Mark Knopfler: A Life in Songs Page #4

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# And every line on your palm

# We are fools to make war

# on our brothers in arms... #

It became a sort of anthem for troops in the Gulf.

I was actually doing an interview one day on the radio

and this tank man actually called up to say that at the end of the battle,

they linked all the tanks up in the dawn and they played it.

It's a comfort to me that the song, that the music, not just that song,

but other music is used by people for all sorts of things,

to celebrate things and to mark occasions, you know, to get married.

A woman told me the other day that...

She said, "We used all your stuff for our wedding."

Well, that's really nice, isn't it?

That's great. So it's not all to do with necessarily funerals.

Money For Nothing, Knopfler's wry take on the MTV generation,

gave Dire Straits their first No 1 single in America.

Thanks in no small part to Knopfler's distinctive guitar sound.

When people say, how do you get those sounds? Usually I say, I don't know,

I fiddle about with the amp until I get something that works.

That's essentially what this was.

I had actually forgotten how I did it.

And that's really essentially what I'm doing - I'm blocking out quite a lot of notes.

And as the song is going...

That's just two strings.

# Look at them yo-yos That's the way you do it

# You play the guitar on the MTV

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

# Money for nothing and your chicks for free... #

Money for nothing, that's a situation kind of a song.

This was an electrical appliance store

and all the TVs at the back of the store were all tuned to MTV.

MTV was a pretty new thing then and then some big meathead guy in a checked shirt

had been doing some deliveries and he was delivering his opinion about everybody who was on the MTV.

And I had to actually spy on him, because his lines were so classic.

# The little f*ggot with the earring and the make-up

# Yeah, buddy, that's his own hair

# That little f*ggot got his own jet airplane

# That little f*ggot, he's a millionaire

# We gotta install microwave ovens

I actually went to the counter and I asked for a pen and paper

and there was a kitchen display in the window of the store,

it was in New York, and I sat down in the window of the store and started writing down the lines.

So that guy essentially gave me a song.

# I want my, I want my

# I want my MTV. #

During the Brothers in Arms tour, which lasted 12 months,

Dire Straits played 247 shows in 100 cities,

including a 13-night record-breaking stint at London's Wembley Arena.

Dire Straits were arguably the biggest band in the world.

There was a kind of critical mass happening, where a lot of people wanted to see the band play live.

And they were into the records and they were into seeing, experiencing the whole thing live.

All right this is where Wembley does the walk.

I know they don't let you stand up,

but if you all do it, there's nothing they can do about it.

In fact I think they like it really.

On the surface, it would appear Knopfler was having the time of his life,

but he was learning that success on this scale came at a price.

Oh, yeah, you're really not used to it. It's a massive strain.

I think it's probably just good luck that I wasn't younger.

I really sympathise with kids who go off the rails with it all.

I probably just survived it.

But there's a lot of damage.

And things happen things that you're not ready for always.

It's a new experience entirely.

And for a songwriter, a songwriter's more of an observer

and you suddenly feel people looking at you and there's a reversal going on.

And of course they're not really.

It's just something that you feel, because of the attention the music is getting that week

or the band's getting that week.

It takes a while to get the whole thing in perspective.

Following the tour, Knopfler put Dire Straits on hold

and got back to basics by forming the Notting Hillbillies.

The line up included Steve Phillips and Brendan Croker,

two mates from his days as a struggling musician in Leeds.

I just rested up for a while and after a bit, as usually is the case,

looking to get some gainful employment after goofing around.

# It's been something seeing you again

# In this time we've had to spend

# Been so good to be around

# I thank you for that special trip

# Keep me going on until the next time I'm in town... #

And so we just ended up having a lot of fun doing it.

I suppose that was like relaxing.

# I see you smile and I remember what went down... #

I think it probably was a way of reminding me how much I enjoyed picking songs

and if that's all that had ever happened to me in life, I'd still be doing that now.

I'd be playing guitar with somebody and picking old time songs.

If I'd never written a song, that's what I'd be doing now.

And the person that I admire an awful lot,

very famous guitarist of Dire Straits,

writes all their tunes and sings all the songs.

I love him as a musician and as a person, Mark Knopfler.

Another side project during his sabbatical from his day job with Dire Straits

was when he teamed up with the legendary guitar picker Chet Atkins on the album Neck And Neck.

I think the only reason that Chet actually called me up and asked me

to play on the record, was because he took pity on me,

because I was a finger picker like him.

I think this is one of the first things we did, See You In My Dreams.

Chet being so kind, I'm sure he'd keep it fairly simple for my benefit.

Really, it's all come from...

..that.

Picking. Finger picking.

And that's how Chet essentially pulled himself, he picked his way out of real poverty.

You know, genuine poverty.

When he used to walk to school, he didn't have a coat in the winter.

And he...

he literally picked his way to fame. And fortune.

In 1991, Dire Straits got back together to record what would be their final studio album,

On Every Street, and Knopfler found himself back on the road on another sell-out world tour.

The gigs that we were doing On Every Street were massive gigs and we had

two stages that were leapfrogging around and we'd brought in extra people to do all that.

One of the things I'd always enjoyed about touring and still enjoy

about touring is it's like having a circus. That's part of the fun.

I think if it gets so big, you lose that.

Although there was no official announcement that the group were breaking up,

the On Every Street tour was the last time Knopfler would play with Dire Straits.

I think it just gently rolled out.

I kind of put to it bed.

I wanted to get back to being a guy who could write a song,

do all the things I've said with it

and then go and tour it for people, but do it at a kind of manageable level.

Following the demise of Dire Straits,

Knopfler has continued to tour and record as a successful solo artist.

This new-found musical freedom has allowed him to collaborate

with other musicians, such as country legend Emmylou Harris.

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