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Let's go with that.

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Mark Knopfler is one of the most
successful musicians in the world.

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During the past 30 years, he's
written and recorded over 300 songs,

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including some of the most famous
in popular music.

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# A love-struck Romeo

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# Got his serenade

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# Laying everybody low

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# With a love song that he made. #

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# That ain't working
That's the way you do it

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# Money for nothing
and your chicks for free. #

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# You do the walk
Do the walk of life

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# Yeah, the walk of life. #

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# With the sultans

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# Yeah, with the sultans of swing. #

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# We're fools to make war
on our brothers in arms. #

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Mark Knopfler has sold
over 120 million albums,

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both with Dire Straits
and as a solo artist,

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yet on the afternoon of a
sell-out concert in Lisbon,

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he's able to sit unrecognised
outside a city centre cafe.

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For him, it would seem,
it is all about the songs.

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He doesn't like fame,
it's not about the money.

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And unlike most artists, he
doesn't choose to live in his past.

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It's not Dire Straits anymore,
but it's still...

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It always was him and his songs.

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# The chisels are calling

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# It's time to make sawdust

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# Steely reminders
of things left to do

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# Monteleone

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# Mandolin's waiting... #

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I think he's one of the greatest
living songwriters going right now.

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# My fingerplane's working

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# Gentle persuasion

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# I bend to the wood
and I coax it to sing

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# Monteleone,
your new one and only will ring

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The excitement is the creating -
there's nothing like it.

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It's the best feeling that there is -
when it's working.

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# I'm better with my muscles

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# Than I am with my mouth

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# I work the fairgrounds in summer

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# Or go pick fruit down south

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# When I feel them chilly winds

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# Where the weather goes I'll follow

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# Pack up my travelling things

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# Go with the swallows

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# And I might get lucky now and then

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# You win some
You might get lucky now and then

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# Yeah, you win some... #

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I was born in Glasgow because my dad
had gone up there to work,

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although my mum's family
are from Newcastle.

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My dad was a refugee
and he was Hungarian,

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and he came to England in 1939.

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He was a firebrand young socialist
and he was expelled from Hungary.

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He did about three stretches
in prison.

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He never hurt anybody,
of course, he just probably

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handed out pamphlets or whatever he
did, and he escaped to Czechoslovakia

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and he got out of Czechoslovakia
and made it to Britain.

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Pretty soon after that he got a job
in Glasgow.

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He wanted to work
as a city architect,

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he wanted to try and serve society
as best he could.

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I suppose having a sense of what's
right and wrong is just something

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that you grow up with in your family,
if you're lucky enough to have that.

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I really can't say
any more than that,

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other than that
I had a good upbringing.

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Both parents did a good job, I like
to think. I hope so anyway!

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When Mark was eight,

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the Knopfler family upped sticks
and moved south to Newcastle.

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It was here that Mark's love
of music was fired up

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by his boogie-woogie piano
playing Uncle Kingsley.

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My mum's brother Kingsley had a banjo
and he played boogie-woogie piano.

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And the boogie-woogie
was very important to me,

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because it made a real
connection with me.

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The sort of big blocks
just moved into place,

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and I realised that that was for me.

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With Uncle Kingsley's boogie-woogie
piano ringing in his ears,

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and the rapidly-emerging
beat group scene,

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the young Mark Knopfler soon
developed an obsession with guitars.

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I used to haunt the music shops
long before I even had a guitar.

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And the music shops in Newcastle,
I knew every inch of them.

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I would probably be the
little lad in there

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who was too nervous
to take a guitar down.

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I didn't know how to play anyway.

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I remember once, it was overpowering,
and there was nothing I could do,

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and I just picked up this Spanish
guitar and took it off the hook

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and took it down,
and a voice behind me said,

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"If you drop that, I'll drop you."

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For the 11-year-old Mark Knopfler,

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only one guitar would fit the bill,
and that was the Fender Stratocaster

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as used by his hero,
Hank Marvin of The Shadows.

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Back then, I wanted to have a Strat

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just because of The Shadows' sound
and the twang, that's what it was.

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It's just really pick
and tremolo arm, that twang.

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And not everybody can just get that.

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Sometimes you get people
that are more hammy on it,

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so everybody's got
a different touch on it.

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And Hank had a beautiful
vibrato on it.

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So that sound thankfully
just came kind of naturally.

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Just that sound.

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And I still wish I could get a guitar
to sound the way he gets it to sound.

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So here he is,
one of the all-time favourites,

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the man himself, Hank B Marvin.

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Hank used to come down
and play with us on our encores.

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If he was about, he would come
down and do Local Hero and stuff.

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MUSIC: "Going Home"

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It's always very nice to complete
the circuit with your childhood.

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# Bye-bye, love

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# Bye-bye, happiness

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# Hello, loneliness

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# I think I'm a-going to die... #

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In his early teenage years,
another sound Mark found hard

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to resist was the sweet vocal
harmonies of the Everly Brothers.

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A good friend of mine called Vince,
who I'm still friendly with,

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we used to play Everly Brothers
records together and things

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that belonged
to his big sister Francine.

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# There goes my baby
with someone else, yeah, yeah, yeah

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# She sure looks happy

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# I sure am blue. #

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And when the Everlys
recorded a song that I wrote,

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I got the chance to play it
with them at this TV special

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in Vanderbilt in Nashville.

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And the Evs came along,

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and it's a real thrill
to be playing your song with the Evs.

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# Why worry?

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# There should be laughter
after pain

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# There should be sunshine
after rain

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# These things
have always been the same

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# So why worry now? #

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By the age of 16, while patiently
waiting to go electric,

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Knopfler could be found
finger-picking his way

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around the folk clubs of Newcastle.

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Doing things like,

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# I'm going down that road
and I'm feelin' bad, baby

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# Going down that road
and I'm feelin' bad

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# Ain't gonna be treated this way

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# These two darn shoes kill my feet,
baby

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# Daughter's shoes is killing my feet

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# Ain't gonna be treated this way. # 

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So this kind of duality going on

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where I'd be playing in folk places
at the age of 16

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and wanting to play
electric music as well.

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For a kid growing up in Newcastle
in the '60s,

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no music was more electrifying
than that of the blues.

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One bluesman in particular, BB King,

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would create a lasting impression
on the young Mark Knopfler.

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He had a record called
Live at the Regal

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and that was really, really
important for me.

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It was a very definite
thing happening.

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This relationship between the voice,
the guitar and the audience

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that I'd never heard before
and made a big impression on me.

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# The way I used to love you, baby

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# Baby, that's the way
I hate you now. #

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And then Bob Dylan, of course,
changed it all for me.

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As far as realising that you could
write about anything.

