Lyrics for Private Investigations as interpreted by Novartza

Private Investigations Lyrics
It's a mystery to me, the game commences
For the usual fee, plus expanses
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 whiskey and a new set of lies
Blinds on the window and a pain behind the eyes

Scarred for life - no compensation
Private investigations

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  • 15 Comments
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LP
08-06-2005

Rated 0 
Guitar on this is great. Even without the lyrics it would be good enough to listen to. Add the lyrics and this is one of my favorite Dire Straits songs.

The song has always seemed simple enough to me. It's about the difficult life of a PI. Though it can go deeper symbolizing how sometimes the truth is too dirty to deal with.

I am surprised it has no comments yet.

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tinderbox
08-20-2005

Rated 0 
I feel it's really about someone who has gotten a bit warped, who has lost out on really trusting people.
He follows their tracks, observes them, checks them like insects on a table, but never really comfortable with the others. mark Knopfler has always liked writing in roles - many of the songs on their first two albums are more or less like that, and so is "Private Dancer" which he wrote during the Love Over Gold sessions but shelved up and then offered Tina Turner.

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zodin
03-06-2006

Rated 0 
i heard this song going to sleep last night and thought it was beautiful!

i thought it was about a private investiagtor who was trying to find out whether his wife was having an affair.

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xfire
04-02-2006

Rated 0 
You should see the MTB video for this song. May favorite song video of all time.

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bars.of.a.rhyme
05-09-2006

Rated 0 
To me this song is about a PI that finds out that his girlfriend/wife is having an affair while he is going about his business investigating another case. He's staked out in front of a suspects house, maybe, and he sees the suspect come out of the front door with the PI's girlfriend.

But that's just me.

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myimaginaryband
06-16-2006

Rated 0 
this is probably way off but to me this song is about searching through your dark past to make sense of it, and not getting anything good out of it except some art that you dont want to share with others because its so personal.

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grogley
12-29-2006

Rated 0 
The meaning to this song is quite evident from the lyrics. There may be an allegorical meaning, talking about the music industry instead of a PI but that may be a stretch. This track is a real favorite of mine because of the really cool musical vibe it has. The ethereal atmosphere of this song sucks the listener into the story. Mark does have a way of creating an interesting story in many of his songs.

This is another great song to test the Hi-Fi with. Listen for the breaking glass towards the end. To me it sounds like a wine glass shattering. I never heard/noticed this on my original vinyl copy but shows up nicely on CD. Crank this one up too!

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JV
02-17-2007

Rated 0 
I don't think myimaginaryband is that far off; it feels like the singer is judging himself and his relations, the people who were important in his life but disappointed him. The gloomy perspective and the cynicism is apparent: treachery and treason will be the source of your hurtings.

People tend to see what goes wrong in other people's relations, but when they manage to find out what went wrong in their own they might realize how little this information eases their pain. To me, the private investigator is someone who appears to be able to find out; I think he (she) is inspecting himself and his (ex) lover because he seems unusually touched at the end of his investigations, plus, it's _his_ investigation. It also seems he's wiser, but resigned with the fact that his investigations did not help beyond that: scarred, no (other) compensation.

In the end, the only mystery left is the why of treachery, but there's nothing usual at not being compensated. He is still investigating, because there are new lies, but at the moment he does not expect to get any wiser: only more disappointed because he knows the 'why' proofs predictable. It hurts, but that's life.

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T_D_Phoenix
09-19-2007

Rated 0 
It might be personal. Knopfler used to be a journalist, you know.

In any case, it's grown on me quite a bit. Interesting, especially to listen to late at night.

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Speak Eazy
11-08-2007

Rated 0 
Everybody needs to check out the "On the Night" live recording of this song... absolutely amazing; better than the original in my opinion.

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Speak Eazy
11-08-2007

Rated 0 
Everybody needs to check out the "On the Night" live recording of this song... absolutely amazing; better than the original in my opinion.

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nachoz
01-15-2008

Rated 0 
like T D Phoenix, i think it has smthg to do with the fact that he was a journalist

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Sonofagunzel
07-10-2008

Rated 0 
JV and myimaginaryband have it right.

If you've ever kept a diary in which you explore your own emotions through a difficult time in a relationship, you'll know exactly what the song is about.

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The_Cornelius
07-28-2008

Rated 0 
I read that Knopfler was inspired by Raymond Chandler criminal novels about private investigator,Philip Marlowe.Great novels.

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J-J-Kingy
10-01-2008

Rated 0 
I like the bit when it gets to 1.40 minutes with the guitar

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