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A long time ago came a man on a track
Walking thirty miles with a sack on his back
And he put down his load where he thought it was the best
He made a home in the wilderness
He built a cabin and a winter store
And he plowed up the ground by the cold lake shore
And the other travelers came walking down the track
And they never went further, and they never went back
Then came the churches, then came the schools
Then came the lawyers, and then came the rules
Then came the trains and the trucks with their loads
And the dirty old track was the telegraph road
Then came the mines, then came the ore
Then there was the hard times, then there was a war
Telegraph sang a song about the world outside
Telegraph road got so deep and so wide
Like a rolling river
And my radio says tonight it's gonna freeze
People driving home from the factories
There's six lanes of traffic
Three lanes moving slow
I used to like to go to work, but they shut it down
I've got a right to go to work, but there's no work here to be found
Yes, and they say we're gonna have to pay what's owed
We're gonna have to reap from some seed that's been sowed
And the birds up on the wires and the telegraph poles
They can always fly away from this rain and this cold
You can hear them singing out their telegraph code
All the way down the telegraph road
You know, I'd sooner forget, but I remember those nights
When life was just a bet on a race between the lights
You had your head on my shoulder, you had your hand in my hair
Now you act a little colder, like you don't seem to care
But believe in me, baby, and I'll take you away
From out of this darkness and into the day
From these rivers of headlights, these rivers of rain
From the anger that lives on the streets with these names
'Cause I've run every red light on memory lane
I've seen desperation explode into flames
And I don't want to see it again
From all of these signs saying, "sorry, but we're closed"
All the way
Down the telegraph road
Walking thirty miles with a sack on his back
And he put down his load where he thought it was the best
He made a home in the wilderness
He built a cabin and a winter store
And he plowed up the ground by the cold lake shore
And the other travelers came walking down the track
And they never went further, and they never went back
Then came the churches, then came the schools
Then came the lawyers, and then came the rules
Then came the trains and the trucks with their loads
And the dirty old track was the telegraph road
Then came the mines, then came the ore
Then there was the hard times, then there was a war
Telegraph sang a song about the world outside
Telegraph road got so deep and so wide
Like a rolling river
And my radio says tonight it's gonna freeze
People driving home from the factories
There's six lanes of traffic
Three lanes moving slow
I used to like to go to work, but they shut it down
I've got a right to go to work, but there's no work here to be found
Yes, and they say we're gonna have to pay what's owed
We're gonna have to reap from some seed that's been sowed
And the birds up on the wires and the telegraph poles
They can always fly away from this rain and this cold
You can hear them singing out their telegraph code
All the way down the telegraph road
You know, I'd sooner forget, but I remember those nights
When life was just a bet on a race between the lights
You had your head on my shoulder, you had your hand in my hair
Now you act a little colder, like you don't seem to care
But believe in me, baby, and I'll take you away
From out of this darkness and into the day
From these rivers of headlights, these rivers of rain
From the anger that lives on the streets with these names
'Cause I've run every red light on memory lane
I've seen desperation explode into flames
And I don't want to see it again
From all of these signs saying, "sorry, but we're closed"
All the way
Down the telegraph road
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It is inspired by a bustrip taken by Knopfler and the book he was reading on the trip, The Growth of The Soil by Knut Hamsun.
It is about the first settler on a small place and how he started out with nothing and the place became a bigger place with familyes, roads and a telegraphline.
Walden's a good book ;) a classic actually, and worth reading before you die
But I thinkt it's more than that.. It's a song about impermanence and mortality. I mean he talks about generations and generation and how everything changes, which is, in a way very melancholic but at the same time very optimistic. I can feel that in every solo in this song and even in most of his songs. It's that mix of feeling sad about the past but also hoping for the best in the future.
The strongest part of the song is clearly the last paragraph, mostly:
'But believe in me, baby, and I'll take you away...'
Now he reflects that mortality on love, which is as impermanent as life itself and even though it's quite sad I can't help myself but I still feel just a touch of optimism.
By far my favorite song, absolutely every second of this song is perfect. You could make a movie or write a whole book just by listening to this song. It also shows me how precious life is (I guess that's where his touch of optimism comes from) and that not every memory has to be a good one, especially when it comes to failed relationships. Something like 'the bitter memories are the sweetest memories'.
Those are the main motifs, I think... there are of course many more but wrote too much already. :D As I said I could write a whole book.
Everything Mark mentions in this song could describe Telegraph Road from the lights to the 6 lanes of traffic (3 moving slow).
I do agree this is one of the best rock songs ever recorded, Dire Straits was good in 1976 and got better with every year.
I guarantee that this song is not about Telegraph Road, Pymble!