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# Oh, my name, it ain't nothing.

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# My age, it means less.

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# The country I come from
is called the mid-west

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# I was taught and brought up there
The laws to abide.

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# And the land that I lived in
has God on its side. #

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Obviously, your childhood influences,
they all help, but what they all did,

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they all made a song person
and not an instrumental type person.

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They made me much more
of a song person.

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Not somebody who wanted
to play in an orchestra.

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# Southbound again

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# Don't know if I'm going
or leaving home. #

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After finishing school at 18,

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Knopfler left home and journeyed
south to Essex to train
as a journalist,

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only to return north a year later

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when he was offered a job in Leeds
as a cub reporter on the
Yorkshire Evening Post.

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Musically, I was slowly starting
to put together a couple of songs.

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But the journalism was a really
great thing for a kid to do,

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because it toughened me up
and it meant that you had to
get yourself organised half way.

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Not that I ever really did.

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In fact, I don't know whether I was
tough enough to be a newspaper man.

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I didn't have the printer's ink
running in my veins
and I think it has to.

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During the six years Knopfler
spent in Leeds, he continued to
play music in various line ups.

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He also enrolled at Leeds University
to continue his studies in English.

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This would lead to Knopfler
accepting a teaching job in Essex.

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But the desire to get his songs
recorded wouldn't go away.

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The songs had been
pushing and pushing.

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But they pushed harder and harder.

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And I suppose I was
writing more of them.

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So it was just adding to their weight
to the door frame.

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# Sweet surrender. #

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Against the background
of a now emerging punk rock scene,

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Knopfler, aged 27,
along with brother David on guitar,

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John Illsley on bass
and Pick Withers on drums,

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formed the group
that would become Dire Straits.

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By the time I actually managed
to get Dire Straits together,
the little line-up we had,

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the songs had been pushing so hard

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that they actually
pushed me out of a job

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and at last I had what I could see
was the way ahead just to get
these songs recorded.

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Radio London DJ Charlie Gillett
was persuaded by the group to play
their demo tape on his radio show.

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This led to them being signed
by Vertigo Records.

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Finally Knopfler had found
an outlet for his songs.

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On 16th May 1978, Dire Straits made
their TV debut playing the song that
would become their calling card.

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# Get a shiver in the dark

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# It's raining in the park
but meantime

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# South of the river you stop
and you hold everything

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# A band is blowing Dixie
double-four time.

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# Feel all right
when you hear the music ring... #

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Sultans of Swing is like a kind of
situation tune I suppose.

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I was living in Deptford at the time.

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And there was a little pub round
the corner, a dingy little place.

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# Coming in out of rain
I hear the jazz go down... #

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There was nobody in, except some lads
playing pool in the corner

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and a little Dixieland jazz band
playing on a little stage at one end.

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# Way on down south

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00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:29,400
# Way on down south, London Town... #

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Because nobody was
applauding or anything.

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The guy announced, "We're the
Sultans of Swing, good night."

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And they couldn't have been less
Sultans of Swing.

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# We are the Sultans

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00:15:44,040 --> 00:15:47,840
# We are the Sultans of Swing. #

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00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:53,960
Having been a kid reporter, I think,
really did help me organise material,

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00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:56,560
be able to make sense
out of what I was looking at.

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For some reason, something
reverberates with a writer

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00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:07,160
and they note it, they mark it
and it goes into the junk yard

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and it may or may not
find a home somewhere.

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A lot of the things that
you improvise in the studio

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become part of the furniture
of the thing.

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Certainly with Sultans,
the stuff at the end...

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All that stuff. If you don't do that,
it's not Sultans of Swing anymore

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00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:46,440
and people would feel that's not why
I spent all that money on the ticket.

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Sultans, I think, was a massive hit
all over the world

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and the first album was a massive hit
all over the place

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and it was a real avalanche
of activity.

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The idea never was to do it
to make a million dollars.

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00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:31,160
It never was that in the first place.

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What happens to a lot of successful
acts is that the business starts
to channel them along

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and you're out there touring and
you're getting used to playing

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00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:45,320
in bigger places and it's all
experience, all that stuff.

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But it comes at the expense
of something.

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00:17:52,520 --> 00:17:57,400
After the worldwide success of the
first album, the group's second
album, Communique,

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00:17:57,400 --> 00:18:01,400
and its single, Lady Writer, was
viewed by many as a disappointment.

234
00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:03,600
# Lady writer on the TV

235
00:18:03,600 --> 00:18:07,560
# Talking about the Virgin Mary

236
00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:10,640
# Reminded me of you

237
00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:14,040
# Expectation left
to come up to, yeah. #

238
00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:19,880
You're out there playing live,
but all the time you're doing that,
you're not writing.

239
00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:24,320
And all the time you're doing that
you're not even really practising,
not that much anyway.

240
00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:30,920
So it didn't take me long to realise
that I wasn't having enough time

241
00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:34,600
to develop properly as a player
or as a writer or anything.

242
00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:40,040
So, of course, the second album,
like a lot of second albums, a lot
of acts are compromised that way.

243
00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:47,440
By the time of their third album,
Making Movies, in 1980,
Knopfler had returned to form.

244
00:18:47,440 --> 00:18:52,320
Having moved from London to New
York, this new environment would
influence his song writing.

245
00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:55,520
No more so than on the classic
Romeo and Juliet.

246
00:18:55,520 --> 00:19:00,680
I suppose I was thinking along more
of a West Side Story kind of a life,

247
00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:03,960
rather than a Wild West End
kind of a line.

248
00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:11,320
I was playing my national with this
guitar and just maybe fiddling around
with it in the key...

249
00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:18,080
It's like, it's almost like
a semi banjo-y kind of thing.

250
00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:20,640
And I started from somewhere else.

251
00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:24,960
Instead of starting there,
I started there

252
00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:30,200
and I was trying to find a way in to
the lyrics for Romeo and Juliet.

253
00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:35,200
I sort of saw the Romeo figure
as a kind of figure of fun.

254
00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:43,040
So there...

255
00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:45,800
is the key and that's where
the guitar's tuned to.

256
00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:49,200
I always get people saying,
how did you do that?

257
00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:52,560
It's really just a kind of
happy accident.

258
00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:17,160
# So you're a love-struck Romeo

259
00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:19,760
# Got a serenade

260
00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:23,000
# Laying everybody low

261
00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:25,160
# With a love song that he made

262
00:20:26,360 --> 00:20:28,240
# Finds a street light

263
00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:32,680
# Steps out of the shade and says

264
00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:35,160
# You and me babe, how about it?

265
00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:42,280
# Juliet says goodness me it's Romeo
You nearly gave me a heart attack

266
00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:45,320
# He's underneath the window

267
00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:48,920
# She's singing
Hey-la, my boyfriend's back.

