As part of Dire Straits, Mark Knopfler recorded a number of songs that are now considered electric guitar classics (Sultans Of Swing and Money For Nothing to name just a couple), but it turns out that his favourite solo might just be from one of his solo projects.
“There’s something about Going Home, from Local Hero that seems to work,” he tells Spanish newspaper El Pais. “It’s a cheap guitar, it sounds very direct, I did everything wrong, but I think they’re perfect notes [laughs].”
Explaining what makes the solo hit the spot, Knopfler says: “I think it turned out well because I didn’t take it to the extreme of getting into trouble. I just said what I had to say. I didn’t go too far. I tried to portray the place, the people, the rocks, and the water. For me, it was a portrait of a place, an idea, a local hero.”
Going Home was the main theme from writer/director Bill Forsyth’s 1983 film Local Hero, and has arguably become more famous than the movie itself. It became part of the Dire Straits live repertoire and, in 2024, Knopfler released a new charity version that featured contributions from more than 50 big-name guitarists.
Elsewhere in the interview, Knopfler reflects on the huge success of Dire Straits’ 1985 album Brothers In Arms, which has recently been re-released. “I had no idea, I couldn’t even imagine it,” he says of the record’s mammoth sales (it’s believed to have sold upwards of 30 million copies). “I thought it would be just another album. But several factors intervened that helped make it what it was.”
Knopfler cites the help of Philips, which had just invented the CD, as crucial - “they promoted Brothers in Arms to demonstrate what could be done in that format” - and also a boost from music television network MTV, which used Sting’s vocal intro to Money For Nothing (“I want my MTV”) in promotional jingles.
“They keep doing it,” he says. “Until they change it again and pay someone else. That’s fine.”
In fact, it seems that, unlike some other stars, Knopfler isn’t particularly squeamish about big corporations using his music. “I don’t mind when a petrochemical company or whoever wants to take Walk of Life and turn it into something that celebrates life,” he says. “It’s not the end of the world. People enjoy it.”
