submissions
| Dire Straits – Tunnel Of Love Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Mark Knopfler and his family used to go out to Tynemouth and Whitley Bay at the weekends and in the summer holidays, and they all loved it, particularly the Spanish City. It was David, Mark's younger brother, who was kind of responsible for Tunnel Of Love, as he kept on at him to write a song about the Spanish City. Last time I was there, I heard there might be plans to rebuild it, which would be great, both for us Geordies and for the area, it's a great seaside place, especially as the sea is now so clean - it used to be black from coal dust! |
submissions
| Dire Straits – Brothers In Arms Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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Further to my last post, the song isn't about Knopfler's father dying in a war in Israel - or indeed anywhere else! His father was a Hungarian Jew, Erwin Knopfler, who came to the UK in 1939 and settled in Glasgow. In 1944, he married Louisa Laidler, a Geordie lass, in Newcastle upon Tyne. Mark Knopfler, and his elder sister, Ruth, and younger brother, David, were all born in Glasgow, and moved down to Newcastle in the mid fifties, where they lived for many years. Erwin lived to a ripe old age, dying not too many years ago. |
submissions
| Dire Straits – Brothers In Arms Lyrics
| 14 years ago
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I hate to rain on anyone's parade, but Knopfler has actually talked officially about the song and its meaning. In 1989, Knopfler was on a Radio 1 documentary interview show, hosted by Roger Scott, and he (Knopfler) had this to say:
"I remember my Dad saying, when the Falklands war was going on, he just happened to mention how the Russians were brothers in arms with the Argentinians. Communist Russia was brothers in arms with this military dictatorship in Argentina. And the term "brothers in arms" stuck in my mind, although the song is not about that. For some reason, I got the idea of a soldier dying on the battlefield, and he's maybe got some mates round him, and what would be going through his mind. You have to see the scene, there are guys there, there are people around, and it's night... so it's a bit stagey, in that sense. And again the idea of opposing worlds within one world comes in. We've got just one world but we live in different ones. That's all it's about.I would think that it must have gone through many people's minds, as they're stepping off from the edge... it's just stupid, it really is... We're just foolish to take part in it. To take part in anybody's war."
So, there it is; pretty comprehensive and lengthy! Hope that helps people! |
submissions
| Dire Straits – It Never Rains Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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No, this song isn't life on the streets or anything, it's a song of utter contempt about his ex-girlfriend, Holly Vincent. About the way she uses people, and treats them like dirt. The first song he wrote about her - not long after she dumped him by phone when he was away touring the USA - was 'Romeoa And Juliet', and he says 'Your new romeo' in this song. He then wrote 'Love Over Gold' about her, and finished up with this one. I guess that must have got her out of his system! |
submissions
| Dire Straits – Love Over Gold Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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Sorry, in my last post, I meant to put that the 3rd song about Holly Vincent was 'It Never Rains', not 'When It Rains'! Senior moment, there! |
submissions
| Mark Knopfler – Cannibals Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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When Mark Knopfler was little, he had nightmares about cannibals, and his Dad said to him 'There are no cannibals any more.' |
submissions
| Dire Straits – Love Over Gold Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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This song is actually about Knopfler's ex-girlfriend, Holly Vincent. She treated him badly, dumping him over the phone when he was on tour in America. He wrote Romeo and Juliet about her, and Love Over Gold shows his contempt of her - he's talking about the love he had for her, that she let run through her fingers like dust - and it echoes the sentiments of Romeo and Juliet - '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, yeah, Now you just say, oh, Romeo, yeah, you know I used to have a scene with him'. He finishes this songwriting arc with 'When It Rains', which is the last song he wrote about her, and seems to dismiss her pretty well! Knopfler actually saw the words 'Love Over Gold' painted as graffiti on a wall, and thought it'd be great to use in a song sometime! |
submissions
