Chords for Mark Knopfler - A Life In Songs (Official Documentary | Part 4)

[F#m] _ _ _ [F#] _ _ _ [G#] Following the tour, Knoppler decided to [F#m] put dire straits on hold and [G#] get back to basics
by [A] forming the Notting Hill Bills.
The line-up [D] included Steve Phillips and Brendan Croker,
two mates from [G#] his days as a struggling musician in [F#m] Leeds.
I just rested [Am] up for a while and after a bit, as usually is [Bm] the case, looking to [E] [B] get some
[G#m] gainful employment after [A] goofing around.
It's been so good to [E] be around. _ _
I thank you for that special friend.
Keep me going [A] on
until [B] the next [E] time I miss.
And so we just ended up having a lot of fun doing it.
I suppose that was like relaxing.
[Bm] I see your laughter, I [A] see you smile, and I remember [E] what went down.
I think it probably was a way of reminding me how much I enjoy picking songs.
And [N] if
that's all that had ever happened to me in life, I would still be doing that now.
I'd
be playing guitar with somebody and picking old time songs if I'd never written a song.
_ That's what I'd be doing now. _ _
_ In 1991 Dire Straits got back together to record what would be their final studio album
On Every Street.
And Knopfler found himself back on the road on another sell-out world tour.
The gigs that we were doing on Every Street were massive gigs and we had [G#] two stages that
were leapfrogging around and we'd brought in extra people to do all that.
One of the
things that I'd [B] always enjoyed about touring and still enjoy about touring is that it's
like having a circus.
That's part of the fun of it and I think if it gets so big, you lose _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Bm] _
_ that.
Although there was no official announcement that the [B] group were breaking up, the On Every
Street tour was the last time Knopfler would play with Dire Straits.
I think it just gently rolled out.
I mean, I kind of put it to bed.
So I wanted to get
back to being a guy who could write a song, do all the things I've said with it and then
go and tour it [C#] for people, but do it at a kind of a manageable level.
_ _ [F#] _ _ [E] _ [G#m] _ [C#] _ _
_ _ [F#] _ [G#m] Following the demise of Dire [C#] Straits, Knopfler has continued to tour and record as a [F#] successful
solo artist.
[E] This newfound musical [C#] freedom has allowed him to collaborate with other
musicians such [F#] as country legend, [C#m] Emmylou Harris.
[C#] This is us, that's the money [F#] bro.
This is us, in your [C#] daddy's car. _
Here in the missing
[G#] ring.
Had a little too [C#] much, I think. _
It's been a long time.
[F#] _ Having too much fun.
[C#] You and me and I [F#] never really did love.
[E] _ [C#] _ _
_ These [F#] songs that I'm [B] writing, sometimes [C#] they'll fall into types and I've noticed that there
were a few songs that [G#m] were making a male-female [C#] shape.
And so I thought about [A] doing a duet.
I thought that Mark and Emmy might be all right, you know, but I don't know exactly
why.
I think it was just because I'd been writing certain kinds of songs.
_ [D] [A] Famous last words, _ _ _
[D] _ [G] laying around tattered, [A] _ _
sounding absurd.
_ _ [D] _ _
Whatever [G] I try, _ _ [D] _
_ I [A] don't last.
_ _ [D] _
_ And that's [G] all that really matters.
[A] _ [D] If this is [A] goodbye, _ _ [G] _
_ _ [D] this is goodbye.
_ If This Is Goodbye was inspired by an article Not Flared in the Guardian by author Ian McEwan,
in which McEwan wrote about the voice messages left for loved ones by those trapped in the
Twin Towers on September the 11th.
I think actually Emmy just liked the song.
I don't think she even _ knew what it was about.
In terms of the, she just thought it was a goodbye song.
_ She wasn't seeing it in terms
of that event.
[A] When _ somebody mentioned it to her, then it really changed and she became
very [D] emotionally attached to the song.
Famous [A] last words, _ [D] _ _ could [G] never tell a story.
[D] _ _ _ _ [A] Standing unheard in [D] _ the [Am] [G] dark of the sky.
_ [D] _ _ _ [A] But I love you, [D] _ _ _ [G] and this is our [Em] home.
[D] _ If this [A] is goodbye, _ _ [G] _ _ if this is [D] goodbye.
_ _ _ _ If this is [A] goodbye, _ _ _ [G] _ if this [D] is goodbye.
_ _ _ _ It's always interesting to [G#] me how a creative act, how it [Bm] engenders other creative acts.
And if you want to think of it in terms of [F#m] a cycle of [G#] [C#m] being a songwriter so I can write
[E] a song.
So [A] I enjoy all that.
[F#m] _ _ _ [B] _ Vino, say one small chat.
[G#] And then I enjoy very much getting into the studio and recording.
Not everybody likes that.
[D] _ _ _
_ _ [A] I enjoy [C] _ _ [Em] _
_ rehearsing to go out on tour.
I just really enjoy it.
Getting the band together
and rehearsing is one of the most fun things for me.
[G] And [C] then playing live.
[F] Send my soul from evil [C] Lord, heal [Am] the soul of this heart. _
[C] I'll trust [Dm] in thee, keep me [F] low and undone.
_ [C] _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ [G] _ _ [C] _
Unlike [F] many of his contemporaries, [G] who've broken up supergroups only to [C] reform at a
later [F] date, Knopfler has no intention of [G] reforming Dire Straits.
[C] That would be getting back [G] into the massive [C] event thing.
And you'd be doing it for money,
I suppose.
[F#] And you'd probably feel much more duty bound to trot out all of those records,
all of those songs.
I don't play money for nothing.
At least I don't think I've done
it for a while.
_ [G] _ I might do it, I might feel like doing it, I might not.
But I would hate
to have to think that I'd have to do it.
It's not really for me to say, but perhaps his writing has changed [N] and his feeling has
changed along with it.
And he's in a position where he can do what he wants.
I [Em] mean, why should he [Gm] go back if that's not how he's feeling?
[G#] _ _