268
00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:53,840
# You shouldn't come around here
Singing up at people like that

269
00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:59,320
# Anyway, what you
going to do about it?

270
00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:05,000
# Juliet, the dice was loaded
from the start

271
00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:10,240
# And I bet, then you exploded
in my heart

272
00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:17,760
# And I forget, I forget
The movie song

273
00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:22,480
# When you going to realise it was
just that the time was wrong?

274
00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:25,680
# Juliet. #

275
00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:27,200
I enjoy playing the song now.

276
00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:29,800
Some of those songs,
they just seem to want to go on

277
00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:32,800
and as long as they've got a life,
I'll enjoy playing them.

278
00:21:32,800 --> 00:21:36,120
I've got to find something in it
for myself when I do it

279
00:21:36,120 --> 00:21:39,160
just to try and make sure
that there's something real

280
00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:42,040
in it happening
for me all the time.

281
00:21:43,800 --> 00:21:46,920
# And the dream was just the same

282
00:21:46,920 --> 00:21:51,440
# You dreamed your dream for you
And o now your dream's real

283
00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:56,480
# How can you look at me as if I'm
just another one of your deals?

284
00:21:56,480 --> 00:22:00,280
# When you can fall
for chains of silver

285
00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:04,560
# You can fall for chains of gold

286
00:22:04,560 --> 00:22:07,520
# You can fall for pretty strangers

287
00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:10,240
# And the promises they hold

288
00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:13,640
# You promised me everything

289
00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:16,440
# You promised me thick and thin

290
00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:18,480
# Now you just say

291
00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:20,960
# Romeo, you know I used to
have a scene with him

292
00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:27,800
# Juliet, when we made love
you used to cry

293
00:22:27,800 --> 00:22:31,200
# You said I love you
like the stars above

294
00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:33,240
# Oh I'll love you
till the day I die

295
00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:37,080
# And there's a place for us

296
00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:40,760
# You know the movie song

297
00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:46,000
# When you gonna realise
it was just that the time was wrong?

298
00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:50,800
# Juliet. #

299
00:22:56,920 --> 00:23:02,320
I don't think you do necessarily know
which song is better than another.
They're just different.

300
00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:06,440
They're like people and you have
to do the best thing by them

301
00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:11,200
and you do the best thing by them

302
00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:14,880
almost like a little person
and then they grow up and you do

303
00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:19,200
the best thing and they're the boss
and then they walk away from you.

304
00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:22,080
When they're recorded, off they go
and they have their life.

305
00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:23,760
This song's Tunnel Of Love.

306
00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:33,520
For the song Tunnel of Love,
also on the Making Movies album,

307
00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:38,440
Knopfler was drawing inspiration
from memories of his childhood
growing up in the north-east.

308
00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:47,400
The biggest fair in Europe comes to
Newcastle every year and that was
a magnet for me.

309
00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:49,680
I was just always lost
in the middle of it.

310
00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:53,440
Also when I was little we used to
go to Cullercoats and Whitley Bay.

311
00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:57,520
On the train from South Gosforth
station, there was an electric train
that went there

312
00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:02,440
and we used to go there
and the Spanish City
is something that I remember.

313
00:24:06,840 --> 00:24:11,760
I'd been just on a roller coaster
ride for the past few years.

314
00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:15,160
# Crazy on the waltzers

315
00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:19,080
# But it's the life
that I choose... #

316
00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:21,400
I realised that's what
I was going to do.

317
00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:27,040
I realised that was my life and that
was the way it was all going to be,
I was just,

318
00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:29,960
I was in the middle of it,
in the eye of the storm really

319
00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:32,840
but I was just riding it just fine,
I was doing it,

320
00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:36,960
I was hanging in there and I was
determined that I was going to go on.

321
00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:42,200
# She took off a silver locket

322
00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:43,720
# Said remember me by this

323
00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:49,000
# Put a hand in my pocket

324
00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:51,520
# I got a keepsake and a kiss

325
00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:54,080
# And in the roar of dust and diesel

326
00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:57,560
# I stood I watched her walk away

327
00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:03,000
Could have caught up with her
easy enough... #

328
00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:07,800
My travels had taken me to New York
at this point, but I knew
where I was from,

329
00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:13,240
it's a process that started
a Cullercoats, it's a process that

330
00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:17,480
started in Whitley Bay, it's a
process that started in Newcastle,

331
00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:19,280
maybe even earlier.

332
00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:27,040
And that all of this stuff comes
back to who you are as a little
person, you know?

333
00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:32,240
And it all still influences
what I do.

334
00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:35,360
# I'm searching
through these carousels

335
00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:36,680
# And the carnival arcades

336
00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:39,560
# Searching everywhere,
from steeplechase to palisades

337
00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:43,480
# In any shooting gallery
where the promises are made

338
00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:44,760
# To walk away, walk away

339
00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:49,680
# Walk away, walk away

340
00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:53,640
# Cullercoats and Whitley Bay

341
00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:56,680
# How to walk away. #

342
00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:15,960
During 1982, Knopfler's musical
journey took him into unchartered
waters when he was commissioned

343
00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:20,320
to write his first film score for
director Bill Forsyth's Local Hero.

344
00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:24,040
Is that the yank in that thing,
Edward?

345
00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:26,360
Aye, Peter, that's him away.

346
00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:29,920
I meant to say cheerio.

347
00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:35,760
Doing film work is something that
I thought would be interesting

348
00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:39,080
and just make a change
from writing these ditties.

349
00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:45,760
It's very lucky, I think, for me
to have had those early years
in Scotland, musically,

350
00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:51,880
it's been a big factor, because
it never seems too hard for me

351
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:57,240
to be able to create something
in that Celtic area

352
00:26:57,240 --> 00:27:00,680
that's melodic or that seems to work.

353
00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:06,320
I just seem to be at home with that
kind of music and I've always felt
that I've had a connection to it.

354
00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:10,200
MUSIC: "Going Home"

355
00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:54,200
In 1985, Dire Straits would release
an album which would go on to become

356
00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:56,600
one of biggest selling records
of all time.

357
00:27:56,600 --> 00:28:00,680
Do you know which album sold most
copies in 1985? Dire Straits?

358
00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:03,880
# That ain't working
That's the way you do it

359
00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:07,040
# Money for nothing
and your chicks for free

360
00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:09,720
# Money for nothing... #

361
00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:12,280
All right, so what was the
biggest selling compact disc?

362
00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:13,360
Dire Straits.

363
00:28:13,360 --> 00:28:14,840
# You do the walk

364
00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:17,280
# Yeah, you do the walk of life

365
00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:18,840
# You do the walk of life. #

366
00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:22,520
OK, Rover,
so what's the album called?

