MARK KNOPFLER – What It Is

The Drinking Dens Are Spilling Out
There’s Staggering In The Square
There’s Lads And Lasses Falling About
And A Crackling In The Air
Down Around The Dungeon Doors
The Shelters And The Queues
Everybody’s Looking For
Somebody’s Arms To Fall Into
And It’s What It Is
It’s What It Is Now

There’s Frost On The Graves And The Monuments
But The Taverns Are Warm In Town
People Curse The Government
And Shovel Hot Food Down
The Lights Are Out In City Hall
The Castle And The Keep
The Moon Shines Down Upon It All
The Legless And Asleep

And It’s Cold On The Tollgate
With The Wagons Creeping Through
Cold On The Tollgate
God Knows What I Could Do With You
And It’s What It Is
It’s What It Is Now

The Garrison Sleeps In The Citadel
With The Ghosts And The Ancient Stones
High Up On The Parapet
A Scottish Piper Stands Alone
And High On The Wind
The Highland Drums Begin To Roll
And Something From The Past Just Comes
And Stares Into My Soul

And It’s Cold On The Tollgate
With The Caledonian Blues
Cold On The Tollgate
God Knows What I Could Do With You
And It’s What It Is
It’s What It Is Now
What It Is
It’s What It Is Now

There’s A Chink Of Light, There’s A Burning Wick
There’s A Lantern In The Tower
Wee Willie Winkie With A Candlestick
Still Writing Songs In The Wee Wee Hours
On Charlotte Street I Take
A Walking Stick From My Hotel
The Ghost Of Dirty Dick
Is Still In Search Of Little Nell
And It’s What It Is
It’s What It Is Now
Oh It’s What It Is
What It Is Now

MARK KNOPFLER – Vic And Ray

A dirty motor with London plates
Sitting in the gutter outside your silent gates
Vic and Ray, Vic and Ray
Vic and Ray, Vic and Ray

Come to daddy baby, what is it worth
Come to daddy, the scum of the crying earth
Vic and Ray, Vic and Ray
Vic and Ray, Vic and Ray

Laughing at each other’s pain
They run the heater in the morning rain
This’ll pay the rent around the world
Wanna buy a picture of a girl

Christmas morning, there they are
Two rent boys wishing on a shining star
Vic and Ray, Vic and Ray
Vic and Ray, Vic and Ray

MARK KNOPFLER – The Ragpicker’s Dream

When jack frost came for christmas
With a brass monkey date
The rail-king and the scarecrow
Hopped a florlda freight
And they blew on their paper cups
And stared through the steam
Then they drank half a bottle
Of ragpicker’s dream where

The whiskey keeps following
Cold pitchers of beer
Me and my associate
Like the clientele here get
The onions and the ‘taters
Rib-eyes on the grill
Toothpicks and luckies
And a coffee refill as

The rail-king lay rocking
He was leaving the ground
Then he was flying like santa claus
Over the town where
He came to the window
Of a house by a stream
It was a family christmas
In the ragpicker’s dream there

Were kids at the table
All aglow in the light
Music in the wintertime
Sure carries at night there
Was turkey and gravy
Pie and ice-cream
And gifts for each and everyone
In the ragpicker’s dream where

The red-eye keeps tumbling
In our glasses of beer
Me and my associate
Like the service in here there’s
A ten for your trouble
You have beautiful hair
Make the last one two doubles
It’s a cold one out there where

The scarecrow and the rail-king
Have started to dance
But a nightstick and a billyclub
Won’t give peace a chance here
I think they went thataways
Your song and dance team
Heading home for the holidays
With the ragpicker’s dream on

His knees like a fighter
The rail-riding king
Like a sack of potatoes
Like a bull in the ring where
The scarecrow falls over
With a tear in the seam
Home for the rover
In the ragpicker’s dream where

The red-eye keeps tumbling
Like tears in our beer
Me and my associate
Like the ambience here where
They cornered two castaways
In a white flashlight beam
Merry christmas and happy days
In the ragpicker’s dream

