Mark Knopfler

[fox69]

"Rudiger"

"Rudiger"


Rudiger stands in the rain and the snow
Collector of autographs
Names upon photographs
Faces of people who everyone knows

Rudiger lives in a place on his own
Briefcase and spectacles
Strange and respectable
He knows the meaning of being alone

Rudiger works as a clerk in the town
Music or politics
Rudiger gets his kicks
He gets information then he comes around

Rudiger waits at the hall in Berlin
He waits there all night
Security's tight
They know who he is but they don't let him in

Rudiger waits in the dark by the stair
His fingers are shaking
His feet they are aching
But your name's in the paper so Rudiger's there

 

[fox69]

"Sailing To Philadelphia"

"Sailing To Philadelphia"


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

 

[fox69]

"Sands Of Nevada"

"Sands Of Nevada"


These tables are haunted
By the ghosts 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 shoulder
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 has 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

 

[fox69]

"Seattle"

"Seattle"


Above the bar the TVs are showing the game
But we're not watching it, we're hardly focussing
Through the windows in the fading day
1st Avenue is turning grey
Do you ever look at me and see another man
Let's get two more beers and try to make a plan
Sometimes it feels as though I have a key
But every time I try it it won't turn for me
Seattle - you've got to love the rain
And we both love rain
We both love rain

We watched the city skyline from the ferry deck
And you put your arms around my neck
We talked of looking just out of town
Now it's looking like a dream shot down
I still believe that there's somewhere for us
But now it's something that we don't discuss
And you're the best thing I ever knew
Stay with me, baby, and we'll make it to
We'll make it to
Seattle - you've got to love the rain
And we both love rain
We both love rain
Seattle - I want you just the same
And we both love rain
We both love rain

 

[fox69]

"Secondary Waltz"

"Secondary Waltz"


The school Christmas party is coming
We ain't doing rugby no more
MacIntyre's teaching us waltzing
Out on the gymnasium floor
Out on the gymnasium floor
MacIntyre's out of the army
You'll be slippered if you get it wrong
And MacIntyre's din
Booms loud in the gym
And we've only got our little shorts on
We've only got our little shorts on

And it's one, two, three, two, two -
We're all a disgrace
MacIntyre tore us apart
And we danced with ourselves
When he yelled 'Find a space!'
Waltzing with fear in our hearts
Waltzing with fear in our hearts

Comes the day of the final manoeuvres
All of our heads are awhirl
It's getting much closer to D-day
This time we're going to do it with girls
This time we're going to do it with girls
In the arena the ladies were waiting
A 12 year-old partner to guide
Some matches were fixed
The rest of us mixed
And a fat girl got left at the side
A fat girl got left at the side

And it's one, two, three, two, two -
We're all a disgrace
MacIntyre tore us apart
And we danced with ourselves
When we'd all found a space
Waltzing with fear in our hearts
Waltzing with fear in our hearts

When you come to my fights
And I'm under the lights
And you see that my footwork is false
Don't count me out
At the start of the bout
I'm just doing the Secondary Waltz
Doing the Secondary Waltz

 

[fox69]

"Silver Eagle"

"Silver Eagle"


It was so late and she’d be sleeping
He came through her home town
With the moonlight on the crossroads
And the green light shining down
And the bell at the railroad crossing
And the horn from far away
And his Silver Eagle passing
Half a mile from where she lay

At his feet a sea of faces
Make devotions with their love
Clap their hands and plead their cases
Call for blessings from above
Like the rolling waves forever massing
To crash and foam and creep away
And the Silver Eagle passing
Half a mile from where she lay

Road signs flow into the headlights
Whisper names and fall behind
He finds some honor in the darkness
Hopes for grace and peace of mind
And he thinks of how they’d lay together
He’d run his fingers through her hair
And he wonders if she’ll ever
Come to know that he was there

 

[fox69]

"Silvertown Blues"

"Silvertown Blues"


On Silvertown way, the cranes stand high
Quiet and gray against the still of the sky
They won't quit and lay down though the action has died
They watch the new game in town on the Blackwall side

From the poisonous drains a vision appears
A new circle of cranes, a new reason to be here
A big silver dome rising up into the dawn
Above the church and the homes where all the silver is gone

If I'd a bucket of gold, what would I do
I'd leave the story untold Silvertown blues
Going down in Silvertown, down in Silvertown
Going down in Silvertown, down in Silvertown

