Mark Knopfler, Redux
I know I've spoken about him before, but I'm going to do it again, dammit. I mean Shredder talks about music all the time. At least, he did before he wussed out and let his team's ineptitude force him out of blogging. In the biz, we call that "Michaeling."
Knopfler has become far and away my favorite lyricist. Understand that my default setting is to pay no attention to a song's lyrics whatsoever. Just because you hear me singing along doesn't mean that I have the slightest idea what is being said. This has its upsides and downsides. It means that Dream Theater and Yes have irritated me a lot less than they might have, letting me just enjoy the music. It also means that it took me a long time to really appreciate Knopfler.
The first thing that anyone listening to him will notice is his distinctive guitar style. He's heavily influenced by country styles, but doesn't sound at all like other country/rock artists, like The Eagles, or Lynard Skynard. This because he looks to a very different style of country music, in particular Chet Atkins and Les Paul. He's transferred that finger pickin' style to rock music, which is what made Dire Straits such a great band to listen to.
What follows devolves into an analysis of Sailing to Philadelphia.
The last Dire Straits album was On Every Street in 1991. After that, Knopfler moved on to solo projects and soundtrack work. Geeks are probably most familiar with The Princess Bride among movies he's scored, but he's done a lot of others. To date, his solo albums are Golden Heart, Sailing to Philadelphia, The Ragpicker's Dream, and Shangri La.
Sailing to Philadelphia has become my favorite, though Shangri La (which is what he was touring in support of when I saw him last summer) is really good as well. StP highlights several of the things that Knopfler has been doing. It features two contrasting themes. Several of the songs are thoroughly stripped down to the most basic elements, and Knopfler displays that he has a very deep understanding of America, and displays it as very few foreigners can.
The album opens with "What It Is," a song about revelers in a northern England town exploring the limited freedom life allows them through drink and lechery. Up tempo, it features guitar work that any Dire Straits fan would find familiar. It also sets up the first theme of the album by presenting a Europe that is too bound in social restrictions to offer true freedom.
This theme is advanced in the second track, "Sailing to Philadelphia." It is a ballad of Charlie Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, the English surveyors that measured out the Mason-Dixon line between Pennsylvania and Maryland. This unlikely duo becomes a vehicle to explore the freedom inherent in the wilderness and open spaces of America. It is the counterpart to the restricted life of England. With James Taylor taking the role of Mason, and Knopfler that of Dixon, it is a duet between the skeptic of America's promise (Mason) and its proponent. Slower of pace than "What It Is," it still features a good deal of Knopfler's finger picking.
The album's second theme makes its appearance in the third song, "Who's Your Baby Now." This is one of the few songs on the album that doesn't have a specific geography. It's about an aging prostitute (I think; the song isn't specific, but I think that's where the clues lead) who has lost her looks. It has someone that knows her offering mocking sympathy. It is a tale of promise lost. Freedom, apparently, isn't cost free.
The next track, "Baloney Again," is the first place where we see the subtle level at which Knopfler appreciates America. There are very, very few songwriters that could use the lines:
"The Lord is my shepherd,
He leadeth me in pastures green.
He gave us this day
our daily bread and gasoline."
and not be sarcastically mocking America's fascination with the automobile. Instead, this piece is about itinerant black preachers spreading the word across the rural United States in 1953. It talks about the struggles they face, and their love for Jesus. It combines both themes, the freedom of America to do what they want, as well as the crushing poverty that comes with that decision. It's one of the stronger songs on the album, which is saying a lot. It also features a typical facet of Mark Knopfler's work (neither the first nor the last example on the album) of having an extended instrumental coda after the lyrics are finished. I first noticed this with the title track from On Every Street, but he has turned it into one of his signature elements. This song is also where we find Knopfler stripping his music down to the basic elements. It consists of his vocals, his acoustic guitar, a harmonica and quiet drums.
The next track is also complicated. Titled "The Last Laugh," it is a celebration of having the last laugh. The singer asks someone who has routinely been on the skids whether he enjoys having the last laugh. The implication is clearly that the person who he's asking has had the last laugh on someone, or maybe everyone. Freedom not only carries a price, but also holds out the hope of turning the tables.
"Do America" returns us to the message of "Sailing to Philadelphia," except that it is more modern and less mature. It is the tale of a rock star, maybe Knopfler, maybe not, coming to the United States for the first time after being a huge thing in Britain. Across the Pond, it's all jets, partying and gourgeous women. Freedom at its most primal. The tune is very lively, both a change from the previous three songs and a suggestion that Knopfler is not criticizing his subject. In this respect, it recalls "Money for Nothing" in interesting ways. Of course, it's the last upbeat moment in the album.
