The earliest reference I can find to the practice of yelling "hey mo*bleep*therf*bleep*ker, get laid, get f*bleep*ed" in response to the chorus of "Mony Money" on Google is from Illinois, 1986.

I can personally substantiate southern Ontario in 1988. 

Does anyone have earlier references to naughty or obscene lyrics typically sung to Billy Idol's cover of Tommy James and the Shondell's "Mony Mony"?  Can any of you pre-70s greybeards substantiate the possibility that people were singing the naughty words before Billy Idol covered the song in 1981 (Don't Stop) or 1987 (Vital Idol)?

20 years and I still can't find a good explanation of the origin of this practice.  That's long enough.  Let's fill in the gaps. When did this thing start, and who started it?  (Because I'd like to buy them a beer.)

I don't know who started the original, but they yelled it at every sweet 16 I went to in NY in '85.  Over the course of that year there were many variations including:

"She's 12, I'm drunk"  :o

or my personal favorite,

"She's late, I'm f***ed!"  ;D

The word came very close to being said in Isaac Hayes's Shaft.

I heard it for the first time in some movie or on tv.  it wasn't till after taht that i heard it in bars.

I remember it from 9th grade - which would be 85

We also had a variation that went

Hey Mother *** be a b!tch and say NO!

;D

One a similar note, there's a verse that's edited out in Dire Strait's  "Money For Nothing" in several radio stations.

I know it's now "politically incorrect", but strangely Eminem songs are played with a few edits (only swearing)...  :P

One a similar note, there's a verse that's edited out in Dire Strait's  "Money For Nothing" in several radio stations.

I know it's now "politically incorrect", but strangely Eminem songs are played with a few edits (only swearing)...  :P


At least the verse about Boy George was in an original Dire Straits recording.  I'm still wondering if Idol ever recorded (even a live bootleg) a version of Mony Money with the naughty chorus... or if it was just something audiences picked up on their own.

As for modern rap, I've heard it go the other way, too.  Apparently there are radio stations where you can't use any slang terms for firearms, alcoholic beverages, or illegal drugs, and there are enough of them for "radio-safe" remixes of songs to be cut.  Chamillionaire's Ridin' Dirty sounded like a bad cell phone conversation.  It was so sad it was funny.  (There was no way any of Carlin's Seven or even the N-bomb would have made any sense in half the fade-outs.  I was floored when I Googled the lyrics and found out words had been cut in addition to the obvious ones.)

At least the verse about Boy George was in an original Dire Straits recording.  I'm still wondering if Idol ever recorded (even a live bootleg) a version of Mony Money with the naughty chorus... or if it was just something audiences picked up on their own.


Wasn't that lyric aimed at Elton John though?  Boy George has never owned his own Jet-plane and can't be classified as 'little'.

I remember us chanting that at a school dance in Nebraska in 1988.

I wonder if Tommy James and the Shondells ever encountered this back in the 60's?  ;D ;D ;D

I did my best to miss out on the whole thing.
:D

Wasn't that lyric aimed at Elton John though?  Boy George has never owned his own Jet-plane and can't be classified as 'little'.


I stand corrected; it was indeed EJ he was after.  EJ had talent, BG had... less talent.  That's why I originally throught the lyric referred to BG, but I'm with you on that -- two coincidences too big to be ignored. 

Wasn't that lyric aimed at Elton John though?  Boy George has never owned his own Jet-plane and can't be classified as 'little'.


Michael Jackson if anybody, but I don't think Dire Straits intended any specific pop star, it's just a rap on things blue collar guys would say while watching MTV. "Money for Nothing" is also Knopfler ripping on the manufactured nature of MTV stars.  Also check out Joe Jackson's "Pretty Boys," which interestingly enough came out in 1979....but was it ever prescient!

Reminds me of the old "Rocky Horror" Audience Participation scripts!

Michael Jackson if anybody, but I don't think Dire Straits intended any specific pop star, it's just a rap on things blue collar guys would say while watching MTV.


OK, that's a third candidate.  Now it's getting interesting... I wonder if they ever said anything about it in interviews.

(Pop stars are so vain.  I'll bet we thought that song was about one of them, didn't we?)

The earliest reference I can find to the practice of yelling "hey mo*bleep*therf*bleep*ker,  in response to the chorus of "Mony Money" on Google is from Illinois, 1986.



