Let's go beyond mellow and laid-back and sluggishly stumble our
way to the almost comatose. Get your favorite drink, relax in a comfortable big chair, and listen to theThe Notting Hillbillies performing Your Own Sweet Way. FeaturingMark Knopfler of Dire Straits on guitar and vocals (he also wrote the song). Mark doesn't play a lot of notes but every one he plays is just right.
And remember:
It doesn't matter what I say What I do or what I think You can lead a horse to water You can't make him drink You'll go your own sweet Your own sweet way
From 2000, the title song from Mark Knopfler's album Sailing To Philadelphia, the only pop song about the two surveyors of the Mason-Dixon Line which established the boundary between Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. Inspired by Thomas Pynchon's 1997 novel on Mason and Dixon, the song features Knopfler's trademark guitar sound and vocals with Knopfler playing Jeremiah Dixon and James Taylor as Charles Mason.
I am Jeremiah Dixon
I am a Geordie Boy
A glass of wine with you, sir
And the ladies I'll enjoy
All Durham and Northumberland
Is measured up by my own hand
It was my fate from birth
To make my mark upon the earth…
He calls me Charlie Mason
A stargazer am I
It seems that I was born
To chart the evening sky
They'd cut me out for baking bread
But I had other dreams instead
This baker's boy from the west country
Would join the Royal Society…
We are sailing to Philadelphia
A world away from the coaly Tyne
Sailing to Philadelphia
To draw the line
The Mason-Dixon line
Now you're a good surveyor, Dixon
But I swear you'll make me mad
The West will kill us both
You gullible Geordie lad
You talk of liberty
How can America be free
A Geordie and a baker's boy
In the forest of the Iroquois…
Now hold your head up, Mason
See America lies there
The morning tide has raised
The capes of Delaware
Come up and feel the sun
A new morning is begun
Another day will make it clear
Why your stars should guide us here…
We are sailing to Philadelphia
A world away from the coaly Tyne
Sailing to Philadelphia
To draw the line
The Mason-Dixon line
The reference to "Geordie Boy" is because Dixon was born near Newcastle in the north of England whose inhabitants are known as Geordies. Dixon's mother was from Newcastle and Jeremiah spent much time there over the years. Mark Knopfler is also a Geordie, which is why he voices Dixon in the song. The lyric about enjoying "a glass of wine" is a reference to Dixon being a heavy drinker, despite being a Quaker (he also enjoyed wearing colorful clothes, another aspect frowned on by Quakers). The reference to "coaly Tyne" is to Newcastle, on the River Tyne, and one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution and the heavy use of coal.
Mason was born in 1828 in the West Country as the lyric says, specifically in Gloucestershire.
Both Dixon (1733-79) and Mason (1728-86) were well educated, trained in surveying and astronomy, meeting in 1761 when both were sent by the Royal Society on a mission to observe the transit of Venus in Sumatra. Their passage delayed, they made their observations from the Cape of Good Hope.
For many years the precise location of the border between Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware had been the subject of controversy with violence occasionally erupting among settlers. In 1763 the Penns and Calverts, proprietors of the Pennsylvania and Maryland colonies, hired Mason and Dixon to survey and establish the bounds. Their project would take four years.
While it settled the border dispute, the Mason-Dixon Line would take on a broader significance in American history. It was only during the debates over slavery that led to the Missouri Compromise in 1820 that Mason-Dixon Line came into popular usage and from then it came to mean (at least the PA/MD part of the line) the division between free and slave states in the Union. Indeed, it is possible that the term "Dixie" to describe the South may have been derived from Jeremiah Dixon's last name.
After returning to England, Dixon continued survey and astronomical work until his death at the age of 45. He is buried 40 miles from Newcastle. Mason also continued working in England, primarily as an astronomer, but in September 1786 he wrote a letter to Benjamin Franklin informing him he'd returned to Philadelphia with his wife and eight children but was ill and confined to bed. He died the following month and is buried in Philadelphia's Christ Church Burying Ground where Franklin was also laid to rest four years later. It is not known why Mason returned to Philadelphia.
The final scene from Local Hero. I've loved this movie since seeing it with Mrs THC more than 40 years ago. The soundtrack by Mark Knopfler is an integral part in creating the unique feel of the film. During the early 80s Scottish director Bill Forsythe made a magical trio of small budget offbeat films - Gregory's Girl, Local Hero, Comfort & Joy.