MARK KNOPFLER – Stand Up Guy

Brew the coffee in a bucket
Double straight man and banjo
If you don’t got the snake oil
Buster, you don’t got a show
Who puts the doh-re-me
In our pockets
Keeps the party going on?
It’s the man
Who sells the potions
I’m just one who plays the songs
Now they generally buys
The bigger size
They usually rub it in
I drank it once, it tasted
Like grease and paraffin
It’s mostly alcohol, okay
You can’t deny it’s strong
We was going through the motions
’til the doctor came along

There stands the bottle
Ladies and gentlemen
All these bottles
Don’t have to tell you, friends
These days miracles
Don’t come falling from the sky
Raise your glasses to the doctor
To a stand up guy

When the monkeyshine is flying
And he’s promising the cure
He says the french
For your lovesick blues
La maladie d’amour
He gets the chumps all laughing
But he gets a few to buy
Here’s to beefsteak
When you’re hungry
And whiskey when you’re dry
Now the band’ll blow their moolah
Like sailors gone ashore
Now we’re going to west helena
To gamble, drink and whore
Let’s you and me
All make whoopee
Here’s mud in your eye
Here’s to all the gals you ever want
And heaven when you die

There stands the bottle
Ladies and gentlemen
All these bottles
Don’t have to tell you, friends
These days miracles
Don’t come falling from the sky
Raise your glasses to the doctor
To a stand up guy

There’s a big cheese with a cigar
Been sizing up the show
He wants to get the doctor
Pitching on the radio
I will make a switch to guitar
But the rules all still apply
They want to trust somebody
Yeah, they want a stand up guy

There stands the bottle
Here’s to absent friends
All these bottles
Dead soldiers in the end
These days miracles
Don’t come falling from the sky
Raise your glasses to the doctor
To a stand up guy
To the doctor
A stand up guy

MARK KNOPFLER – Song For Sonny Liston

So many mouths
To feed on the farm
Sonny was the second
To the last one born
His mamma ran away
And his daddy beat him bad
And he grew up wild
Good love he never had

He had a left
Like henry’s hammer
A right like betty bamalam
Rode with the muggers
In the dark and dread
And all them sluggers
Went down like lead

Well he hung with the hoods
He wouldn’t stroke the fans
But he had dynamite
In both his hands
Boom bam
Like the slammer door
The bell and the can
And the bodies on the floor

Beware the bear’s in town
Somebody’s money says
The bear’s going down
Yeah, the bear never smiles
Sonny’s going down
For miles and miles
Sonny’s going down
For miles and miles

The writers didn’t like him
The fight game jocks
With his lowlife backers
And his hands like rocks
They didn’t want to have
A bogey man
They didn’t like him
And he didn’t like them

Black cadillac
Alligator boots
Money in the pockets
Of his sharkskin suits
Some say the bear
Took a flop
They couldn’t believe it
When they saw him drop

He had a left
Like henry’s hammer
A right like betty bamalam
Rode with the muggers
In the dark and dread
And all them sluggers
Went down like lead

Joe Louis was his hero
He tried to be the same
But a criminal child
Wears a ball and chain
So the civil rights people
Didn’t want him on the throne
And the hacks and the cops
Wouldn’t leave him alone

Beware the bear’s in town
Somebody’s money says
The bear’s going down
Yeah, the bear never smiles
Sonny’s going down
For miles and miles
Sonny’s going down
For miles and miles

At the foot of his bed
With his feet on the floor
There was dope in his veins
And a pistol on the drawer
There was no investigation
As such
He hated needles
But he knew too much

Criss-crossed
On his back
Scars from his daddy
Like slavery tracks
The second-last child
Was the second-last king
Never again was it the same
In the ring

He had a left
Like henry’s hammer
A right like betty bamalam
Rode with the muggers
In the dark and dread
And all them sluggers
Went down like lead

They never could be sure
About the day he was born
A motherless child
Set to working on the farm
And they never could be sure
About the day he died
The bear was the king
They cast aside

Beware the bear’s in town
Somebody’s money says
The bear’s going down
Yeah, the bear never smiles
Sonny’s going down
For miles and miles
Sonny’s going down
For miles and miles

MARK KNOPFLER – 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 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

MARK KNOPFLER – 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 Forests Of The Iroquois…