A silver dawn steals over the docks
A truck with no wheels up on cinderblocks
Men with no dreams around the fire in a drum
Scrap metal schemes rusted over and done

If I'd a bucket of gold, silver would do
I'd leave the story untold Silvertown blues
And I'm going down in Silvertown, down in Silvertown
Going down in Silvertown, down in Silvertown

When you're standing on thin and dangerous ice
You can knock and walk in for citizens' advice
They'll tell you where you can turn, where you can go
There's nothing they can tell me I don't already know

If I'd a bucket of gold, silver would do
Leave the story untold Silvertown blues
And I'm going down in Silvertown, down in Silvertown
I'm going down in Silvertown, down in Silvertown

From the Canning Town train I saw a billboard high
There's a big silver plane rising up into the sky
I can make out the words seven flights every day
Says six of those birds are bound for JFK

If I'd a bucket of gold, silver would do
Leave the story untold Silvertown blues
And I'm going down Silvertown, down in Silvertown
I'm going down in Silvertown, down in Silvertown

Going down Silvertown, down in Silvertown
I'm going down in Silvertown, down in Silvertown
Down in Silvertown

 

[fox69]

"Skydiver"

"Skydiver"


I’ve been banned from every racecourse in the country
There’s something about the unsure thing
Like scoring with a beauty of the county
It always makes the old bell ring

I like to go for broke and I’ll be randy
It’s got to be the unsure thing
In the Bentley Continental with the brandy
It always makes the old bell ring

And when it’s gone, all gone
I’ll stand on a hilltop and sing
I go where I want, I do what I want
And I don’t give a damn about a thing

Skydiver

Today I lost a packet at Wincanton
Dive Bomber in the 2.15
All on the nose and no-one counting
Nothing wishy-washy in between

Back when I made the pivotal decision
To take a winding road that I could see
It was just like being given an incredible permission
The rules don’t apply to me

And when it’s gone, all gone
I’ll stand on a hilltop and sing
I go where I want, I do what I want
And I don’t give a damn about a thing

Skydiver

I’m not being brave, it’s my money, not my life
When I need to take a break from the brushes and the knife
And I always took a fancy to the ones
Heading straight into the teeth of the guns

Skydiver

 

[fox69]

"Small Potatoes"

"Small Potatoes"


You can hire and fire, wheel and deal
Run your streets with a fist of steel
But you're small potatoes
Strictly nickel and dime, nickel and dime
Small potatoes, small time

You can raise an army on a town
Be the rent collector, come around
Yeah, but you're small potatoes
Strictly nickel and dime, nickel and dime
Small potatoes, small time

If you take your leave of reality
You have to believe in your own publicity
But you get yourself and agent
Hire the Albert Hall
Make like Humpty dumpty and look down on it all
But you're small potatoes
Strictly nickel and dime, nickel and dime
Small potatoes, small time

Out on the town for your charities
Hanging in around with the VIPS
They say the duke of York took his men
Marched them up a hill of beans and down again
He was small potatoes
Strictly nickel and dime, nickel and dime
Small potatoes, small potatoes, small potatoes, small time

 

[fox69]

"So Far From The Clyde"

"So Far From The Clyde"


They had a last supper the day of the beaching
She's a dead ship sailing skeleton crew
The galley is empty, the stove pots are cooling
What's left of the stew
The time is approaching, the captain moves over
The hangman steps in to do what he's paid for
With the wind down the tide she goes proud ahead steaming
And he drives her hard into the shore

So far from the Clyde
Together we ride, we did ride

A drift to a wave from her bows to her rudder
Bravely she rises to meet with the land
Under their feet they all feel the keel shudder
The shallow sea washes their hands
Later the captain shakes hands with the hangman
Climbs slowly down to the oily wet ground
Goes back to the car that has come here to take him
Through the graveyard back to the town

So far from the Clyde
Together we ride, we did ride

They pull out her cables and hack off her hatches
Too poor to be wasteful with pity or time
They swarm on her carcass with torches and axes
Like a whale on a bloody shoreline
Stripped of her pillars her stays and her stanchions
When it's only her bones on the wet poison land
Steel ropes will drag her with winches and engines
Till it's only a stain on the sand

So far from the Clyde
Together we ride, we did ride
So far from the Clyde
Together we ride, we did ride