One of my favorite pieces of music. An exquisite and moving song about a love gone awry due to bad timing. Beautiful melody, lyrics, and music capped by Mark Knopfler's mumbled croaking voice which suits the song. Bracketed by a perfect piano intro and Knopfler's sparse but evocative endpiece, finger-picked on his steel guitar.
This 2006 live performance is far superior to the studio version recorded in 1981. The video says it is Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris but that is incorrect. It is from a tour the two of them did together, but only Knopfler appears on this.
You and me, babe, how about it?
A lovestruck Romeo sang the streets a serenade Laying everybody low with a love song that he made Finds a streetlight, steps out of the shade Says something like, "You and me, babe, how about it?"
Juliet says, "Hey, it's Romeo, you nearly gave me a heart attack" He's underneath the window, she's singing, "Hey, la, my boyfriend's back You shouldn't come around here singing up at people like that Anyway, what you gonna do about it?"
"Juliet, the dice was loaded from the start And I bet, and you exploded into my heart And I forget, I forget the movie song When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?"
Come up on different streets, they both were streets of shame Both dirty, both mean, yes, and the dream was just the same And I dreamed your dream for you and now your dream is real How can you look at me as if I was just another one of your deals?
When you can fall for chains of silver you can fall for chains of gold You can fall for pretty strangers and the promises they hold You promised me everything, you promised me thick and thin, yeah Now you just say "Oh, Romeo, yeah, you know I used to have a scene with him"
"Juliet, when we made love, you used to cry You said 'I love you like the stars above, I'll love you 'til I die' There's a place for us, you know the movie song When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?"
I can't do the talks like they talk on the TV And I can't do a love song like the way it's meant to be I can't do everything but I'll do anything for you I can't do anything except be in love with you
And all I do is miss you and the way we used to be All I do is keep the beat, the bad company All I do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme Julie, I'd do the stars with you any time
"Juliet, when we made love you used to cry You said 'I love you like the stars above, I'll love you 'til I die' There's a place for us you know the movie song When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?"
And a lovestruck Romeo, he sang the streets a serenade Laying everybody low with a love song that he made Find a convenient streetlight, steps out of the shade He says something like, "You and me, babe, how about it?"
Brian Johnson (AC/DC) and Mark Knopfler are both from the North of England, Newcastle to be specific. Brian has done a series of interviews for his show and this is an excerpt from his interview with Knopfler, done at the site of the former Spanish City amusement park, the setting for Knopfler's great tune Tunnel of Love, which he says he wrote in response to Springsteen's songs centered on American landmarks. A fun interview which towards the end even has a Spinal Tap moment as the two try to sing a song they heard as kids 60 years ago.
Today marks 38 years since the release of Dire Straits fifth studio album Brothers In Arms, which has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. The big hit from the album was the gimmicky Money For Nothing with its groundbreaking video shown endlessly on MTV, but for me the highlight was the song Brothers In Arms, which I've posted on before but will continue to do so as I find it so beautiful and remains one of my favorite songs. This version is from a 1996 live performance by Mark Knopfler. The song's lyrics (here artfully mumbled in Knopfler's rough voice) and his evocative, big fat note guitar playing make quite a combination.
Let's go beyond mellow and laid-back and sluggishly stumble our way to
the almost comatose. It's a quiet Saturday night, sit back
in a comfortable big chair, relax, and listen to the Notting Hillbillies performing Your Own Sweet Way. Featuring Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits on guitar and vocals (he also wrote the song). Mark doesn't play a lot of notes but every one he plays is just right.
And remember:
It doesn't matter what I say What I do or what I think You can lead a horse to water You can't make him drink You'll go your own sweet Your own sweet way
Through these fields of destruction Baptisms of fire I've witnessed your suffering As the battles raged higher
And though we were hurt so bad In the fear and alarm You did not desert me My brothers in arms
I've posted this song before (though not this version), but it seems to always remain timely. The unique sound of Mark Knopfler with those mumbled, yet moving, lyrics and the fat, lush guitar.
From the second season of Miami Vice, a show I watched very infrequently. Closing scene of the episode Out Where The Buses Don't Run.
The show often featured popular music, but not just short clips which
was the usual TV approach, instead playing long excerpts of mood-making
music with very little dialogue. Here it is one of my all-time
favorites, Brothers In Arms by Dire Straits when Crockett and Tubbs investigate an abandoned warehouse.