I confess that the meaning of next song, "El Macho" partially eludes me. It starts with:
"Your date has gone home
Now you're left on your own sweet own
Your tough-talkin' friend
Split on you in the bitter end
And you look like a fine thing Jerry
Yeh you look like a fine thing Jerry"
From there, the song would make perfect sense if, rather than "Jerry" it was sung to "Cherry," an innocent young woman. If the subject is a woman, it would clearly be about menacing sexuality. Regardless, the lyrics present a sense of true menace. El Macho, the nickname of the singer, is brutally intimidating Jerry, despite seemingly praising him. This is very much the second theme; Jerry has freedom, but exercising it comes with a great price.
The eighth track, "Prairie Wedding," may the most spare song I'd ever heard on a rock album. (I use the past tense for a reason.) A quiet electric guitar line, snares with the brush, Knopfler's vocals and a brief appearance by a second vocalist is the entire instrumentation. Taking us back to the past, the singer is a bachelor farmer on the plains of 19th Century middle America. He is meeting his new bride for the first time at the railroad station. Plagued with doubts, the farmer plaintively asks his bride:
"Do you think that you could love me Mary
Do you think we got a chance of a life
Do you think that you could love me Mary
Now you are to be my wife"
This begins the stretch, that takes us to the end of the album, of exploring the vast emptiness that is the flipside of the promise America showed in the title track.
Continuing this theme is "Wanderlust." This is the most spare song that I have ever heard on a rock album. Very simple vocals, a simple guitar line, and haunting keyboards way back in the mix is all that it contains. The singer, wandering wherever his feet take him, is the only person in the song. He wanders through vast fields, prairie thunderstorms and the empty road, trying to quench his thirst for moving. It echoes a theme Knopfler has used on other albums, that happiness must involve getting away from it all.
He displays another facet of his familiarity in the next track, "Speedway at Nazareth." He turns NASCAR into a metaphor for sacrifice. While not exactly a Christ parable, it takes advantage of the fact that there is, indeed, a NASCAR speedway in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. The town is only mentioned once, right at the end, but its presence hangs over the song. The driving team the singer speaks for is in the chase for the title, but plagued by bad luck. It covers the idea that, while fans may think that the athletes they root for have an easy life, being paid lots of money to just "play a game," it is truly a hard grind.
In case you were thinking that he has simply turned on America, and showing only its darkside, Knopfler takes us back to England for "Junkie Doll." A desperate drug addict has kicked the junk, but is stuck in a bleak world of no happiness. All he or she can think of is:
"And a little bit of this'd get you up
And a little bit of that'd get you down"
repeated over and over. Again, we are struck that the emptiness of America can crush a person, but that the closeness of Europe will destroy your soul.
The last two songs on the album are my favorites. "Silvertown Blues" is about a town, most likely near Las Vegas, that was once part of the silver rush in the Roccky Mountains, but now stands nearly empty. Despite its poisoned waters, some of the inhabitants refuse to give up. They keep building, a "big silver dome rising up into the dawn" though the point of doing so remains elusive. Tourism is what they are clinging to, with six flights to New York every day, but the air of desperation clings still. This song is less spare than what comes before. It has backing vocals, and a pretty rocking guitar line. Nevertheless, it paints a bleak picture.
"The Sands of Nevada" has what may be my favorite lyrics of all time. We have gone back to a stripped down sound, with the kayboards providing atmosphere and the sound of a whistling wind. It's a quiet song, delivered with the air of futility that the lyrics imply. It is the right way for the album to end, drifting away towards the horizon until it vanishes. America is what you make of it.
"These tables are haunted
By the ghost of Las Vegas
Their chips were once mountains
But they came here to play
They could take me if they wanted
But I have nothing worth counting
And like the sands of Nevada
They go drifting away
Lady luck's still a mystery
With her head on my shoulders
And I don't know why
I still want her to dance
I guess that's all history
What it is is I'm older
And I'm still a fool
For a one-way romance
Her dice were red rubies
They rolled and they tumbled
And I never saw time
Running out with my roll
And in a wasteland of cut glass
My dreams have all crumbled
And I've paid with whatever
I had left for a soul
Now the dawn's broken even
On an empty horizon
No reason for folding
No reason to stay
It's too soon to be leaving
Too late for criticising
And the sands of Nevada
They go drifting away "
Knopfler has become far and away my favorite lyricist. Understand that my default setting is to pay no attention to a song's lyrics whatsoever. Just because you hear me singing along doesn't mean that I have the slightest idea what is being said. This has its upsides and downsides. It means that Dream Theater and Yes have irritated me a lot less than they might have, letting me just enjoy the music. It also means that it took me a long time to really appreciate Knopfler.
