they did hurt me so bad
    In the fear and alarm
    You did not desert me
    My brothers in arms

    There’s so many different worlds
    So many different suns
    And we have just one world
    But we live in different ones

    Now the sun’s gone to hell
    And the moon’s riding high
    Let me bid you farewell
    Every man has to die
    But it’s written in the starlight
    And every line on your palm
    We’re fools to make war
    On our brothers in arms