Don't know when it started, but we said "Hey! Hey what? Get laid, get f*bleep*ed" in Colorado in the mid-80s (86?)

I don't even know why WE started doing that.

The earliest reference I can find to the practice of yelling "hey mo*bleep*therf*bleep*ker, get laid, get f*bleep*ed" in response to the chorus of "Mony Money" on Google is from Illinois, 1986.


This doesn't fill in any gaps, but apparently MTV actually played music as recently as 2002.  The recording of "Mony Mony (MTV Unplugged", from a VH1 Storytellers compilation dated 2002, includes Billy Idol himself singing "Hey, (conspicuous silence), get laid, get f*bleep*ed", minus the bleep. 

It sounds almost like they just cut the volume on the audio track for Idol's mic during the (conspicuous silence) when laying down the track that got published, but the final F-bomb was left uncensored. 

Ya gotta feel sorry for the poor sucker sitting on committee that had to make that call... Anyways, although it doesn't shed light on the origin of the practice or whether it goes as far back as Tommy James and the Shondells, it sure as hell resolves any doubt about Idol being a willing participant.

we used to say get smart read books

At Mare Island (Vallejo, California...  just North of San Francisco), we said "Hey, What a ya say, get laid, get f**ked".

Of course, I remember one time when I was filling in as the DJ and played Weird Al's Alimony.  The DJ booth was in a balcony looking down on the dance floor.  I still remember people going crazy when the song started, then looking up at me in confusion and wonder as the lyrics started.  8)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GedwTGjqdg

I heard it on the radio a few years back...but I had no idea what it was about until now. ::)

"86" at a Catholic youth conference dance.  I think we actually got away with it.

I personally remember this at "Beer Night Dances" at Totem Park at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C. in 1986-87 and beyond...although sometimes people just screamed hey everybody get laid get f***ed)...

:)


The earliest reference I can find to the practice of yelling "hey mo*bleep*therf*bleep*ker, get laid, get f*bleep*ed" in response to the chorus of "Mony Money" on Google is from Illinois, 1986.

I can personally substantiate southern Ontario in 1988. 

Does anyone have earlier references to naughty or obscene lyrics typically sung to Billy Idol's cover of Tommy James and the Shondell's "Mony Mony"?  Can any of you pre-70s greybeards substantiate the possibility that people were singing the naughty words before Billy Idol covered the song in 1981 (Don't Stop) or 1987 (Vital Idol)?

20 years and I still can't find a good explanation of the origin of this practice.  That's long enough.  Let's fill in the gaps. When did this thing start, and who started it?  (Because I'd like to buy them a beer.)

"86" at a Catholic youth conference dance.  I think we actually got away with it.


You may have been one of the few who did.  A lot of stories from that era end with "...and they never played the song again" :)

Former CFNY DJ Alan Cross has started to dig into this.  His article got picked up by Fark a week or two ago.

To summarize, nobody knows... yet.  The earliest references in the Fark thread hint at 1982-3 at a roller rink (which would precede Vital Idol but not Billy Idol's 1981 recording of the track).  Some suggested the tradition goes as far back as the original Tommy James track (as something sung by the audience during live performances but never recorded). 

Other regional variations: "Hey! Hey what? She's fat, I'm drunk!", "Get laid, get drunk!".  "Hey, MFer" appears to have been popular just about everywhere in Canada, with "Hey, Hey what" and "Hey, MFer" both being popular in the United States.

You mean they changed the lyrics to Billy Idol's Mony,Mony?  ???

You mean they changed the lyrics to Billy Idol's Mony,Mony?  ???


More like they ad-libbed.

People spent decades trying to figure out the dirty lyrics to Louie Louie even though you could hear the words crystal clear on Richard Berry's 1955 version.
::)

More like they ad-libbed.


That definitely accounts for "Farkin bullshiat" in place of "Ride-your-*ahem*", at least in a loud enough crowd.  (Yes, I looked.  The Herd got to Dancing with Myself before Mony Mony?!  Inconceivable.  I must add it to The List.)