Now Hold Your Head Up, Mason
See America Lies There
The Morning Tide Has Raised
The Capes Of Delaware
Gone 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

MARK KNOPFLER – Quality Shoe

You got your toecaps reinforced with steel
Hard-wearing sole and heel
Make those tired feet feel like new
Take your pick, black or Brown
Great for the country or the man in town
You’re gonna need a quality shoe

You don’t want no stand-by pair
‘Cos these’ll take the wear and tear
Made to take good care of you
For that trip by road or rail
For extra grip on those rocky trails
You’re gonna need a quality shoe

Now they maybe ain’t too hot for dancing
But I don’t foresee too much of that
You ain’t exactly gonna be prancing
Around in the moonlight
With a cane and a top hat

If you could use a change of pace
And be excused from the rat race
Just take a look at what’s on view
Lace ‘em up, walk around
I guarantee you can’t wear ‘em down
You’re gonna need a quality shoe

Now I wish you sunny skies
And happiness wherever you may go
But you got to realise
There’ll be wind, there’ll be rain
And occasional snow

You’re gonna want to smile in them
If you’re gonna walk a mile in them
There’ll be times when you’ll be blue
To laugh at rainy days and then
Make your getaways in them
You’re gonna need a quality shoe

You got your toecaps reinforced with steel
Hard-wearing sole and heel
Make those tired feet feel like new
Take your pick, black or Brown
Great for the country or the man in town
You’re gonna need a quality shoe

MARK KNOPFLER – Postcards From Paraguay

One thing was leading to the next
I bit off more than I could chew
I had the power to sign the cheques
It wasn’t difficult to do
I couldn’t stay and face the music
So many reasons why
I won’t be sending postcards
From Paraguay

I robbed a bank full of dinero
A great big mountain of dough
So it was goodbye companero
And cheerio
I couldn’t stay and face the music
So many reasons why
I won’t be sending postcards
From Paraguay

I never meant to be a cheater
But there was blood on the wall
I had to steal from peter
To pay what I owed to paul
I couldn’t stay and face the music
So many reasons why
I won’t be sending postcards
From Paraguay

MARK KNOPFLER – Piper To The End

When I leave this world behind me
To another I will go
If there are no pipes in heaven
I’ll be going down below

If friends in time be severed
Someday we will meet again
I’ll return to leave you never
Be a piper to the end

This has been a day to die for
Now the day has almost gone
Up above a choir of seabirds
Turns to face the setting sun

Now the evening dawn is calling
And all the hills are burning red
And before the night comes falling
Clouds are lined with golden thread

We watched the fires together
Shared our quarters for a while
Walked the dusty roads together
Came so many miles

This has been a day to die on
Now the day is almost done
Here the pipes will lay beside me
Silent will the battle drum

If friends in time be severed
Someday here we will meet again
I return to leave you never
Be a piper to the end

MARK KNOPFLER – One More Matinee

Here’s One Of The Two Of Us
In 1954 Don’t Laugh
I Keep All Of The Pictures
Are You Going To Take A Photograph
Here’s Something Nice For You
A Dear Old Thing Came To A Show
Last Time Here We Did
An Interview On Local Radio

Make Yourself At Home My Darling
Come On In
Hand Me Down That Jar Love
Can I Offer You A Gin

We’re Proud To Be The Oldest
Ugly Sisters In Variety
There’s Not The Glamour Now You See
What Happened To Society
There’s Another Light Bulb Gone
They Don’t All Answer To The Switch
I Don’t Know How We Carry On
And Her She Couldn’t Care The Bitch

But In A Whi E The Old Boys
In The Band Begin To Play
And In A While The Houselights
And The Curtains Slide Away

And Something’s Going To Happen
To Make Your Whole Life Better
Your Whole Life Better One Day
Something’s Going To Happen
To Make Your Whole Life Better
Your Whole Life Better One Day

Now The Landlady’s All Squared Away
It’s Just A Temporary Deal
I’m Afraid Tonight It’s Take-Away
You See There Is No Evening Meal
Don’t Worry Dear You Shall Go To The Ball
I Think The Fairy Said
These Suitcases Have Seen It All
From Under Someone Else’s Bed

