Home > Author > Mark Knopfler
1 " There's so many different worlds, so many different suns. And we have just one world, but we live in different ones. "
― Mark Knopfler , Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
2 " The drinking dens are spilling outThere's staggering in the squareThere's lads and lasses falling aboutAnd a crackling in the airDown around the dungeon doorsThe shelters and the queuesEverybody's looking forSomebody's arms to fall intoAnd it's what it isIt's what it is nowThere's frost on the graves and the monumentsBut the taverns are warm in townPeople curse the governmentAnd shovel hot food downThe lights are out in the city hallThe castle and the keepThe moon shines down upon it allThe legless and asleepAnd it's cold on the tollgateWith the wagons creeping throughCold on the tollgateGod knows what I could do with youAnd it's what it isIt's what it is nowThe garrison sleeps in the citadelWith the ghosts and the ancient stonesHigh up on the parapetA Scottish piper stands aloneAnd high on the windThe highland drums begin to rollAnd something from the past just comesAnd stares into my soulAnd it's cold on the tollgateWith the Caledonian BluesCold on the tollgateGod knows what I could do with youAnd it's what it isIt's what it is nowWhat it isIt's what it is nowThere's a chink of light, there's a burning wickThere's a lantern in the towerWee Willie Winkie with a candlestickStill writing songs in the wee wee hoursOn Charlotte Street I takeA walking stick from my hotelThe ghost of Dirty DickIs still in search of Little NellAnd it's what it isIt's what it is nowOh what it isWhat it is now "
― Mark Knopfler , Sailing to Philadelphia
3 " This empty kitchen's whereI'd while away the hoursJust next to my old chairYou'd usually have some flowersThe shelves of booksEven the picture hooksEverything is goneBut my heart is hanging onIf this old neighborhoodSurvived us both alrightDon't know that it withstoodAll the things that took our lightYou on the stairI can see you thereEverything is goneBut my heart is hanging onOnce there was a little girlUsed to wonder what she would beWent out into the big wide worldNow she's just a memoryThere used to be a little school hereWhere I learned to write my nameBut time has been a little cruel hereTime has no shameIt's just a place whereWe used to liveIt's just a place whereWe used to liveNow in another townYou lead another lifeAnd now upstairs and downYou're someone else's wifeHere in the dustThere's not a trace of usEverything is goneBut my heart is hanging onIt's just a place whereWe used to liveIt's just a place whereWe used to live. "
― Mark Knopfler
4 " I’m a maker of ballads right prettyI write them right here in the streetYou can buy them all over the cityyours for a penny a sheetI’m a word pecker out of the printersout of the dens of Gin LaneI’ll write up a scene on a counter- confessions and sins in the main, boysconfessions and sins in the mainThen you’ll find me in Madame Geneva’skeeping the demons at bayThere’s nothing like gin for drowning them inbut they’ll always be back on a hanging day, on a hanging dayThey come rattling over the cobblesthey sit on their coffins of blackSome are struck dumb, some gabbletop-heavy on brandy or sackThe pews are all full of fine fellowsand the hawker has set up her shopAs they’re turning them off at the gallowsshe’ll be selling right under the drop, boysselling right under the dropThen you’ll find me in Madame Geneva’skeeping the demons at bayThere’s nothing like gin for drowning them inbut they’ll always be back on a hanging day, on a hanging day "
― Mark Knopfler , Kill to Get Crimson (Tab)
5 " Juliet, the dice were loaded from the start. / When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet? "
6 " Sometimes you're the windshield. Sometimes your the bug. "
7 " We prayed these wars would end all wars --In war we know is no romance."(Done With Bonaparte) "
― Mark Knopfler , Golden Heart
8 " There should be laughter after pain, there should be sunlight after rain, these things have always been the same, so why worry now?"[Why Worry?] "
9 " I don't like definitions, but if there is a definition of freedom, it would be when you have control over your reality to transform it, to change it, rather than having it imposed upon you. You can't really ask for more than that. "
10 " No money in our jackets and our jeans are torn,Your hands are cold but your lips are warm. "
― Mark Knopfler , Dire Straits: "Sultans of Swing" -- The Very Best Of
11 " Telegraph RoadA long time ago came a man on a trackWalking thirty miles with a pack on his backAnd he put down his load where he thought it was the bestMade a home in the wildernessHe built a cabin and a winter storeAnd he ploughed up the ground by the cold lake shoreAnd the other travellers came riding down the trackAnd they never went further, no, they never went backThen came the churches, then came the schoolsThen came the lawyers, then came the rulesThen came the trains and the trucks with their loadsAnd the dirty old track was the telegraph roadThen came the mines - then came the oreThen there was the hard times, then there was a warTelegraph sang a song about the world outsideTelegraph road got so deep and so wideLike a rolling river ...And my radio says tonight it's gonna freezePeople driving home from the factoriesThere's six lanes of trafficThree lanes moving slow ...I used to like to go to work but they shut it downI got a right to go to work but there's no work here to be foundYes and they say we're gonna have to pay what's owedWe're gonna have to reap from some seed that's been sowedAnd the birds up on the wires and the telegraph polesThey can always fly away from this rain and this coldYou can hear them singing out their telegraph codeAll the way down the telegraph roadYou know I'd sooner forget but I remember those nightsWhen life was just a bet on a race between the lightsYou had your head on my shoulder, you had your hand in my hairNow you act a little colder like you don't seem to careBut believe in me baby and I'll take you awayFrom out of this darkness and into the dayFrom these rivers of headlights, these rivers of rainFrom the anger that lives on the streets with these names'Cos I've run every red light on memory laneI've seen desperation explode into flamesAnd I don't want to see it again ...From all of these signs saying sorry but we're closedAll the way down the telegraph road "
― Mark Knopfler , Dire Straits - 1982-91
12 " It was so late and she’d be sleepingHe came through her home townWith the moonlight on the crossroadsAnd the green light shining downAnd the bell at the railroad crossingAnd the horn from far awayAnd his Silver Eagle passingHalf a mile from where she layAt his feet a sea of facesMake devotions with their loveClap their hands and plead their casesCall for blessings from aboveLike the rolling waves forever massingTo crash and foam and creep awayAnd the Silver Eagle passingHalf a mile from where she layRoad signs flow into the headlightsWhisper names and fall behindHe finds some honor in the darknessHopes for grace and peace of mindAnd he thinks of how they’d lay togetherHe’d run his fingers through her hairAnd he wonders if she’ll everCome to know that he was there "
13 " And what have you got at the end of the day?What have you got to take away? "
14 " Now the sun's gone to hell andThe moon's riding highLet me bid you farewellEvery man has to dieBut it's written in the starlightAnd every line in your palmWe are fools to make warOn our brothers in arms "