People spent decades trying to figure out the dirty lyrics to Louie Louie even though you could hear the words crystal clear on Richard Berry's 1955 version.
::)


All these years and I'd read about it but it never occurred to me...

z-2CKsaq5r8

...to actually dig up the primary source, at least before SOPA/PIPA results in a felony charge against whoever uploaded it.  (That link claims it's 1957, but it's close enough to 1955 for government work.)

Mad shout out to Richard Berry for keeping up with it - if you dug the original, here's a 1989 live performance.

That definitely accounts for "Farkin bullshiat" in place of "Ride-your-*ahem*", at least in a loud enough crowd.  (Yes, I looked.  The Herd got to Dancing with Myself before Mony Mony?!  Inconceivable.  I must add it to The List.)

All these years and I'd read about it but it never occurred to me...

z-2CKsaq5r8

...to actually dig up the primary source, at least before SOPA/PIPA results in a felony charge against whoever uploaded it.  (That link claims it's 1957, but it's close enough to 1955 for government work.)

Mad shout out to Richard Berry for keeping up with it - if you dug the original, here's a 1989 live performance.


wow Richard Berry from 1955 sung the original? I never knew that.

More like they ad-libbed.

People spent decades trying to figure out the dirty lyrics to Louie Louie even though you could hear the words crystal clear on Richard Berry's 1955 version.
::)


I think he said the "s" word. :o

wow Richard Berry from 1955 sung the original? I never knew that.


Heh-heh, but it DOESN'T mean the Kingsmen DIDN'T get drunk and, ahem, ad-lib their own!
;)

(I swear the say "I felt my boner in her hair"!)

Too bad RevCo didn't do Louie Louie...or did they?  The prolly ad-libbed it after doing speed-balls in Amsterdam.
:P

Heh-heh, but it DOESN'T mean the Kingsmen DIDN'T get drunk and, ahem, ad-lib their own!
;)

(I swear the say "I felt my boner in her hair"!)

Too bad RevCo didn't do Louie Louie...or did they?  The prolly ad-libbed it after doing speed-balls in Amsterdam.
:P


why would a group be drunk and just ad-lib a song like that? maybe they should've gotten rid of the booze.

why would a group be drunk and just ad-lib a song like that? maybe they should've gotten rid of the booze.


Because they're drunk and it's fun to ad-lib when you're drunk!
:-\\

Because they're drunk and it's fun to ad-lib when you're drunk!
:-\\


When you're drunk you can't understand the lyrics.

We gotta go now. Go now Go now.  Okay, let's go!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGw4W2g3DhA

We gotta go now. Go now Go now.  Okay, let's go!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGw4W2g3DhA


sounds like a clearer version of Louie Louie.

I was trying to find an uncensored version of Mony Mony, I don't think I could find it.

http://www.manbeerlove.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/pony-bar-sign.jpg

http://www.hoppsy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/thepony.jpg

  - Bar review and beer pic both from The Pony Bar in New York City.

Alas, the Pony Bar appears to be a recent addition to Manehattan's beer scene, so that sign can't be the inspiration for the official "ride your pony" line in the song.  While researching this post, I found enough beers named after variants of "pony" (some dating back as far as 1954, and as far away as The United Kingdom), so maybe that's what the background singers in the official release of song were alluding to.  If so, "Hey, motherfarker" variants that refer to "get drunk" may be closer to the audio meme's origin than others.

Oblig:
    Now wait, you fellers, hold it!
    You went and over-sold it!
    I guarantee that what you have there won't compare,
    For the very most important ingredient,
    Can't be added or done expedient,
    And it's quality, friends, craft brewing's quality and care!


I was trying to find an uncensored version of Mony Mony, I don't think I could find it.


One thing that's changed since the "good old days" is the proliferation of cell phones with good recording capabilities.  Maybe we can map it out (and back in time) by seeing what people are singing at different times, and in different places.  Which brings me to this:

From unknown clubs:

7uih4dBah3k
  - Hey motherfarker, get laid, get drunk! (unknown club, Nov 2009)

There's just one problem with "get laid, get drunk" as the offficial lyric (it could still be the original version, having been eclipsed by the "get farked" variant), and I can't just leave y'all hanging like that.

