Your all-time favorite Mark Knopfler song

[ClarkLowe]

I'm curious to know: What's your all-time favorite Mark Knopfler song, and why does it hold a special place for you? Also, any upcoming events or news in the Knopfler world that I should be aware of? Looking forward to diving into some awesome discussions!

[quizzaciously]

The Ragpicker's Dream

It doesn't hold any emotional or temporal connections to me as it was released before Mark Knopfler's music came into my life. I look at it exclusively from a songwriting perspective, and I think it's Mark's magnum opus. Not as much as an album as a whole but the title track in particular.

Everything is so "genuinely MK" about it. The title, the great cover picture by Elliott Erwitt, the absence of flashy guitar solos, the slow nature of it, jazz element, country element with Paul Franklin, how it brings up the working class theme so intricately. How beautifully imaginative it is.

The whole album is about that, working class, and relatively poor people dancing in the kitchen, enjoying small things in life. The title is so great it even spawned a signature guitar of the same name, which is, of course, a small acoustic guitar, not a flashy red Fender. The Ragpicker's Dream.

[quizzaciously]

Oh, and of course the warmth. Nothing evokes this deep warmth and love for the world in me as The Ragpicker's Dream. I even bought a vinyl player and this incredibly rare and expensive LP specifically to listen to this song. Upcoming events or news in the Knopfler world? You should know it. The new album, the new Guinness record version of "Going Home", and that's it for now.

[dustyvalentino]

I'm curious to know: What's your all-time favorite Mark Knopfler song, and why does it hold a special place for you? Also, any upcoming events or news in the Knopfler world that I should be aware of? Looking forward to diving into some awesome discussions!

Hi, please tell us your favourite

[Rail King]

For me, it's Old Pigweed. The way he turns a stew recipe (!) into a deeply philosophical comment on the endless struggle that human life is ... is just priceless. Songwriting at its very, very, very best.

PS, runners-up (all of which did hold my no. 1 spot at some point): In the Gallery, It Never Rains, You and Your Friend, Fare Thee Well Northumberland, Get Lucky, Follow the Ribbon, Lights of Taormina.

[3Strats]

The most important song to me is Sultans of Swing, because that was the song that made me pick my guitar up again after other things in my life had taken priority. My favourite is probably the live version of Tunnel of Love played on the Wembley arena gig in 1985. the slow start to the outro in that version still makes the hairs on my neck go up and bring tears to my eyes.

[hunter v2.0]

Too difficult to choose only one. And it has changed over the years. I've always had a soft spot for Lions and Follow Me Home. Those two slow, melancholic closers simply transport me to a different time and place.

[H97]

I would argue it's Telegraph Road, What It Is or Skateaway, but in the end I want The Long Road to be played at the end of my funeral, so that's the one for me. I love every hidden note in every second of it.

[stratmad]

Funny... I was thinking about posting the exact same question today, as I was driving home, listening to Going Home  (RAH 2013) . Some people were giving me looks at the traffic-lights because my stereo was so loud - my apologies.
For me, I think Going Home will always be the song, just because of the sheer positive energy and power - the bit at the beginning just before the guitar takes off for the big interval is the feeling you get when you rev up your motorbike. And then there's that passage towards the end where the guitar and the sax play parallel melodies, omg. 

[TommyJ88]

This is the sort of question I can only ever answer on a day-by-day basis, if at all. Today, the answer is Haul Away.

[Pottel]

For me, it's Old Pigweed. The way he turns a stew recipe (!) into a deeply philosophical comment on the endless struggle that human life is ... is just priceless. Songwriting at its very, very, very best.

PS, runners-up (all of which did hold my no. 1 spot at some point): In the Gallery, It Never Rains, You and Your Friend, Fare Thee Well Northumberland, Get Lucky, Follow the Ribbon, Lights of Taormina.

close one for me...but not THE one i believe. must think....

[Pottel]

I'm curious to know: What's your all-time favorite Mark Knopfler song, and why does it hold a special place for you? Also, any upcoming events or news in the Knopfler world that I should be aware of? Looking forward to diving into some awesome discussions!

you start such a (great) thread and then fail to mention your favourite? disqualified!

[Pottel]

Long Highway today.

[rmarques821]

Long Highway today.

Only today? 

[peterromer]

Brothers In Arms, especially the version from the Mandela concert. That particular song and version has so much nerve, life and emotions.
If I could go back in time for to visit a concert I would tell my younger self, do what you can to make it to that concert up front :-)
BIA was also my first album as a teenager, after listening to my sisters early DS albums, and the rest is history