| Dire Straits – Brothers In Arms Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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First, someone on the forum said, a while ago, that this song is about Mark Knopfler's brother dying from drugs. That's not so! Mark has one brother, David (one of the original members of Dire Straits) who's still very much alive, and is a singer/songwriter - he writes great songs,and sounds so much like Mark!! I think the song is simply anti war. Mark's father was a Hungarian Jew, who managed to get to Britain before the start of the Second World War. He married a Newcastle lass, so Mark is definitely a Geordie! Mark once said in an interview, that the inspiration for the title, Brothers In Arms, came from his Dad saying, during the Falkland war, that the Russian were 'Brothers in arms' with the Argentinian dictatorship, although the song wasn't about the Falklands. He went on to say that he got the idea of a soldier dying on a battlefield, his friends around him, and the song is the thoughts running through the soldier's mind. Mark also liked the idea of all of us living in our own worlds, even though we only have one world, and we should be taking care of it and each other, and not trying to kill each other. I had a book for Christmas called The Sound of one Hand Clapping, by someone called Fay Doxford about a rock star - and I can't help thinking that the main character was based quite a lot on Mark Knopfler! Has anyone else read it (it's quite good) and if so, what do they think? |
submissions
| Dire Straits – Expresso Love Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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The riff actually came from a song Knopfler wrote after his break up from girlfriend Holly Vincent. He was staying with his manager, Ed Bicknell, in Bicknell's flat in the Barbican, and he wrote a song, 'Suicide Towers': 'Sitting up here in Suicide Towers, Days and days, hours and hours. I'm getting out of here, I'm going out of the door, Ain't going out of no window.' He must have decided not to use that, but turned it into Expresso Love. He once heard someone say the words 'Hey, maestro' - he was passing a bus stop in America, and a kid got onto a bus and said "Hey, Maestro!" to the driver, and Knopfler thought it was a great phrase and decided to use it in a song. |
submissions
| Dire Straits – Les Boys Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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This song was written after the Straits had performed at a club in Germany, and they'd seen this act. It's a simple bit of reporting on Knopfler's part - he used to be a journalist. It's amusing, but as usual with Knopfler, very perceptive, and slightly melancholy. It's certainly not one of my favourites, but I wouldn't call it stupid! |
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| Dire Straits – Down To The Waterline Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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According to Knopfler's brother, David, when Mark was about 15, he got a part in a play, and used to come back home on the train every night, and loved seeing the lights on the Tyne (let's face it, who wouldn't? All right, so as a Geordie, I'm biased, but even so!) He even did a painting of them, which his parents had framed and put up on the wall. The song comes from that, and from walking along the Quayside at night with his then girlfriend. Mark Knopfler himself said in an interview that he used to be able to hear the fog horns on the Tyne at night when he was in bed, throughout his childhood and youth, and they made a huge impression on him. That he loves Newcastle and Northumberland is in no doubt; he was asked once, considering that he'd been all round the world, what it was about Newcastle that he found so impressive, and he simply replied: "Everything!" |
submissions
| Dire Straits – Iron Hand Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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Yes, this is about the miners strike. Apparently, Knopfler had turned the TV on one evening and caught a report about the clash between the police and the miners, and the report had said that the Queen had been shocked by the violence. He thought, 'I'm not surprised, it shocks me, too!' and the song was written from that. I love the typical Knopfler bit at the end - all the way through, it seems as if he's condemning Margaret Thatcher and the police action, and yet at the end he says, 'We haven't changed since ancient times' which puts the onus for everything squarely on all of us, and it's true! Deep down, almost everyone is capable of just about anything. Mark Knopfler's writing is exceptional, I don't think I've ever seen a song of his where he's put in a word or phrase just so that it rhymes, his lyrics are always so well thought out. I think he and Paul Simon are the most outstanding musicians/song writers of our time. And by the way, has anyone read a book called 'The Sound Of one Hand Clapping' by Fay Doxford? Because it seems to me that the lead character, a famous musician, has a lot in common with Mark Knopfler! |
submissions
| Dire Straits – Romeo And Juliet Lyrics
| 15 years ago
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As other people have said, this song is not a typical love song - in fact, it's a very bitter song about rejection and it was written by Mark Knopfler after he was dumped over the telephone by his girlfriend, Holly Vincent (from the band Holly And The Italians) while the Straits were on their first big tour of the USA in 1979. After the breakup, she was quoted in 'Melody Maker' as saying: "I had a scene with Mark Knopfler...he couldn't handle it and we split up." Knopfler was in love with her, and had been hit very hard by her behaviour. A few months later he wrote the song 'Romeo and Juliet'. The songs 'Love Over Gold' and 'It Never Rains', on the album 'Love Over Gold' are also about Holly Vincent. |
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