367
00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:24,600
Brothers in Arms, Dire Straits.

368
00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:29,120
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

369
00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:55,760
Thanks very much. It's very early on,
I didn't even have time too make
sure my trousers were zipped up.

370
00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:06,320
It's just a little bit strange,
it's 1987 now and that record
was made in 1985,

371
00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:11,000
but it's very nice recognition and...

372
00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:14,880
Thanks for all your votes and... It's
much appreciated. Thanks very much.

373
00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:18,720
I'm sure one of the reasons
why Brothers in Arms

374
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:23,600
was such a big record
is that it coincided with the CD.

375
00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:28,800
In fact So Far Away, I think, was the
first CD single that was ever made.

376
00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:30,960
I've no doubt that had
a lot to do with it.

377
00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:34,600
And also the fact that
a couple of the songs on the record

378
00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:38,920
did well in the States and that
will always sell you records.

379
00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:40,440
So that was a big factor, too.

380
00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:45,400
# Here I am again
in this mean old town

381
00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:48,400
# And you're so far away from me

382
00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:53,360
# And where are you
when the sun goes down?

383
00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:56,840
# You're so far away from me

384
00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:01,640
# You're so far away from me

385
00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:06,160
# So far I just can't see

386
00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:10,000
# You're so far away from me

387
00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:15,440
# You're so far away from me. #

388
00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:18,920
I don't think when you're writing
a song, or making a record,

389
00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:21,920
that you're not really conscious
that it's going to be a big record.

390
00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:29,040
Making Brothers in Arms, I was just
making another album, I wasn't really
conscious about the size of it.

391
00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:34,040
I think it's really not connected
with your journey as a writer
or a songwriter.

392
00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:37,960
One of the stand-out songs from
the album which still resonates
to this day

393
00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:42,680
and remains a staple in
Knopfler's live shows is the title
track itself, Brothers In Arms.

394
00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:47,240
Brothers in Arms was just a phrase I
heard and my dad happened to remark

395
00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:53,680
how ironic it was that the Russians
were siding with the Argentineans
in the Falklands.

396
00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:57,040
There you are you, he said, the
Russians are being brothers in arms

397
00:30:57,040 --> 00:31:00,280
with a fascist dictatorship
and the phrase stuck in my head

398
00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:06,160
and when you're a songwriter that's
something you take notice of.

399
00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:11,040
To a certain extent,
you've got a kind of antenna
for that kind of thing.

400
00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:18,360
In fact, the first line of the song,
these mist-covered mountains,
the mist-covered mountains

401
00:31:18,360 --> 00:31:24,560
is the title of an old Scottish air
and so I said these mist-covered
mountains are a home now for me.

402
00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:29,040
But that's taken from an
old song title and that's
what a songwriter will do.

403
00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:31,240
It's just these...

404
00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:33,360
There's just this stuff.

405
00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:35,680
There's this stuff...

406
00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:38,240
in the scrap yard!

407
00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:41,880
# These mist-covered mountains

408
00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:46,760
# Home now for me

409
00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:54,000
# But my home is the lowlands

410
00:31:57,320 --> 00:31:59,800
# And always will be

411
00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:07,960
# Some day you'll return to

412
00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:13,080
# Your valleys and your farms

413
00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:19,840
# And you'll no longer burn

414
00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:23,440
# To be brothers in arms... #

415
00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:30,080
What I was actually thinking about
in terms of the song itself

416
00:32:30,080 --> 00:32:35,360
was the idea of the mortally wounded
man surrounded by his friends,

417
00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:40,080
and that's just one of those
battle scenes, isn't it?

418
00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:46,320
There's a poem, The Burial
Of Sir John Moore At Corunna,

419
00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:48,720
and things that I'd read as a kid.

420
00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:51,560
# And the sun's gone to hell

421
00:32:56,720 --> 00:32:59,200
# Got the moon riding high

422
00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:05,920
# Let me bid you farewell

423
00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:13,000
# Every man has to die

424
00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:21,320
# But it's written in the starlight

425
00:33:25,240 --> 00:33:29,400
# And every line on your palm

426
00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:35,360
# We are fools to make war

427
00:33:35,360 --> 00:33:39,240
# on our brothers in arms... #

428
00:33:50,840 --> 00:33:54,920
It became a sort of anthem
for troops in the Gulf.

429
00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:58,600
I was actually doing an interview
one day on the radio

430
00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:03,080
and this tank man actually called up
to say that at the end of the battle,

431
00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:07,520
they linked all the tanks up
in the dawn and they played it.

432
00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:25,840
It's a comfort to me that the song,
that the music, not just that song,

433
00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:30,480
but other music is used by people
for all sorts of things,

434
00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:36,160
to celebrate things and to mark
occasions, you know,
to get married.

435
00:34:36,160 --> 00:34:40,000
A woman told me the other day that...

436
00:34:41,800 --> 00:34:47,560
She said, "We used all your stuff
for our wedding."

437
00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:49,440
Well, that's really nice, isn't it?

438
00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:55,480
That's great. So it's not all
to do with necessarily funerals.

439
00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:08,120
Money For Nothing, Knopfler's
wry take on the MTV generation,

440
00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:11,560
gave Dire Straits their first
No 1 single in America.

441
00:35:11,560 --> 00:35:15,560
Thanks in no small part to
Knopfler's distinctive guitar sound.

442
00:35:15,560 --> 00:35:18,880
When people say, how do you get those
sounds? Usually I say, I don't know,

443
00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:22,040
I fiddle about with the amp
until I get something that works.

444
00:35:22,040 --> 00:35:24,400
That's essentially what this was.

445
00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:27,480
I had actually forgotten
how I did it.

446
00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:45,800
And that's really essentially what
I'm doing - I'm blocking out
quite a lot of notes.

447
00:35:52,880 --> 00:35:54,400
And as the song is going...

448
00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:00,920
That's just two strings.

449
00:36:10,080 --> 00:36:14,160
# Look at them yo-yos
That's the way you do it

450
00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:17,760
# You play the guitar on the MTV

451
00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:21,000
# That ain't working
That's the way you do it

452
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:24,200
# Money for nothing
and your chicks for free... #

453
00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:27,520
Money for nothing,
that's a situation kind of a song.

454
00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:30,680
This was an electrical
appliance store

455
00:36:30,680 --> 00:36:34,600
and all the TVs at the back
of the store were all tuned to MTV.

456
00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:40,240
MTV was a pretty new thing then
and then some big meathead guy
in a checked shirt

457
00:36:40,240 --> 00:36:47,200
had been doing some deliveries and he
was delivering his opinion about
everybody who was on the MTV.

