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Dire Straits And Texas Wildflowers
Bittersweet memories of lost worlds
Dire Straits was a British rock band that produced popular songs that I used to hear on the radio when I was in highschool — Twisting by the Pool, Sultans of Swing, and Money for Nothing. However, I never really got into them until I listened to a few of their albums.
Songs like Telegraph Road never got air time because it’s 14 minutes long; however it’s a masterpiece. Mark Knopfler gives us some hauntingly beautiful passages. The song does not feel long because the story it tells is so engaging.
There were several other songs I only heard on albums — Brothers in Arms, Romeo and Juliet, and Portobello Belle, etc. All of them were great. However, Telegraph Road really connected with my heart.
It starts off:
A long time ago came a man on a track
Walking thirty miles with a sack on his back
And he put down his load where he thought it was the best
He made a home in the wilderness
He built a cabin and a winter store
And he ploughed up the ground by the cold lake shore
And the other travellers came walking down the track
And they never went further, no, they never went back
