Dire Straits – Walk Of Life

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Dire Straits - Walk Of Life03:57

“Walk of Life” is a song by the British rock band Dire Straits, the third track on their fifth studio album Brothers in Arms (1985). It subsequently appeared on their live album On the Night (1993). It was released as a single October 1985 but had first been available as the B-side of “So Far Away” released in advance of Brothers in Arms.

Mark Knopfler had not originally intended “Walk of Life” for the album, but rather as a b-side to one of the singles. Dire Straits manager Ed Bicknell heard it when it was being mixed and convinced Knopfler to include it on the album at the last minute.

Mark Knopfler wrote this song to celebrate the street buskers of London, hence the references to “Be-Bop-a-Lula” and “What’d I Say,” two standards that might be part of a singer’s repertoire in the mid-’80s.

The music video shown in America took a different approach: it showed sports bloopers. Stephen R. Johnson, a recent graduate of USC Film School, was the director. It was Mark Knopfler’s idea to put sports in it, which was intercut with live footage. Knopfler’s other directive was to avoid shooting him from the side to avoid the full effect of his nose.

This video did very well on MTV, but it was not the original. The first version of the clip, which was shown outside the US, was more true to the song, with footage of a busker in a subway (or as they call it in England, the tube). The sports-themed video was specifically aimed at American audiences, with footage of American teams.

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