FEATURE:
Too Good to Be Forgotten: Songs That Are Much More Than a Guilty Pleasure
Dire Straits – Walk of Life
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I am going to move onto a song from…
the 1970s next week but, for the second time in the past couple of weeks, I am featuring Dire Straits. In a previous Lockdown Playlist, I marked forty years of their album, Making Movies, with a film-related playlist, but now I am focusing on a song of theirs that gets a bad rap from some. Walk of Life is a song from their huge album, Brothers in Arms, that still splits critics. Released in 1985, the album starts with four singles - So Far Away, Money for Nothing, Walk of Life, and Your Latest Trick. Walk of Life peaked at number-seven in the U.S. charts and was the band’s biggest commercial hit in the U.K., peaking at number-two. Dire Straits are a fantastic band, but there are still some that see them as a guilty pleasure or are not a fan of the hits. Fronted by Mark Knopfler, there is a bit of cheesiness regarding Walk of Life’s synthesiser sound - but one cannot deny the infectiousness of the song. I grew up listening to band like Dire Straits, and while there is more critical respect for songs like Sultans of Swing, and Romeo and Juliet, I think Brothers in Arms is an underrated album that deserves to be seen as a classic. Walk of Life is my favourite Dire Straits song because it has such energy and I love its catchiness. Maybe the song’s video did not help regarding the song’s reputation, but I think one should show some love for Walk of Life.!
Many critics consider the song to be among Dire Straits’ best songs, but there are many others who feel it is one of the less impressive tracks of the 1980s. In this feature from The Sound of last year, we learn more about Walk of Life’s background:
“Dire Straits 1985 hit single 'Walk of Life' was originally inspired by a photograph and a Cajun-style accordion, according to lead guitarist and singer Mark Knopfler.
The single, which appeared on the band's blockbuster album 'Brother in Arms', started out as a tribute of sorts to street buskers.
“I saw a photograph of a kid playing guitar in a subway, turning his face to the wall to get a good reverb. When I started playing the guitar, because I didn’t have an amplifier, I’d put the head of the guitar on the arm of a chair and put my head on the guitar to try and get into a loud noise. It kinda reminded me of that, I suppose,” Knopfler said.
You can see the influence in the original version of the music video for the song, which features a busker performing in an underpass. The video was later redesigned to appeal to the US market.
“I’d been influenced a little bit here and there by Cajun music," Knopfler continued. "Actually there was a Cajun version, a Louisiana version, by someone. Really, all I was trying to imitate with that Farfisa [organ] riff, it’s really like accordion. If you substitute [the Farfisa for] accordion, it’s really a Cajun-style riff”.
Before the lyrics kick in, Mark Knopfler does a few "who-hoo"s, which help create a whimsical vibe. When he spoke with the BBC in 1989, he expressed some remorse: "There's too many 'woos' at the beginning of 'Walk of Life,'" he said. "I heard it on the radio the other day and thought, Oh my God! What was I doing that for?". Apart from that, I have a lot of time for Walk of Life, and I have seen it on websites that list musical guilty pleasures. Thirty-five years after the track was released, I don’t think it sounds dated or like it is best left in the ‘80s. It is a fantastic song, and it is a shame that one does not hear it on a lot of radio stations! I think there should be a reappraisal of Dire Straits and Brothers in Arms. From one of the standout albums from the 1980s, Walk of Life is definitely one of the gems. With a huge chorus, plenty of charm and hooks that get under the skin, the superb Walk of Life stays in the memory…
FOR all the right reasons.