"So Far Away" by Dire Straits
Take it down
“Here I am again in this mean old town / And you're so far away from me / And where are you when the sun go down? / You're so far away from me”
The Dire Straits album “Brothers in Arms” had a weird trajectory as it ascended into classic status. Upon its release in 1985, the chosen lead singles (“Walk Of Life” in the US and “So Far Away” in the UK and Europe) flopped or underperformed. I’m sure the marketing team was scratching their heads, since the album is solid work but wasn’t quite taking off as expected. It wasn’t until the raucous and ranty “Money For Nothing” came out that the water level in the Straits of Dire started rising, lifting the other boats. “Walk of Life” got a second run after that, when everyone was paying attention.
“Money For Nothing” has everything: an vibey intro with the longest drum fill ever, a riff for the ages, a Sting cameo and an immersive 3D-animated video. Mark Knopfler has had to spend the last 40 years defending himself from accusations of homophobia because the antihero lead character in the song uses the gay F-slur sarcastically. But ironically, making people mad (especially folks who don’t understand a third-person point of view, irony or the concept of the antihero) also helped boost the song.
The “Money For Nothing” song and video broke ground in many ways. It was a huge hit, an over-the-top exclamation point which substantially boosted the band’s career. But it also overshadowed their substantial and multilayered body of work. A little bit like Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.”, come to think of it. I was timid and turned off by the bombast until my friend Abby hipped me to the soundtrack album Mark Knopfler made for “The Princess Bride”.
35 years of roadrunning later, here we are.
Knopfler has too many good songs, and a lot of his best ones (like “Romeo and Juliet” and “Sultans of Swing”) create whole worlds of their own, with multiple characters and speakers. But today’s song is simpler, more direct and literal.
Do you want three chords and the truth? It’d be hard to find a better example than “So Far Away”.
“You're so far away from me / So far I just can't see”
There’s really nothing to analyze here. Good thing, because analysis ain’t what I do. We’re here to play.
“I'm tired of bein' in love and bein' all alone / When you're so far away from me / I'm tired of makin' out on the telephone / 'Cause you're so far away from me”
It sounds like a sad song, but in reality it’s kind of a happy song. For every touring musician who misses their lover back home, there are probably twelve others looking around the bar at all the wrong faces. The singer is lucky to have someone to miss back home.
“And I get so tired when I have to explain / When you're so far away from me / See you've been in the sun and I've been in the rain / And you're so far away from me”
A song lyric in English, in my book, works best when it’s at least 80% monosyllables. Here we have 89%, so we’re in good shape. Nice job, Mark. These words plink gently into the psyche like raindrops on a still mountain lake. No complexity, just pure grace. The riff has a couple of nice little curlicues in it, but doesn’t make you work to understand anything.
The best songs are hiding in plain sight. Take it down:
[P.S. Happy Birthday, mom!]:
THANKS for reading and listening. Do you like my stuff? Please help the audience grow by sharing this post with one friend:
Who am I? trevorexter.music
Like and subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@trevorexter
Hear my music: the “Trevor Exter Playlist” (Spotify)
Peruse my collection: https://bandcamp.com/xotrmusic
Hear 80 penetrating interviews with great musicians in the Play It Like It’s Music podcast archive.