You Want To Smile Those Tears Away
Now Don’t You Cry
You Want To Know What I Say
I Say Never Say Die

‘Cos Something’s Going To Happen
To Make Your Whole Life Better
Your Whole Life Better One Day
Something’s Going To Happen
To Make Your Whole Life Better
Your Whole Life Better One Day

MARK KNOPFLER – Old Pigweed

Everything was in there
That you’d want to see
Corned beef and onions
And true love
Turnips and tinned tomatoes
Parsnips and a few potatoes
A couple extra blessings
From above

Now this here mingle-mangle
Was my best one yet
A big old bad goulash
Worth waiting for
And I’m just about to dip my can
Taste some brotherhood of man
When I get a feeling
That there’s a flaw

Who put old pigweed
In the mulligan
Was it you
Who put old pigweed
In the mulligan stew
I close my eyes
For just a minute
What do you do
Who put old pigweed
In the mulligan stew

You won’t find self-improvement or philosophy
In a dumpster sitting by
The kitchen door
There’s plenty leek and humble pie
Ain’t too much ham on rye
Sometimes I wonder
What I’m looking for

But a spoonful of forgiveness
Goes a long, long way
And we all should do our best
To get along
Add a pinch of kindness crumbling
To your loving dumpling
Okra for thickening
When something’s wrong

But who put old pigweed
In the mulligan
Was it you
Who put old pigweed
In the mulligan stew
I close my eyes
For just a minute
What do you do
Who put old pigweed
In the mulligan stew

MARK KNOPFLER – I’m The Fool

I never thought I’d be the one
To be the raging bull
There’d always be a smoking gun
Who’d up and lose his cool
I never thought I’d have to say
I’m sorry, my love, because
I’m the fool I never
Fool I never thought I was

I left my dreams with broken strings
It’s time I learnt to talk
Stop falling over things
Teach myself to walk
I’m not a superman
Or Mr. wonderful,
because I’m the fool I never
Fool I never thought I was

I’m the know it all
Trying to mend his broken heart
But I don’t know how to call
And I don’t know where to start

Now if you should lose your faith in me
I don’t know where I’d run
I hope you’ll always let me be
Your only one
Am I your one true love
Or am I too late for your applause
I’m the fool I never
Fool I never thought I was
Darling, I’m the fool I never
Fool I never thought I was

MARK KNOPFLER – Imelda

She’s going shopping for shoes
She wants them in magenta and Caribbean blue
Platinum and buttercup lilac and black
They fill a bucket up and laugh behind her back
Imelda baby Imelda baby what to do
All the poor people saying that they gotta quit paying for you

In New York and Paris on the Champs Elysee
They see her coming from a long way
They clap their hands together when they get her in their store
She’s gonna wanna get more more more and more and more
Imelda baby Imelda baby what to do
All the poor people saying that they gotta quit paying for you

Everyone’s gone Jackie O
She was a regular here
We thought madame would like to know
We’ve got the blood red rouge right here

Now we’ve got all of madame’s requisites and all in madame’s size
Madame’s taste is truly exquisite she must accessorise
The belts are alligator the bags are kangaroo
Enchant? may I say the jade was made for you
Imelda baby Imelda baby what to do
All the poor people saying that they gotta quit paying for you
Imelda baby Imelda baby what to do
All the poor people saying that they gotta quit paying for you

MARK KNOPFLER feat. Emmylou Harris – If This Is Goodbye

My famous last words
Are laying around in tatters
Sounding absurd
Whatever I try
But I love you
And that’s all that really matters
If this is goodbye
If this is goodbye

Your bright shining sun
Would light up the way before me
You were the one
Made me feel I could fly
And I love you
Whatever is waiting for me
If this is goodbye
If this is goodbye

Who knows how long we’ve got
Or what were made out of
Who knows if there’s a plan or not
There is our love
I know there is our love

My famous last words
Could never tell the story
Spinning unheard
In the dark of the sky
But I love you
And this is our glory
If this is goodbye
If this is goodbye

MARK KNOPFLER – Haul Away

It was a windless night when you left the ship
You never were a steady bold one
I gave my hand, ah, but you did slip
I’m a living man and you’re a cold one
Haul away, haul away for home

My love’s as fair as a girl can be
My wedding ring is a heavy gold one
Now you lie alone in the deep dark sea
I’m a living man and you’re a cold one
Haul away, haul away for home

The morning brings, Lord, a fresh young breeze
To fill our sails and end the doldrums
Our lucky ship speeds across the sea
I’m a living man and you’re a cold one
Haul away, haul away for home

MARK KNOPFLER – Good As Gold

Beer and wine waste of time
What have you got handy?
Got any whiskey, got any gin?
Have you got any brandy?