The first thing that anyone listening to him will notice is his distinctive guitar style. He's heavily influenced by country styles, but doesn't sound at all like other country/rock artists, like The Eagles, or Lynard Skynard. This because he looks to a very different style of country music, in particular Chet Atkins and Les Paul. He's transferred that finger pickin' style to rock music, which is what made Dire Straits such a great band to listen to.
What follows devolves into an analysis of Sailing to Philadelphia.
The last Dire Straits album was On Every Street in 1991. After that, Knopfler moved on to solo projects and soundtrack work. Geeks are probably most familiar with The Princess Bride among movies he's scored, but he's done a lot of others. To date, his solo albums are Golden Heart, Sailing to Philadelphia, The Ragpicker's Dream, and Shangri La.
Sailing to Philadelphia has become my favorite, though Shangri La (which is what he was touring in support of when I saw him last summer) is really good as well. StP highlights several of the things that Knopfler has been doing. It features two contrasting themes. Several of the songs are thoroughly stripped down to the most basic elements, and Knopfler displays that he has a very deep understanding of America, and displays it as very few foreigners can.
The album opens with "What It Is," a song about revelers in a northern England town exploring the limited freedom life allows them through drink and lechery. Up tempo, it features guitar work that any Dire Straits fan would find familiar. It also sets up the first theme of the album by presenting a Europe that is too bound in social restrictions to offer true freedom.
This theme is advanced in the second track, "Sailing to Philadelphia." It is a ballad of Charlie Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, the English surveyors that measured out the Mason-Dixon line between Pennsylvania and Maryland. This unlikely duo becomes a vehicle to explore the freedom inherent in the wilderness and open spaces of America. It is the counterpart to the restricted life of England. With James Taylor taking the role of Mason, and Knopfler that of Dixon, it is a duet between the skeptic of America's promise (Mason) and its proponent. Slower of pace than "What It Is," it still features a good deal of Knopfler's finger picking.
The album's second theme makes its appearance in the third song, "Who's Your Baby Now." This is one of the few songs on the album that doesn't have a specific geography. It's about an aging prostitute (I think; the song isn't specific, but I think that's where the clues lead) who has lost her looks. It has someone that knows her offering mocking sympathy. It is a tale of promise lost. Freedom, apparently, isn't cost free.
The next track, "Baloney Again," is the first place where we see the subtle level at which Knopfler appreciates America. There are very, very few songwriters that could use the lines:
"The Lord is my shepherd,
He leadeth me in pastures green.
He gave us this day
our daily bread and gasoline."
and not be sarcastically mocking America's fascination with the automobile. Instead, this piece is about itinerant black preachers spreading the word across the rural United States in 1953. It talks about the struggles they face, and their love for Jesus. It combines both themes, the freedom of America to do what they want, as well as the crushing poverty that comes with that decision. It's one of the stronger songs on the album, which is saying a lot. It also features a typical facet of Mark Knopfler's work (neither the first nor the last example on the album) of having an extended instrumental coda after the lyrics are finished. I first noticed this with the title track from On Every Street, but he has turned it into one of his signature elements. This song is also where we find Knopfler stripping his music down to the basic elements. It consists of his vocals, his acoustic guitar, a harmonica and quiet drums.
The next track is also complicated. Titled "The Last Laugh," it is a celebration of having the last laugh. The singer asks someone who has routinely been on the skids whether he enjoys having the last laugh. The implication is clearly that the person who he's asking has had the last laugh on someone, or maybe everyone. Freedom not only carries a price, but also holds out the hope of turning the tables.
"Do America" returns us to the message of "Sailing to Philadelphia," except that it is more modern and less mature. It is the tale of a rock star, maybe Knopfler, maybe not, coming to the United States for the first time after being a huge thing in Britain. Across the Pond, it's all jets, partying and gourgeous women. Freedom at its most primal. The tune is very lively, both a change from the previous three songs and a suggestion that Knopfler is not criticizing his subject. In this respect, it recalls "Money for Nothing" in interesting ways. Of course, it's the last upbeat moment in the album.
I confess that the meaning of next song, "El Macho" partially eludes me. It starts with:
"Your date has gone home
Now you're left on your own sweet own
Your tough-talkin' friend
Split on you in the bitter end
And you look like a fine thing Jerry
Yeh you look like a fine thing Jerry"
From there, the song would make perfect sense if, rather than "Jerry" it was sung to "Cherry," an innocent young woman. If the subject is a woman, it would clearly be about menacing sexuality. Regardless, the lyrics present a sense of true menace. El Macho, the nickname of the singer, is brutally intimidating Jerry, despite seemingly praising him. This is very much the second theme; Jerry has freedom, but exercising it comes with a great price.