458
00:36:50,080 --> 00:36:53,960
And I had to actually spy on him,
because his lines were so classic.

459
00:36:57,000 --> 00:37:00,360
# The little faggot with the
earring and the make-up

460
00:37:00,360 --> 00:37:03,960
# Yeah, buddy, that's his own hair

461
00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:07,280
# That little faggot
got his own jet airplane

462
00:37:07,280 --> 00:37:11,560
# That little faggot,
he's a millionaire

463
00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:14,600
# We gotta install microwave ovens

464
00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:19,440
I actually went to the counter
and I asked for a pen and paper

465
00:37:19,440 --> 00:37:23,600
and there was a kitchen display
in the window of the store,

466
00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:28,400
it was in New York, and I sat
down in the window of the store and
started writing down the lines.

467
00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:32,520
So that guy essentially
gave me a song.

468
00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:36,040
# I want my, I want my

469
00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:41,400
# I want my MTV. #

470
00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:45,000
During the Brothers in Arms tour,
which lasted 12 months,

471
00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:48,200
Dire Straits played 247 shows
in 100 cities,

472
00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:52,360
including a 13-night record-breaking
stint at London's Wembley Arena.

473
00:37:52,360 --> 00:37:56,240
Dire Straits were arguably
the biggest band in the world.

474
00:37:56,240 --> 00:38:02,480
There was a kind of critical mass
happening, where a lot of people
wanted to see the band play live.

475
00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:08,960
And they were into the records
and they were into seeing,
experiencing the whole thing live.

476
00:38:08,960 --> 00:38:11,600
All right this is where Wembley
does the walk.

477
00:38:11,600 --> 00:38:13,360
I know they don't let you stand up,

478
00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:17,040
but if you all do it,
there's nothing they can do about it.

479
00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:22,840
In fact I think they like it really.

480
00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:26,560
On the surface, it would appear
Knopfler was having the time
of his life,

481
00:38:26,560 --> 00:38:29,440
but he was learning that success
on this scale came at a price.

482
00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:33,480
Oh, yeah, you're really not used
to it. It's a massive strain.

483
00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:38,560
I think it's probably just good luck
that I wasn't younger.

484
00:38:38,560 --> 00:38:42,520
I really sympathise with kids
who go off the rails with it all.

485
00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:45,720
I probably just survived it.

486
00:38:45,720 --> 00:38:47,640
But there's a lot of damage.

487
00:38:47,640 --> 00:38:51,000
And things happen things that
you're not ready for always.

488
00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:54,200
It's a new experience entirely.

489
00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:58,720
And for a songwriter, a
songwriter's more of an observer

490
00:38:58,720 --> 00:39:04,000
and you suddenly feel people looking
at you and there's a reversal
going on.

491
00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:06,160
And of course they're not really.

492
00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:10,960
It's just something that you feel,
because of the attention the music
is getting that week

493
00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:12,680
or the band's getting that week.

494
00:39:12,680 --> 00:39:15,520
It takes a while to get
the whole thing in perspective.

495
00:39:22,920 --> 00:39:25,520
Following the tour,
Knopfler put Dire Straits on hold

496
00:39:25,520 --> 00:39:28,760
and got back to basics by forming
the Notting Hillbillies.

497
00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:31,720
The line up included Steve Phillips
and Brendan Croker,

498
00:39:31,720 --> 00:39:35,400
two mates from his days
as a struggling musician in Leeds.

499
00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:41,840
I just rested up for a while and
after a bit, as usually is the case,

500
00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:45,080
looking to get some gainful
employment after goofing around.

501
00:39:47,680 --> 00:39:51,000
# It's been something
seeing you again

502
00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:53,760
# In this time we've had to spend

503
00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:57,640
# Been so good to be around

504
00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:02,120
# I thank you for that special trip

505
00:40:02,120 --> 00:40:07,960
# Keep me going on until
the next time I'm in town... #

506
00:40:07,960 --> 00:40:11,720
And so we just ended up
having a lot of fun doing it.

507
00:40:11,720 --> 00:40:14,480
I suppose that was like relaxing.

508
00:40:14,480 --> 00:40:19,120
# I see you smile
and I remember what went down... #

509
00:40:19,120 --> 00:40:24,280
I think it probably was a way of
reminding me how much I enjoyed
picking songs

510
00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:31,440
and if that's all that had ever
happened to me in life,
I'd still be doing that now.

511
00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:36,600
I'd be playing guitar with somebody
and picking old time songs.

512
00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:40,560
If I'd never written a song,
that's what I'd be doing now.

513
00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:45,920
And the person
that I admire an awful lot,

514
00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:50,400
very famous guitarist
of Dire Straits,

515
00:40:50,400 --> 00:40:54,000
writes all their tunes
and sings all the songs.

516
00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:57,760
I love him as a musician
and as a person, Mark Knopfler.

517
00:40:57,760 --> 00:41:01,840
Another side project during
his sabbatical from his
day job with Dire Straits

518
00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:06,800
was when he teamed up with the
legendary guitar picker Chet Atkins
on the album Neck And Neck.

519
00:41:06,800 --> 00:41:11,560
I think the only reason that Chet
actually called me up and asked me

520
00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:14,760
to play on the record,
was because he took pity on me,

521
00:41:14,760 --> 00:41:17,840
because I was a finger picker
like him.

522
00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:21,560
I think this is one of the first
things we did, See You In My Dreams.

523
00:41:35,160 --> 00:41:38,640
Chet being so kind, I'm sure he'd
keep it fairly simple for my benefit.

524
00:42:13,440 --> 00:42:15,000
Really, it's all come from...

525
00:42:17,560 --> 00:42:19,160
..that.

526
00:42:19,160 --> 00:42:21,840
Picking. Finger picking.

527
00:42:21,840 --> 00:42:29,160
And that's how Chet essentially
pulled himself, he picked his way
out of real poverty.

528
00:42:29,160 --> 00:42:30,800
You know, genuine poverty.

529
00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:36,720
When he used to walk to school,
he didn't have a coat in the winter.

530
00:42:38,240 --> 00:42:40,080
And he...

531
00:42:40,080 --> 00:42:44,720
he literally picked his way to fame.
And fortune.

532
00:42:47,960 --> 00:42:53,280
In 1991, Dire Straits got back
together to record what would
be their final studio album,

533
00:42:53,280 --> 00:42:59,360
On Every Street, and Knopfler
found himself back on the road
on another sell-out world tour.

534
00:42:59,360 --> 00:43:04,880
The gigs that we were doing On Every
Street were massive gigs and we had

535
00:43:04,880 --> 00:43:11,760
two stages that were leapfrogging
around and we'd brought in extra
people to do all that.