Everyone in this scene is a Miami cop. At the beginning is Edward James Olmos, Crockett and Tubbs' supervisor. Next up is Bruce McGill, also known for playing D Day in Animal House and Secretary of War Edward Stanton in Lincoln, and finally David Strathairn, Eddie Cicotte in Eight Men Out, the Jason Bourne movies, Secretary of State William Seward in Lincoln, while appearing in about a million other films.
Miami Vice featured an innovative color and style palette imposed by director Michael Mann, who also employed a lot of shots not seen on TV before that are now standard in movies and cable. See, for instance, the close up of the moving wheel on Crockett's car and the shot where the car accelerates away from the camera.
This is what is called Victor's Song from the movie Local Hero. It is not on the wonderful soundtrack from the movie, composed by Mark Knopfler and it seems no one is sure of the exact title or whether Knopfler wrote it.
The movie is set in an isolated village on the northwest coast of Scotland. Victor (played by Christopher Rozycki) is captain of a Soviet fishing vessel who, whenever he is in the area, comes to visit the village where his charm works wonders with the local ladies. During the course of the movie he provides some surprisingly good business advice to young McIntyre (Peter Riegert), who has come to buy the village on behalf of an American oil company.
The setting is a ceilidh, a Highlands social event, which the village holds whenever Victor arrives.
This started out as simply a post of a concert version of Mark Knopfler's Brothers In Arms from the final show of his 2019 tour. One of his finest and I never fail to be moved by his guitar with those fat tones, grace, and restraint. While recognized as a superb guitarist he remains underrated as a lyricist. Well, you know how it is venturing into the swamp of YouTube and I spent an hour watching and listening to Knopfler (and Dire Straits) so I've added a few more links to What It Is, Romeo & Juliet, Once Upon A Time In The West, Going Home (the theme from Local Hero), and the stunning closing solo on Tunnel Of Love.
Read recently that this year marks the 50th anniversary of Zefferelli's movie version of Romeo & Juliet which got me thinking of the Dire Straits song. Here is a recent version by Mark Knopfler (despite the YouTube title, Emmylou Harris does not make an appearance). Because of travel I'm missing Knopfler's appearance in Phoenix on September 21 which I would have very much like to have seen.
While doing a little background research, I realized that when I saw Dire Straits play in Boston in 1979 it was the first show on their first US tour.
Here's Romeo & Juliet followed by Dire Straits playing Sultans of Swing in 1979. I've never gotten tired of listening to that song.
A lovestruck Romeo sings the streets a serenade
Laying everybody low with a love song that he made
Finds a streetlight, steps out of the shade
Says something like "You and me babe: how 'bout it?"
Juliet says, "Hey, it's Romeo. You nearly give me a heart attack."
He's underneath the window; she's singing, "Hey, la, my boyfriend's back.
You shouldn't come around here singing up at people like that.
Anyway what you gonna do about it?"
Juliet, the dice was loaded from the start
And I bet, then you exploded in my heart
And I forget, I forget the movie song
When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?
Come up on different streets, they both were streets of shame
Both dirty, both mean, yes, and the dream was just the same
And I dreamed your dream for you and now your dream is real
How can you look at me as if I was just another one of your deals?
When you can fall for chains of silver you can fall for chains of gold
You can fall for pretty strangers and the promises they hold
You promised me everything, you promised me thick and thin, yeah.
Now you just say, "Oh, Romeo, yeah. You know, I used to have a scene with him."
Juliet, when we made love you used to cry
You said, "I love you like the stars above, I'll love you 'til I die."
There's a place for us, you know the movie song
When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?
I can't do the talks like they talk on the TV
And I can't do a love song like the way it's meant to be
I can't do everything but I'll do anything for you
I can't do anything except be in love with you
And all I do is miss you and the way we used to be
All I do is keep the beat, the bad company
All I do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme
Juliet, I'd do the stars with you any time
Another Dragontape mix - this time the distinctive guitar stylings of Mark Knopfler, from his days with Dire Straits, as a solo artist and from his one album band, The Notting Hillbillies.
Featuring Selections From: Down To The Waterline (Dire Straits) What It Is (Solo) Sultans Of Swing (Dire Straits) Your Own Sweet Way (Notting Hillbillies) Tunnel Of Love (Dire Straits) Brothers In Arms (Dire Straits) Freeway Flyer (from the movie Local Hero) Wild Theme (from the movie Local Hero)
In putting together another Dragontape mix - this one on Mark Knopfler - THC came across this video of the theme song from the movie Local Hero (1983), written by Knopfler.
