Time for a musical break.
What follows is long — the video runs about an hour — but one of its many pleasures is hearing Knopfler talk. A beautiful sample of his conversation comes early on — right after the first song, at about 7:15. Thoughts about the guitar, giving songs what they want, and nurturing the connection between the music and the listener. Juicy stuff.
The post title, by the way, comes from another one of those breaks — you’ll get the context at about 31:10.
<div align=”center”><iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/tGlGBIzN2ls” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
If you stick it out to the end (or skip ahead) you’ll get a lovely, quiet performance of the song that knocks me out every time I hear it: “Brothers in Arms.”
And with that, open thread time…in which we may be nicer to each other than I hope Team Obama will be to Team Romney. ;)
Twisted Martini
LOVE LOVE LOVE Mark Knopfler, his writing and musical execution are unparallelled.
Amir Khalid
I dunno what happened, but it looks like your post has broken the layout.
Tom Levenson
@Amir Khalid: Hasn’t broken mine, viewed in either Firefox or Safari.
Anybody else?
Eljai
I’m going to see Mark Knopfler with Bob Dylan this October. I’m so excited. I’ve never seen either live before.
Raven
His album with Emmylou is tops.
Amir Khalid
@Tom Levenson:
I’m on Windows and Firefox, and here’s what I’m seeing on this thread:
— Comments going all the way toward the right-hand edge.
— The ad that’s supposed to be at top right and the recent posts box are now on the left, under the comment box.
Other threads are OK.
Tom Levenson
@Amir Khalid: Hmm. I’m seeing that too in Safari, now that you mention it.
Don’t know why.
Any functionality lost?
Origuy
@Amir Khalid: I’m seeing the same thing. Windows 7, Firefox 14.0.1
Amir Khalid
@Tom Levenson:
Not that I can see. It just looks weird.
Tom Levenson
Izzat better? Works for me in Safari.
Amir Khalid
@Tom Levenson:
Is OK now. Thanx.
dr. bloor
Love, love, love Knopfler. If you haven’t already, treat yourself to his duos with Chet Atkins and his work with the Notting Hillbillies.
RK
Love Knofler. Great work on Dylan’s Slow Train. Think he wanted Vince Gill in his band.
kelrian
Brothers in Arms never fails to give me a case of the sniffles. Ever since I first heard it on The West Wing, it’s been first on the old iTunes playlist.
jayboat
After Dylan and John Hiatt, Knopfler is my favorite musician on the planet.
And yeah, Vince turned down the invite.
BettyPageisaBlonde
Mark Knopfler. Is there nothing he can’t do? *swoon*
Bill
Mark Knopfler’s playing is so distinctive that I can pick his guitar out of a song that I’ve never heard before. Several times, I’ve heard two or three bars of a song on the radio, and thought- that’s Knopfler- sure enough, it will be, and I run right out to buy the album.
I try to play the way he does.
I do not succeed.
Litlebritdifrnt
I have loved all of the “Evening With” episodes that I have seen. One of my favorites was the Donny Osmond one. You have all of these celebs in the audience who are for the most part huge fans and they just can’t stay objective, they get right down to their basic fandom. It is a brilliant concept.
Patricia Kayden
My favorite version of “Brothers in Arms”. Remember watching that concert live with my family.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vUDmFjWgVo
Neddie Jingo
I see he’s lost the thumb-pick and is now going Fully Organic. His lead lines have that “pop” on a Strat because he’s popping the strings with the fat of his fingertips instead of a plectrum. Magnificent musician, carving out lead lines with the meat of his body.
I’m Jeremiah Dixon
I am a Geordie boy
A glass of wine with you, sir,
And the ladies I’ll enjoy
All Durham and Northumberland
Was measured out with my own hand
It was my fate from my 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
Yes, the Jeremiah Dixon of that song is the Dixon of the Mason-Dixon Line.
The song was pretty obviously inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s Mason & Dixon, which came out some three years previous. Magnificent novel, magnificent song. It nonplusses me that the events of that novel, and the events that came out of the drawing of that Line, all took place within 100 miles of my home. The Line was perfectly straight; the land it divided was not; and therein lies the trouble within our souls.
El Cruzado
I’m partial to Speedway to Nazareth myself.
LT
Not crazy about partial songs. Bugging me. Is nice to see him more personal than usual, though. Saw him (with Dire Straits) in Tel Aviv (1985 or so) and small town Oregon, fifften feet or so from outdoor stage. Very, very good.
LT
@Neddie Jingo: He’s lost the thmbpick for this gig only, I reckon.
TheMightyTrowel
This made my morning. Thank you, Tom!
MCA1
@Neddie Jingo: Such an underappreciated album. For one, it contains bar none the greatest song ever written about surveying. :^) I love the harmony on the refrain in “Sailing to Philadelphia” so much it aches when I hear it. Also has a totally unknown nugget of a great song in “Silvertown Blues” and Knopfler’s playing on “Speedway at Nazareth” shows how great he can be.
Heirn
Thank you Tom. I enjoyed the whole performance. I have been a huge fan for years.
Zirgar
Knopfler’s guitar tones are always crystal clear, clean and lean; there’s nothing there that shouldn’t be. His solos are immaculate little gems of finger picking prowess. I also love the song, “Brothers in Arms;” between its message and its haunting, moving music, it’s a proper classic.
Just One More Canuck
Thanks for this Tom. I’ll be seeing him with Dylan in November
Scott
Thanks for sharing this, Tom. He really is a terrific guitarist.
I found it interesting that he pulled back from superstardom after “Money for Nothing” hit big. From what I’ve read, he never intended to become that “big”, and it scared him a little. I do love what he’s doing now, though. The entire album that the Sonny Liston song came from is great. If I wasn’t so old I could remember the title.
And also, too, you people going to see Dylan and Knopfler: I hate you.