536
00:43:11,760 --> 00:43:15,120
One of the things I'd always
enjoyed about touring and still enjoy

537
00:43:15,120 --> 00:43:18,840
about touring is it's like having
a circus. That's part of the fun.

538
00:43:18,840 --> 00:43:22,400
I think if it gets so big,
you lose that.

539
00:43:31,040 --> 00:43:34,960
Although there was no official
announcement that the group
were breaking up,

540
00:43:34,960 --> 00:43:39,040
the On Every Street tour
was the last time Knopfler
would play with Dire Straits.

541
00:43:39,040 --> 00:43:42,840
I think it just gently rolled out.

542
00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:44,440
I kind of put to it bed.

543
00:43:44,440 --> 00:43:48,560
I wanted to get back to being a guy
who could write a song,

544
00:43:48,560 --> 00:43:51,240
do all the things I've said with it

545
00:43:51,240 --> 00:43:56,160
and then go and tour it for people,
but do it at a kind of
manageable level.

546
00:44:04,520 --> 00:44:06,560
Following the demise of
Dire Straits,

547
00:44:06,560 --> 00:44:10,080
Knopfler has continued to tour and
record as a successful solo artist.

548
00:44:10,080 --> 00:44:12,840
This new-found musical freedom
has allowed him to collaborate

549
00:44:12,840 --> 00:44:16,400
with other musicians, such as
country legend Emmylou Harris.

550
00:44:16,400 --> 00:44:19,920
# This is us down at the Mardi Gras

551
00:44:19,920 --> 00:44:22,920
# This is us in your daddy's car

552
00:44:24,240 --> 00:44:26,040
# You and the missing link

553
00:44:26,040 --> 00:44:28,840
# Had a little too much I think

554
00:44:28,840 --> 00:44:32,000
# Too long in the sun

555
00:44:32,000 --> 00:44:33,640
# Having too much fun

556
00:44:33,640 --> 00:44:37,920
# You and me and our memories
This is us.

557
00:44:37,920 --> 00:44:39,720
# This is us... #

558
00:44:41,320 --> 00:44:45,120
These songs that I'm writing,
sometimes they'll fall into types

559
00:44:45,120 --> 00:44:50,400
and I'd noticed
that there were a few songs that
were making the male/female shape

560
00:44:50,400 --> 00:44:54,640
and so I thought about doing a duet.

561
00:44:54,640 --> 00:44:57,520
I thought that, um,

562
00:44:57,520 --> 00:45:00,080
"Mark and Emmy" might be all right,
you know.

563
00:45:00,080 --> 00:45:03,160
I don't know, I don't
exactly know why.

564
00:45:03,160 --> 00:45:06,600
I think it was just because I'd been
writing certain kinds of songs.

565
00:45:07,920 --> 00:45:10,640
# Famous last words

566
00:45:12,600 --> 00:45:16,360
# Laying round in tatters

567
00:45:17,760 --> 00:45:20,720
# Sounding absurd

568
00:45:23,040 --> 00:45:26,720
# Whatever I try

569
00:45:29,480 --> 00:45:32,840
# But I love you

570
00:45:34,720 --> 00:45:39,960
# And that's all
that really matters

571
00:45:40,920 --> 00:45:43,680
# If this is goodbye

572
00:45:46,240 --> 00:45:49,760
# This is goodbye. #

573
00:45:49,760 --> 00:45:56,520
If This Is Goodbye was inspired by
an article Knopfler read in The
Guardian by author Ian McEwan.

574
00:45:56,520 --> 00:46:00,080
In which McEwan wrote about the
voice messages left for loved ones

575
00:46:00,080 --> 00:46:04,520
by those trapped in the
Twin Towers on September 11th.

576
00:46:04,520 --> 00:46:07,720
I think actually Emmy
just liked the song.

577
00:46:07,720 --> 00:46:11,440
I don't think she even knew
what it was about

578
00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:16,120
in terms of the... She just
thought it was a goodbye song.

579
00:46:16,120 --> 00:46:19,720
She hadn't,
wasn't seeing it in terms of...

580
00:46:19,720 --> 00:46:21,320
of that event.

581
00:46:21,320 --> 00:46:25,200
When somebody mentioned it to her,

582
00:46:25,200 --> 00:46:30,480
then it really changed
and she became very
emotionally attached to the song.

583
00:46:30,480 --> 00:46:33,640
# My famous last words

584
00:46:36,720 --> 00:46:40,680
# Could never tell the story

585
00:46:41,960 --> 00:46:44,760
# Spinning unheard

586
00:46:47,160 --> 00:46:50,520
# In the dark of the sky

587
00:46:53,160 --> 00:46:55,800
# But I love you

588
00:46:58,680 --> 00:47:01,640
# And this is our glory

589
00:47:03,400 --> 00:47:07,000
# If this is goodbye

590
00:47:08,680 --> 00:47:11,360
# If this is goodbye

591
00:47:14,320 --> 00:47:17,560
# If this is goodbye

592
00:47:19,360 --> 00:47:24,040
# If this is goodbye. #

593
00:47:25,440 --> 00:47:30,960
It's always interesting to me
how a creative act, how it
engenders other creative acts.

594
00:47:30,960 --> 00:47:33,680
When you drop a stone into a well,

595
00:47:33,680 --> 00:47:37,160
the ripples go out
and things come back.

596
00:47:45,480 --> 00:47:48,080
With Sailing to Philadelphia,

597
00:47:48,080 --> 00:47:53,360
I was reading a book about Mason and
Dixon and the Mason-Dixon Line,

598
00:47:53,360 --> 00:47:55,720
and with Dixon himself, you know,

599
00:47:55,720 --> 00:48:01,120
being from the north, and his travels
taking him all over the place,

600
00:48:01,120 --> 00:48:03,880
I felt a bit of a kinship with him.

601
00:48:03,880 --> 00:48:08,840
Obviously, I didn't do anything of
remotely the same sort of importance.

602
00:48:08,840 --> 00:48:12,120
# I'm Jeremiah Dixon

603
00:48:12,120 --> 00:48:14,800
# I am a Geordie boy

604
00:48:14,800 --> 00:48:17,320
# A glass of wine with you sir

605
00:48:17,320 --> 00:48:19,880
# And the ladies I'll enjoy

606
00:48:21,440 --> 00:48:24,480
# All Durham men, Northumberland

607
00:48:26,040 --> 00:48:29,040
# Measured up by my own hand

608
00:48:31,520 --> 00:48:34,240
# It was my fate from birth

609
00:48:35,760 --> 00:48:38,320
# To make my mark upon the Earth... #

610
00:48:38,320 --> 00:48:42,760
I'm one of lucky ones
who enjoys the whole cycle,

611
00:48:42,760 --> 00:48:45,240
and if you want to think of it
in terms of a cycle

612
00:48:45,240 --> 00:48:51,800
of being a songwriter so I can write
a song, so I enjoy all that.

