The lyrics of Canberra band TONK's song Golden Girl now carry a healthy dose of irony, after a hit US TV show used the song twice without the band's permission.

While the producers of television sitcom How I Met Your Mother only used the heavy guitar riffs of TONK's rock tune, the opening lines of the song, "Out in the streets, it's a dirty dirty living," are apt, given the way the music made its way onto television screens around the world.

TONK playing at Newcastle Uni last year. Credit:Dean Osland

The band's drummer, 27-year-old Tristan Davies, told triple j's Hack program last night that despite another band being used to play their song, the mishap has actually turned into a big win for the group.

"The exposure was great and we were blown away by the fact that they would even consider something that we'd done - some s***house band in Canberra that no-one's ever heard of," Davies told the program.