Dire Straits

Dire Straits is the first band I ever liked. It was the beginning of my interest in Music. Perhaps it was also the passage to adolescence. 1986, 14-15 years old. Not a very mature kid. Buying the album "Brothers in Arms" (the vinyl black disc that you, my kids, may have never seen) was like a rite of passage indeed. Ironically, the very first song that caught my ears was "Walk of Life".

Indeed my (slow) path to adulthood started with "Walk of Life", a very lively, joyous, energetic song, clear contrast to the gloom of starting to discover what Life can really be. It hooked me anyway.

"Brothers in Arms" is a masterpiece of an album. Wonder after wonder. The famous, "metallic" (a riff universally known) Money for nothing (little did I know how in synch I was with the sarcastic lyrics, an odd against capitalism and the consumerism). The tender "Why worry". The amazing saxophone solo of "Your latest trick". And the second to none, perfectly melancholic and deep eponym song "Brothers in Arms". Beautiful beyond words, one of the two songs ever to bring tears to my eyes every time I listen to it.

My love for Dire Straits would never waver. It has been 40 years as I am writing this and I am still listening to Brothers in Arms, Sultans of Swing, Tunnel of Love, Telegraph Road etc ...

The next purchases would be CDs. It was a brand news technology. I must have had one of the first CD players thanks to your grand-father who bought it in the US. Ironically - though unsurprisingly - I learned that Philips had tested this new technology with the song "Telegraph road", an epic song depicting the conquest of the West in the US. That was a sign of my taste to come: I would always cherish 15 minute-ish, epic songs, alternating slow and fast pieces, like the roller coaster that life is.

I bought all the Dire Straits CDs. I went to a couple of concerts in Paris with my friends Eric, Nicolas, Véronique and Christophe, one in Washington DC with Cornelia, the latter once Dire Straits' leader and really, its soul, Mark Knopfler, had disbanded.

Mark, as I would refer to him with my childhood friend Christophe who had followed suit and fell in love with this music too, would then have a successful solo - though accompanied by buddies - career. As he trended more towards country music, I did not follow his works as closely. But his music of the 80's would always resonate with my teenage and young adult's periods.

My favorite songs (click to watch and listen):

Brothers in Arms : this is one of the two songs that moves me to tears.

On Every street : from melancholic to epic, one of these songs that gives me lots of energy.

Telegraph road : this song was used by Philips, the company that launched the CD technology. That should tell you how rich this song is. Rich of melody and various tempos. Epic ending as often with DS.

News : less known song that features yet another meaningful ending. With words. This song tells a story. About life.

Where do you think you're going? : the usual crescendo tempo that gives me goosebumps. Delightful.

Tunnel of Love (the Alchemist version) : I tend to like songs of 15 minutes or so because they often are a reflection of life, with the ups and the downs. Wonderful song, wonderful guitar solo (of course).

Walk of life : the song thanks to which I "met" Dire Straits. So energetic. I was 15 years old and that song gave some energy to a not-so-happy teenage version of me.

Money for nothing : perhaps the second most famous piece. Oh the riff ... Not to ignore : the meaning of that song which is a satirical critique of the 1980s consumerism ... A critique of shallowness ... I wonder if Americans even noticed.

Planet of New Orleans : yet another "crescendo tempo" as I like to call them. Wonderful epic ending.

Sultans of swing : the most famous piece. Epic guitar solo. Various wonderful versions but I will stick with the original Live version. Masterclass.

Not to forget the amazing Going Home, an instrumental masterpiece composed by Mark for a movie called "Local Hero" and with which Dire Straits would end each (?) of its concerts. One of these songs going crescendo until a climax that brings goosebumps and happiness. Wonderful.

As Mark would say at the end of Going Home at each concert :

Thank youuuuuuuuu !

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