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He sticks to his guns
He take the road as it comes
It take the shine off his shoes
He says it's a shame
You know it may be a game
Ah, but I won't play to lose
He's burning the grass
He take up a glass
He swallow it neat
He crosses the floor
He open the door
He take a sniff of the street
And she tell him that he's crazy
She's a-saying listen baby
I'm your wife
She tell him that he's crazy
For gambling a-with his life
But he climbs on his horse
You know he feel no remorse
He just kicks it alive
His motor is fine
He take it over the line
Until he's ready to dive
And she tell him that he's crazy
Yes she's saying listen baby
I'm your wife
Yeah she tell him that he's crazy
For gambling with his life
He sticks to his guns
He take the road as it comes
It take the shine off his shoes
He says it's a shame
You know it may be a game
Ah but I won't play to lose
He sticks to his guns
He take the road as it comes
It take the shine off his shoes
He's too fast to stop
He take it over the top
He make a line in the news
He take the road as it comes
It take the shine off his shoes
He says it's a shame
You know it may be a game
Ah, but I won't play to lose
He's burning the grass
He take up a glass
He swallow it neat
He crosses the floor
He open the door
He take a sniff of the street
And she tell him that he's crazy
She's a-saying listen baby
I'm your wife
She tell him that he's crazy
For gambling a-with his life
But he climbs on his horse
You know he feel no remorse
He just kicks it alive
His motor is fine
He take it over the line
Until he's ready to dive
And she tell him that he's crazy
Yes she's saying listen baby
I'm your wife
Yeah she tell him that he's crazy
For gambling with his life
He sticks to his guns
He take the road as it comes
It take the shine off his shoes
He says it's a shame
You know it may be a game
Ah but I won't play to lose
He sticks to his guns
He take the road as it comes
It take the shine off his shoes
He's too fast to stop
He take it over the top
He make a line in the news
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This song is full of tropes/idioms. In fact, it is largely constructed from them: "sticks to his guns"; "takes the road as it comes"; "takes the shine off [his shoes]"; "gambling with his life"; "kicks it alive"; "it's a shame"; "won't play to lose"... almost all the lines are common phrases or, at least, devoid of individual detail; "he open the door / he take a sniff of the street" tells you very little about the biker as an individual person.
And yet, somehow the song becomes incredibly poignant and we are able to put the cliches together to form a complex picture of his character and his situation. A lot of this is subtle and through the music or intonation, but it's also through the lyrics.
I think there are a few key ideas we can get from this:
1) Behind every simplistic "line in the news" and the cliches or bland descriptions therein there are real, actualized people.
2) Alternately, it's an embrace of the cliche. We live in a world where every story has been told (to the point that it is a cliche), but that somehow doesn't diminish from the stories' power.
My mental image when listening to this song, however, is of an Old West style desperado who's done well and his woman or ma is trying to convince him to hang it up and retire. But he's always just got to gamble it all on just one more heist...
can't say much about the meaning, but I noticed a few things that made me think of Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time In The West, and since there is also a track on the album named after this movie, maybe it has to do something with it... I have to say it is not very convincing, but I'll give it a try.
so here it goes.
'He take up a glass
He swallow it neat
He crosses the floor
He open the door
He take a sniff of the street'
that reminds me of the movie, when Harmonica and Frank are in the saloon, discussing Frank's offer about the railway station.
Frank offers Harmonica one dollar more than Harmonica payed for it (you have the right to make profit too). Harmonica buys a drink and drinks it. Then he walks to the door, and stands with his arms on the door, looking to the street outside.
(when he comes back, he asks the wailer how much, he says 'one dollar', Harmonica takes Franks dollar and throws it in the glass before walking away - I love that part :) )
'But he climbs on his horse
You know he feels no remorse
He just kicks it alive
His motor is fine
He take it over the line
Until he’s ready to dive'
made me think of Cheyenne at the end of the movie. He and Harmonica ride away on their horses, his motor is fine referring to Cheyenne's body - actually it's not fine of course; when he is out of sight he falls from his horse (until he's ready to dive) and dies.
well, I do think this song is about a motorcyclist, but Mark Knopfler might have put this in as a reference to the movie...
i like how for the last 3 lines, the music goes a bit higher and more agressive to annouce the news (thats how i see it)
But tinderbox is right -a "deadpan brilliant" final line, made all the more effective by calling the song News.
I feel there's an unstated point here that the guy is a bit outside of the law already, and he may be joining in a big bank robbery scheme or something similar. That would give the references to gamble and risk much more point. Mark had been a journalist for years and he's a literary guy, so he's no doubt familiar with this kind of thing. The final line is really deadpan brilliant.
There's a similar "iceberg weight" I think, in "Single-handed Sailor" (check with my comments to that song).