The eighth track, "Prairie Wedding," may the most spare song I'd ever heard on a rock album. (I use the past tense for a reason.) A quiet electric guitar line, snares with the brush, Knopfler's vocals and a brief appearance by a second vocalist is the entire instrumentation. Taking us back to the past, the singer is a bachelor farmer on the plains of 19th Century middle America. He is meeting his new bride for the first time at the railroad station. Plagued with doubts, the farmer plaintively asks his bride:
"Do you think that you could love me Mary
Do you think we got a chance of a life
Do you think that you could love me Mary
Now you are to be my wife"
This begins the stretch, that takes us to the end of the album, of exploring the vast emptiness that is the flipside of the promise America showed in the title track.
Continuing this theme is "Wanderlust." This is the most spare song that I have ever heard on a rock album. Very simple vocals, a simple guitar line, and haunting keyboards way back in the mix is all that it contains. The singer, wandering wherever his feet take him, is the only person in the song. He wanders through vast fields, prairie thunderstorms and the empty road, trying to quench his thirst for moving. It echoes a theme Knopfler has used on other albums, that happiness must involve getting away from it all.
He displays another facet of his familiarity in the next track, "Speedway at Nazareth." He turns NASCAR into a metaphor for sacrifice. While not exactly a Christ parable, it takes advantage of the fact that there is, indeed, a NASCAR speedway in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. The town is only mentioned once, right at the end, but its presence hangs over the song. The driving team the singer speaks for is in the chase for the title, but plagued by bad luck. It covers the idea that, while fans may think that the athletes they root for have an easy life, being paid lots of money to just "play a game," it is truly a hard grind.
In case you were thinking that he has simply turned on America, and showing only its darkside, Knopfler takes us back to England for "Junkie Doll." A desperate drug addict has kicked the junk, but is stuck in a bleak world of no happiness. All he or she can think of is:
"And a little bit of this'd get you up
And a little bit of that'd get you down"
repeated over and over. Again, we are struck that the emptiness of America can crush a person, but that the closeness of Europe will destroy your soul.
The last two songs on the album are my favorites. "Silvertown Blues" is about a town, most likely near Las Vegas, that was once part of the silver rush in the Roccky Mountains, but now stands nearly empty. Despite its poisoned waters, some of the inhabitants refuse to give up. They keep building, a "big silver dome rising up into the dawn" though the point of doing so remains elusive. Tourism is what they are clinging to, with six flights to New York every day, but the air of desperation clings still. This song is less spare than what comes before. It has backing vocals, and a pretty rocking guitar line. Nevertheless, it paints a bleak picture.
"The Sands of Nevada" has what may be my favorite lyrics of all time. We have gone back to a stripped down sound, with the kayboards providing atmosphere and the sound of a whistling wind. It's a quiet song, delivered with the air of futility that the lyrics imply. It is the right way for the album to end, drifting away towards the horizon until it vanishes. America is what you make of it.
"These tables are haunted
By the ghost of Las Vegas
Their chips were once mountains
But they came here to play
They could take me if they wanted
But I have nothing worth counting
And like the sands of Nevada
They go drifting away
Lady luck's still a mystery
With her head on my shoulders
And I don't know why
I still want her to dance
I guess that's all history
What it is is I'm older
And I'm still a fool
For a one-way romance
Her dice were red rubies
They rolled and they tumbled
And I never saw time
Running out with my roll
And in a wasteland of cut glass
My dreams have all crumbled
And I've paid with whatever
I had left for a soul
Now the dawn's broken even
On an empty horizon
No reason for folding
No reason to stay
It's too soon to be leaving
Too late for criticising
And the sands of Nevada
They go drifting away "
posted by Comrade J. Michael Neal at 5:49 PM
5 Comments:
"It also sets up the first theme of the album by presenting a Europe that is too bound in social restrictions to offer true freedom"
That's the sort of line you hear from people like Jon Biggar. I would have expected something rather better from you.
Tim, I never said I agree with it. I said that that was the theme that Mark Knopfler was setting up in the album. I suspect that he doesn't believe it as written, either. It just works musically.
Ah, but you didn't say that you disagreed either :)
I probably overreacted to that because I'm fed up of hearing Americans dismissing Europe with those sorts of lazy cliches.
Still, your choice of words isn't sufficiently Biggaresque; no liberal usage of the word "Bullshit".
re:"Nazareth" not NASCAR, it's based on the 1994 CART circuit (230 mph indy car type racers) which that year went from Phoenix to Monterrey in the same order described in the song.
re: "El Macho" One of Mick Jagger's ex-wives was Jerry Hall, that's probably who he's talking about since the song makes more sense if Jerry ("a fine thing")is a girl. Remember in Prairie Wedding he gave his Golden thing" a golden ring.
It was my guess that El Macho was Jerry Springer.
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