613
00:48:55,320 --> 00:48:57,400
OK, once more.

614
00:48:57,400 --> 00:49:04,200
'And then I enjoy very much
getting into the studio and
recording. Not everybody likes that.'

615
00:49:08,000 --> 00:49:11,760
THEY HARMONISE

616
00:49:11,760 --> 00:49:15,160
'I really enjoy rehearsing to go
out on tour. I really enjoy it.

617
00:49:15,160 --> 00:49:22,320
'Getting the band together,
rehearsing is one of most fun things
for me, and then the playing live.'

618
00:49:22,320 --> 00:49:26,440
# Save my soul from evil, Lord,
and heal this soldier's heart

619
00:49:27,880 --> 00:49:29,960
# I'll trust in thee to keep me

620
00:49:29,960 --> 00:49:32,000
# Lord I'm done

621
00:49:32,000 --> 00:49:34,080
# With Bonaparte. #

622
00:49:38,880 --> 00:49:42,360
Unlike many of his contemporaries,
who have broken up supergroups

623
00:49:42,360 --> 00:49:47,480
only to reform at a later date,
Knopfler has no intention
of reforming Dire Straits.

624
00:49:47,480 --> 00:49:51,800
That would be getting back
into the massive event thing,

625
00:49:51,800 --> 00:49:54,720
and you'd be doing it for money.

626
00:49:54,720 --> 00:49:58,320
I suppose. And you'd probably
feel much more duty-bound

627
00:49:58,320 --> 00:50:02,760
to trot out all of those records, all
of those songs, and you'd have to...

628
00:50:02,760 --> 00:50:07,640
I mean, I don't play Money For
Nothing, at least I don't think
I've done it for a while.

629
00:50:09,160 --> 00:50:11,840
I might do it - I might feel like
doing it, I might not,

630
00:50:11,840 --> 00:50:15,480
but I would hate to have to think
that I'd HAVE to do it.

631
00:50:15,480 --> 00:50:20,120
It's not really for me to say,
but perhaps his writing has changed

632
00:50:20,120 --> 00:50:23,680
and his feeling
has changed along with it.

633
00:50:23,680 --> 00:50:26,360
And he's in a position
where he can do what he wants.

634
00:50:26,360 --> 00:50:31,640
I mean, why should he go back if
that's not how he's feeling?

635
00:50:42,640 --> 00:50:49,280
For his most recent musical
projects, Knopfler has been drawing
heavily on his roots in folk music.

636
00:50:49,280 --> 00:50:53,800
Having the folk musicians

637
00:50:53,800 --> 00:51:00,560
in there is just, it gives me
a little bit of an extra
luxury palette to do things with.

638
00:51:01,960 --> 00:51:04,480
I suppose for us,
it's not like the token folkie.

639
00:51:04,480 --> 00:51:07,200
You're not coming in
and just doing a small bit.

640
00:51:07,200 --> 00:51:08,840
What I find is that

641
00:51:08,840 --> 00:51:12,640
Mark's an amazing artist
and he has a real interest
in traditional music,

642
00:51:12,640 --> 00:51:17,640
whether it's Irish traditional,
or Scottish traditional or
bluegrass or Appalachian.

643
00:51:17,640 --> 00:51:20,600
I think there's an amazing amount
of thought goes into it

644
00:51:20,600 --> 00:51:22,240
from Mark's point of view.

645
00:51:22,240 --> 00:51:25,960
Even putting a band together. 
The eight of us on stage just now,

646
00:51:25,960 --> 00:51:28,080
that's a really difficult thing
to do.

647
00:51:28,080 --> 00:51:33,080
You've got people from the Dire
Straits days, and people from
Nashville bluegrass scene

648
00:51:33,080 --> 00:51:38,120
and Nashville rock scene, and then
you've got a couple of folkie guys
from Manchester and Glasgow.

649
00:51:44,800 --> 00:51:46,840
# Southern bound
from Glasgow town

650
00:51:46,840 --> 00:51:49,240
# She's shining in the sun

651
00:51:49,240 --> 00:51:51,440
# My Scotstoun lassie

652
00:51:52,440 --> 00:51:54,080
# On the border run

653
00:51:55,080 --> 00:51:57,000
# We're whistling down

654
00:51:57,000 --> 00:51:59,760
# Tearing up the climbs

655
00:51:59,760 --> 00:52:01,880
# I'm just a thiever

656
00:52:03,360 --> 00:52:06,920
# Stealing time in the Border Reiver

657
00:52:10,560 --> 00:52:12,520
# 300,000 on the clock

658
00:52:12,520 --> 00:52:15,040
# Plenty more to go

659
00:52:15,040 --> 00:52:17,520
# Crash box and lever

660
00:52:17,520 --> 00:52:19,880
# She needs the heel and toe

661
00:52:20,760 --> 00:52:22,960
# She's not too cold in winter

662
00:52:22,960 --> 00:52:25,520
# But she cooks me in the heat

663
00:52:25,520 --> 00:52:28,360
# I'm a six-foot driver

664
00:52:28,360 --> 00:52:31,480
# But you can't adjust the seat

665
00:52:31,480 --> 00:52:32,760
# In the Border Reiver. #

666
00:52:34,240 --> 00:52:36,000
He draws from such a broad palette

667
00:52:36,000 --> 00:52:38,520
and he covers such a broad palette,

668
00:52:38,520 --> 00:52:42,200
that he can absorb all
these different influences

669
00:52:42,200 --> 00:52:46,800
and they don't feel out of place,
because it fits right
into the music.

670
00:52:51,920 --> 00:52:55,160
Knopfler's love of being
on the road is undiminished.

671
00:52:55,160 --> 00:53:00,680
His recent Get Lucky tour saw
him performing to sell-out audiences
across Europe and North America.

672
00:53:08,840 --> 00:53:12,960
During the early stages of the tour,
Knopfler sustained a back injury.

673
00:53:12,960 --> 00:53:15,920
This meant he was unable
to perform standing up.

674
00:53:15,920 --> 00:53:17,600
Rather than cancel the tour,

675
00:53:17,600 --> 00:53:21,760
Knopfler elected to play the
remaining concerts 
sitting on a stool.

676
00:53:21,760 --> 00:53:23,920
I don't think it's affected
the show in any way.

677
00:53:23,920 --> 00:53:26,640
It's certainly not affected his
performance or playing,

678
00:53:26,640 --> 00:53:31,280
he just happens to be sitting down
as opposed to standing up doing it.