Don’t lock me out
Don’t leave me in the cold
If you’ll only take me back
I’ll be good as gold.

I met a man – name of Stan
He had a dog called ‘Cory’
Lost my Dog in …
But that’s another story

I don’t want no champagne fizz
I don’t want no shandy
I don’t want a goodnight kiss
It’s just sugar candy

Don’t lock me out
Don’t leave me in the cold
If you’ll only take me back
I’ll be good as gold.

I guarantee you’ll going to see
A man you used to know
No more easy come for me, now
No more easy go.

Beer and wine waste of time
What have you got handy?
Got any whiskey, got any gin?
Have you got any brandy?

Don’t lock me out
Don’t leave me in the cold
If you’ll only take me back
I’ll be good as gold.

MARK KNOPFLER – Sultans Of Swing

You get a shiver in the dark
It’s been raining in the park but meantime
South of the river you stop and you hold everything
A band is blowing Dixie double four time
You feel all right when you hear that music ring

You step inside but you don’t see too many faces
Coming in out of the rain to hear the jazz go down
Too much competition too many other places
But not too many horns can make that sound
Way on downsouth way on downsouth London town

You check out Guitar George he knows all the chords
Mind he’s strictly rhythm he doesn’t want to make it cry or sing
And an old guitar is all he can afford
When he gets up under the lights to play his thing

And Harry doesn’t mind if he doesn’t make the scene
He’s got a daytime job he’s doing alright
He can play honky tonk just like anything
Saving it up for Friday night
With the Sultans with the Sultans of Swing

Amd a crowd of young boys they’re fooling around in the corner
Drunk and dressed in their best brown baggies and their platform soles
They don’t give a damn about any trumpet playing band
It ain’t what they call rock and roll
And the Sultans played Creole

And then the man he steps right up to the microphone
And says at last just as the time bell rings
‘Thank you goodnight now it’s time to go home’
and he makes it fast with one more thing
‘We are the Sultans of Swing’

MARK KNOPFLER – Get Lucky

I’m better with my muscles
Than I am with my mouth
I worked the fairgrounds in the summer
And go pick fruit down south

And when I’m feel them chilly winds
Where the weather goes I follow
Pack up my traveling things go with the swallows

And I might get lucky now and then
You win some, you might get lucky now and then
You win some

I wake up every morning
Keep on eye on what I spent
Gotta think about eating
Gotta think about paying the rent

I always think it’s funny
It gets me everytime
I wonder about the happiness and money
Tell it to the breadline

But you might get lucky now and then
You win some, you might get lucky now and then
You win some

Now I’m rambling through this meadow happy as a man can be
Think I just lay me down under this old tree
On and on we go through this old world of shuffling
If you got a truffle dog, you can go truffling

But you might get lucky now and then
You win some, you might get lucky now and then
You win some

MARK KNOPFLER – Darling Pretty

It’s time to come away, my Darling Pretty
It’s time to come away on the changing tide
Time to come away, Darling Pretty
And I need you darling by my side

Heal me with a smile, Darling Pretty
Heal me with a smile and a heart of gold
Carry me awhile, my Darling Pretty
Heal my aching heart and soul

Just like a castaway
Lost upon an endless sea
I saw you far away
Come to rescue me

Cast away the chains, Darling Pretty
Cast away the chains away behind
Take away my pain, my Darling Pretty
And the chains that once were yours and mine

There will come a day, Darling Pretty
There will come a day when hearts can fly
Love will find a way, my Darling Pretty
Find a heaven for you and I
Love will find a way, my Darling Pretty
Find a heaven for you and I