Set in the Scottish highlands, it's about an American oil company's
attempt to buy a small Scottish village so it can build an oil terminal -
that is, to the extent the movie is about anything because it just sort
of ambles along in a low-key humorous and oddball way. The stars are Peter Riegert
("Boon" in Animal House) as an junior executive at Knox Oil, selected to make the journey from Houston to the Highlands because he's thought to be Scottish since his last name is MacIntyre, though his family are actually Hungarian immigrants who changed their name when they came to the U.S. and Burt Lancaster in one of his last films as the decidedly eccentric owner of the company, but the real star is the setting in Scotland.
THC and the Mrs (prior to them being Mr and Mrs) had camped in the area where the film is set while on a trip in 1978 so it provided a little extra jolt to see some of that
beautiful coast again. The best camping site we found was on a peninsula which provided a view towards the Isle of Skye across the sound to the south. Actually it wasn't a formal camping site; it was the field adjacent to a cottage lying along a lonely coastal road. We went up to the door and asked if it was okay if we camped on their property. "Of course" was the response.
The movie was the centerpiece of a trio of films directed by Bill Forsyth in the early 1980s, the first being Gregory's Girland the last Comfort And Joy,
which is about the rivalry of two Glasgow ice cream companies and the
secret to making ice cream fritters. All are set in Scotland (we only
understood about half the dialogue in Gregory's Girl as Scottish only seems vaguely related to the English language) and greatly
enjoyed them all. None of them had a traditional story arc; someone once wrote something to the effect that Forsyth made films
"using the scenes other directors would cut". After that he went off to
Hollywood, lost his mojo, and never made anything watchable again.
The video features some of the Highland scenery we enjoyed so much. You can listen to a lovely live version by Knopfler here. And this is another song from the film - Even The Lone Star State Gets Lonesome - sung by Victor, the Soviet fishing vessel captain who occasionally stops by the isolated village where the story is set.In this scene Victor and Mac discuss wealth creation and we are treated to a technical explanation of the Aurora Borealis.
Mark Knopfler at his most Mark Knopfleresque. From his 2000 solo album.
The Drinking Dens Are Spilling Out
There's Staggering In The Square
There's Lads And Lasses Falling About
And A Crackling In The Air
Down Around The Dungeon Doors
The Shelters And The Queues
Everybody's Looking For
Somebody's Arms To Fall Into
And It's What It Is
It's What It Is Now
There's Frost On The Graves And The Monuments
But The Taverns Are Warm In Town
People Curse The Government
And Shovel Hot Food Down
The Lights Are Out In City Hall
The Castle And The Keep
The Moon Shines Down Upon It All
The Legless And Asleep
And It's Cold On The Tollgate
With The Wagons Creeping Through
Cold On The Tollgate
God Knows What I Could Do With You
And It's What It Is
It's What It Is Now
The Garrison Sleeps In The Citadel
With The Ghosts And The Ancient Stones
High Up On The Parapet
A Scottish Piper Stands Alone
And High On The Wind
The Highland Drums Begin To Roll
And Something From The Past Just Comes
And Stares Into My Soul
And It's Cold On The Tollgate
With The Caledonian Blues
Cold On The Tollgate
God Knows What I Could Do With You
And It's What It Is
It's What It Is Now
What It Is
It's What It Is Now
There's A Chink Of Light, There's A Burning Wick
There's A Lantern In The Tower
Wee Willie Winkie With A Candlestick
Still Writing Songs In The Wee Wee Hours
On Charlotte Street I Take
A Walking Stick From My Hotel
The Ghost Of Dirty Dick
Is Still In Search Of Little Nell
And It's What It Is
It's What It Is Now
Oh It's What It Is
What It Is Now
Let's bring you down from the frenetic energy of Sam Kinison in yesterday's post. In fact, let's go beyond mellow and laid-back and sluggishly stumble our way to the almost comatose. Get yourselves a bourbon or some scotch, sit back in a comfortable big chair, relax and listen to the Notting Hillbillies performing Your Own Sweet Way. Featuring Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits on guitar and vocals (he also wrote the song). Mark doesn't play a lot of notes but every one he plays is just right.
And remember:
It doesn't matter what I say What I do or what I think You can lead a horse to water You can't make him drink You'll go your own sweet Your own sweet way
