Dire Straits' lyrics

Posted by Arch Stanton on October 28, 2002

In Reply to: Dire Straits' lyrics posted by Bruce Kahl on October 25, 2002

: : : I may be completely off base on this one, but... The song "Money for Nothin'" includes the line "...banging on the bongos like a ???" I checked various websites and they say that the missing word is chimpanzee. However, the word I hear when listening to this song has only 2 syllables and sounds like (and here's where I am not too sure) chimpvet or something like that. For years I assumed I was making up this word until I saw it in a P. D. James novel, which led me to believe that this may be British English. Is there such a word, or have I gone completely mad?

: : You sound sane enough, but there is no such word. If my name were Knopfler and I were looking for a rhyme for 'chicks for free' and 'MTV', I'd pass over chimpvet and go straight to chimpanzee.

: 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

I think the variation of "Chimpanzee" that you're hearing is simply that the singer is laughing while saying the word.

• Dire Straits' lyrics Woodchuck 10/28/02