679
00:53:31,280 --> 00:53:37,520
So I think as long as it's not
had an impact on the show itself,

680
00:53:37,520 --> 00:53:38,840
on we go.

681
00:53:38,840 --> 00:53:45,760
It's OK, I've been playing on this
sort of revolving stool,
like a dummy.

682
00:53:45,760 --> 00:53:50,600
But it's fine if people seem to
mind if I don't dance!

683
00:53:50,600 --> 00:53:53,600
He's been in a lot of
pain, very intense pain.

684
00:53:53,600 --> 00:53:56,680
But I have yet to see it
really get his spirit down.

685
00:53:56,680 --> 00:53:58,600
He loves being out here.

686
00:53:58,600 --> 00:54:01,960
He loves doing this. And I think
everybody knows we come out

687
00:54:01,960 --> 00:54:04,320
and we do these things for
four or five months

688
00:54:04,320 --> 00:54:06,600
and then everybody goes
their separate way,

689
00:54:06,600 --> 00:54:12,400
and we always hope we'll reconvene
and do another record and another
tour after that.

690
00:54:12,400 --> 00:54:14,640
But the fact that we don't do it
all the time

691
00:54:14,640 --> 00:54:17,840
makes it all the more precious,
and I know it's that way with him.

692
00:54:17,840 --> 00:54:23,560
When he's out here, this is what
he's all about, that's what
his entire focus is on.

693
00:54:23,560 --> 00:54:28,880
It's like being the captain
of a little action ship.
It's actually a great feeling.

694
00:54:28,880 --> 00:54:33,800
You know, you respect the guys in the
crew an awful lot and you respect
the other guys in the band

695
00:54:33,800 --> 00:54:39,560
and this is just something that
comes with getting older, I suppose,
and getting a little bit wiser.

696
00:54:46,280 --> 00:54:48,400
Eventually leading to an A minor.

697
00:54:48,400 --> 00:54:49,840
I suppose so.

698
00:54:49,840 --> 00:54:52,280
We all learn so much
from each other,

699
00:54:52,280 --> 00:54:55,360
and we realise there is
always so much to learn,

700
00:54:55,360 --> 00:54:58,160
there's no point stopping
and thinking, "That's it".

701
00:54:58,160 --> 00:54:59,840
It just doesn't work like that.

702
00:54:59,840 --> 00:55:02,440
We're all as eager to learn
as we ever were.

703
00:55:02,440 --> 00:55:07,120
The beginning of Border Reiver needs
to be a little quicker than
we're doing it.

704
00:55:07,120 --> 00:55:09,960
He is prolific,
he just keeps on writing,

705
00:55:09,960 --> 00:55:15,960
and as long as he does that,
he'll keep wanting to record,
and long may it continue.

706
00:55:15,960 --> 00:55:18,760
What I try to do with
a song is craft it.

707
00:55:18,760 --> 00:55:22,800
I try and craft a song with...

708
00:55:22,800 --> 00:55:26,600
with pride, and I try and make
something that's going to last.

709
00:55:30,200 --> 00:55:32,600
So many of his melodies sound like,

710
00:55:32,600 --> 00:55:37,320
ancient, like something you can't
put your finger on what it was,

711
00:55:37,320 --> 00:55:40,920
but the first time you hear 'em,
you feel a kinship with 'em.

712
00:55:40,920 --> 00:55:42,560
At least that's how it hits me.

713
00:55:44,160 --> 00:55:49,320
Sometimes you're not even sure
what it is you're writing -
it only becomes clear afterwards

714
00:55:49,320 --> 00:55:52,680
what it is you were doing,
and don't you love that?

715
00:55:54,680 --> 00:55:56,400
People make their own pictures.

716
00:55:56,400 --> 00:55:58,880
They have their own ideas
of what a song is,

717
00:55:58,880 --> 00:56:03,560
and the explanation is...
not really necessary.

718
00:56:03,560 --> 00:56:05,320
It's just going to spoil things.

719
00:56:07,560 --> 00:56:12,000
# When I leave this world behind

720
00:56:13,160 --> 00:56:17,240
# To another I will go

721
00:56:18,920 --> 00:56:22,360
# But if there are no pipes

722
00:56:22,360 --> 00:56:24,120
# In heaven

723
00:56:25,120 --> 00:56:26,800
# I'll be going

724
00:56:26,800 --> 00:56:29,200
# Down below

725
00:56:31,120 --> 00:56:35,640
# If friends in time be severed

726
00:56:36,600 --> 00:56:41,120
# Some day we will meet again

727
00:56:42,960 --> 00:56:45,080
# And I'll return

728
00:56:45,080 --> 00:56:47,800
# To leave you never

729
00:56:48,880 --> 00:56:53,280
# Be a piper to the end. #

730
00:56:55,800 --> 00:56:58,800
I'll go home in an hour
or two, whatever it is now,

731
00:56:58,800 --> 00:57:02,200
I'll take a look at the songs,
probably, at some point.

732
00:57:02,200 --> 00:57:06,160
I'll just take a look at them
and see how they're getting on.

733
00:57:06,160 --> 00:57:08,840
Chop a bit out, stick a bit in.

734
00:57:08,840 --> 00:57:10,880
I love it.

735
00:57:28,760 --> 00:57:32,320
When your dreams are come true,
as it were,

736
00:57:32,320 --> 00:57:35,840
they never come true quite the
way that you think that they will.

737
00:57:35,840 --> 00:57:38,360
Reality is never

738
00:57:38,360 --> 00:57:39,880
what a dream is.

739
00:57:39,880 --> 00:57:41,560
But it's better than nothing,

740
00:57:41,560 --> 00:57:45,960
and I would still rather be trying
to make my dreams come true.

741
00:57:45,960 --> 00:57:50,080
I think that's still
something to go for.

742
00:57:54,160 --> 00:57:57,560
# Now I'm a-rambling
through this meadow

743
00:57:57,560 --> 00:57:59,800
# Happy as a man can be

744
00:58:01,320 --> 00:58:05,840
# Think I'll just lay me down
under this old tree

745
00:58:05,840 --> 00:58:08,600
# On and on we go

746
00:58:08,600 --> 00:58:11,760
# Through this whole world
a-shuffling

747
00:58:11,760 --> 00:58:14,520
# If you've got a truffle dog

748
00:58:14,520 --> 00:58:17,640
# You can go a-truffling

749
00:58:17,640 --> 00:58:20,960
# And you might get lucky
now and then

750
00:58:23,320 --> 00:58:25,680
# You win some

751
00:58:25,680 --> 00:58:28,480
# You might get lucky now and then

752
00:58:31,440 --> 00:58:32,960
# Yeah, you win some. #