P9nwxcKq9CE
  - Billy Idol himself may just be following the audience's lead, but he makes it official at 2:40-2:55 and 4:50-5:05ish: "Hey motherfarker, get laid, get farked!" (Live at the Fillmore, San Francisco, on either Dec 20, 2010 or Dec 21, 2010).

http://www.manbeerlove.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/pony-bar-sign.jpg


http://toponehitwonders.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/white-horse.jpg

If you wanna ride,
Ride the white pony!

White pony!

Ride the white pony!

If you wanna be rich,
You gotta be a zooooop.
::)

http://toponehitwonders.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/white-horse.jpg

If you wanna ride,
Ride the white pony!

White pony!

Ride the white pony!

If you wanna be rich,
You gotta be a zooooop.
::)


what do they mean by White Horse? ???

what do they mean by White Horse? ???


Heroin.  "Horse" is slang for heroin.  Not sure what they meant by white pony.  Methadone maybe.
???

Heroin.  "Horse" is slang for heroin.  Not sure what they meant by white pony.  Methadone maybe. ???


Damn, now I owe you another karma point.

I'd gotten the heroin reference, but I'd always wondered why one sort of horse was ridable and the other wasn't.  It turns out the white pony was cocaine. 

So thanks - I now understand, almost 30 years late, the whole song was a coded reference about the 80s tendency towards stimulants over depressants.

(It turns out that "white pony" may now be used to refer to methamphetamines.  At the time Laid Back released White Horse, amphetamines ("speed") were widely available, but weren't in popular use.  Methamphetamine is not to be confused with methadone, the prescription substitute for heroin, but in keeping with the song - the "white pony" is the stimulant, not the depressant.  Anecdotal evidence from millions of complete strangers suggests that one would do well to avoid all of the above-mentioned recreational pharmaceuticals. 

Three cups of coffee in the morning and a couple of beers after work is as far down that particular rabbit hole as I've ever cared to go.

Damn, now I owe you another karma point.

I'd gotten the heroin reference, but I'd always wondered why one sort of horse was ridable and the other wasn't.  It turns out the white pony was cocaine. 

So thanks - I now understand, almost 30 years late, the whole song was a coded reference about the 80s tendency towards stimulants over depressants.

(It turns out that "white pony" may now be used to refer to methamphetamines.  At the time Laid Back released White Horse, amphetamines ("speed") were widely available, but weren't in popular use.  Methamphetamine is not to be confused with methadone, the prescription substitute for heroin, but in keeping with the song - the "white pony" is the stimulant, not the depressant.  Anecdotal evidence from millions of complete strangers suggests that one would do well to avoid all of the above-mentioned recreational pharmaceuticals. 

Three cups of coffee in the morning and a couple of beers after work is as far down that particular rabbit hole as I've ever cared to go.


White Rabbit

I've never heard "white pony" for cocaine...but then again, I don't know how many people have to say it before it makes the Tipper Gore manual.  Some sources list "white horse" as cocaine.  Never heard it called that either.  Here is a list collected from the Internet of "white" slang for cocaine itself or cocaine and other drugs.

White:                      cocaine
White girl:                 cocaine; heroin
White boy:                cocaine; heroin
White horse:         cocaine; heroin
White lady:         cocaine; heroin
White dragon:          cocaine (powder); heroin
White mosquito: cocaine
White ghost:            cocaine (crack)
White cloud:              cocaine (freebase smoke)
White sugar:            cocaine (crack)
White tornado:          cocaine (crack)
White dust:              cocaine; LSD
White ball:                cocaine (crack)
White powder:         cocaine; PCP

:o

White Rabbit

I've never heard "white pony" for cocaine...but then again, I don't know how many people have to say it before it makes the Tipper Gore manual.  Some sources list "white horse" as cocaine.  Never heard it called that either.  Here is a list collected from the Internet of "white" slang for cocaine itself or cocaine and other drugs.

White:                      cocaine
White girl:                 cocaine; heroin
White boy:                cocaine; heroin
White horse:         cocaine; heroin
White lady:         cocaine; heroin
White dragon:          cocaine (powder); heroin
White mosquito: cocaine
White ghost:            cocaine (crack)
White cloud:              cocaine (freebase smoke)
White sugar:            cocaine (crack)
White tornado:          cocaine (crack)
White dust:              cocaine; LSD
White ball:                cocaine (crack)
White powder:         cocaine; PCP

:o


wow that's a lot!  :o