Dire Straits “Love Over Gold” [1982]

1. Telegraph Road
2. Private Investigations
3. Industrial Disease
4. Love Over Gold
5. It Never Rains

1. Telegraph Road

A long time ago came a man on the track
Walking thirty miles with a pack on his back
And he put down his load where he thought it was the best
Made a home in the wilderness
He built a cabin and a winter store
And he ploughed up the ground by the cold lake shore
And the other travelers came riding down the track
And they never went further, no, they never went back
Then came the churches, then came the schools
Then came the lawyers, then came the rules
Then came the trains and the trucks with their loads 
And the dirty old track was the telegraph road
Then came the mines – then came the ore
Then there was the hard times then there was a war
Telegraph sand a song about the world outside
Telegraph road got so deep and so wide
Like a rolling river…
And my radio says tonight it’s gonna freeze
People driving home from the factories
There’s six lanes of traffic
The lanes moving slow…
I used to like to go to work but they shut it down
I got a right to go to work but there’s now work here to be found
Yes and they say we’re gonna have to pay what’s owed
We’re gonna have to reap from some seed that’s been sowed
And the birds up on the wires and the telegraph poles
They can always fly away from this rain and this cold
You can hear them singing out their telegraph code
All the way down the telegraph road
You know I’d sooner forget but I remember those nights
When life was just a bet on a race between the lights
You had your head on my shoulder you had your hand in my hair
Now you act a little colder like you don’t seem to care
But believe in me baby and I’ll take you away
From out of this darkness and into the day
From these rivers of headlights, these rivers of rain
From the anger that lives on the streets with these names
‘Cos I’ve run every red light on memory lane
I’ve seen desperation explode into flames
And I don’t want to see it again…
From all of these signs saying sorry but we’re closed
All the way down the telegraph road


2. Private Investigations

It’s a mystery to me – the game commences
For the usual fee – plus expences
Confidential information – it’s in a diary
This is my investigation – it’s not a public inquiry
I go checking out the reports – digging up the dirt
You get to meet all sorts in this line of work
Treachery an reason – there’s always excuse for it
And when I find the reason I still get used to it
An what have you got at the end of the day?
What have you got to take away?
A bottle of whisky and a new set of lies
Blinds on the window and a pain behind the eyes
Scarred for life – no compensation
Private investigation


3. Industrial Disease

Now warning lights are flashing down in Quality Control
Somebody threw a spanner, they threw him in the hole.
There’s rumors in the loading bay and anger in the town,
Somebody blew the whistle and the walls came down.
There’s a meeting in the boardroom, they’re trying to trace a smell
There’s leaking in the washroom, there’s a sneak in personnel.
Somewhere in the corridor someone was heard to sneeze,
“Goodness me could this be Industrial Disease?”
Caretaker was crucified for sleeping at his post,
Refusing to be pacified, it’s him they blame the most.
Watchdog’s got rabies, the foreman’s got the fleas,
Everyone concerned about Industrial Disease
There’s panic on the switchboard, tongues in knots,
Some come out in sympathy, some come out in spots.
Some blame the management, some the employees,
Everybody knows it’s the Industrial Disease
Yeah now the work force is disgusted, downs tools walks,
Innocence is injured, experience just talks.
Everyone seeks damages, everyone agrees that
These are “classic symptoms of a monetary squeeze”.
On ITV and BBC they talk about the curse,
Philosophy is useless. Theology is worse.
History boils over there’s an economics freeze,
Sociologists invent words that mean “Industrial Disease”
Doctor Parkinson declared – “I’m not surprised to see you here
You’ve got smokers cough from smoking,
Brewer’s drop from drinking beer.
I don’t know how you came to get the Bette Davis knees,
But worst of all young man you’ve got Industrial Disease.”
He wrote me a prescription, he said “You are depressed,
I’m glad you came to see me to get this off your chest.
Come back and see me later *ding* next patient please,
Send in another victim of Industrial Disease”
Ha,
Splendid.
I go down to Speaker’s Corner I’m a thunderstruck,
They got free speech, tourists, police in trucks.
Two men say they’re Jesus, one of them must be wrong,
There’s a protest singer, he’s singing a protest song.
He says “They wanna have a war, keep their factories,
They wanna have a war, keep us on our knees,
They wanna have a war to stop us buying Japanese,
They wanna have a war to stop Industrial Disease.
They’re pointing out the enemy to keep you deaf and blind,
They wanna sap you energy, incarcerate your mind.
Give you Rule Britannia, gassy beer, page three,
Two weeks in Espana and Sunday striptease.”
Meanwhile, first Jesus says – “I’d cure it soon
Abolish Monday mornings and Friday afternoons”
The other’s out on hunger strike, he’s dying be degrees.
How come Jesus gets Industrial Disease?


4. Love Over Gold

You walk out on the high wire
You’re a dancer on thin ice
You pay no heed to the danger
And less to advice
Your footsteps are forbidden
But with a knowledge of your sin
You throw your love to all the strangers
And caution to the wind
And you go dancing through doorways
Just to see what you will find
Leaving nothing to interfere
With the crazy balance of your mind
And when you finally reappear
At the place where you came in
You’ve thrown your love to all the strangers
And caution to the wind
It takes love over gold
And mind over matter
To do what you do that you must
When the things that you hold
Can fall and be shattered
Or run through your fingers like dust


5. It Never Rains

I hear the Seven Deadly Sins
And the Terrible Twins came to call on you
The bigger they are babe
The harder they fall on you
And you you’re always the same you persevere
On the same old pleasure ground
Oh and it never rains around here
It just comes pouring down
You had no more volunteers
So you got profiteers to help you out
With friends like that babe
Good friends you had to do without
And now they’ve taken the chains and the gears
From off your merry-go-round
Oh and it never rains around here
It just comes pouring down
And your new Romeo
Was just a gigolo when he let you down
See the faster they are babe
The faster they get out of town
Leaving make up stains and the tears
Of a clown
Yes it never rains around here
It just comes pouring down
Oh you were just a roller coaster memory
I don’t know why I was even passing through
I saw you making a date with Destiny
When he came around here asking after you
In the shadow of the Wheel Of Fortune
You’re busy trying to clear your name
You say “I may be guilty that may be true
But I’d be lying if I said I was to blame
See we could have been major contenders
We never got no money no breaks”
You’ve got a list of all the major offenders
You got a list of all their major mistakes
And he’s just standing on the shadows
Yes and you smile that come-on smile
Oh I can still hear you say as clear as the day
“I’d like to make it worth your while”
Ah but it’s a sad remainder
When your organ grinder has to come to you for the rent
And all you’ve got to give him
Is the use of your side-show tent
Yes and that’s all that remains of the years
Spent doing to rounds
And it never rains around here
Well it just comes pouring down
Now you know what they say about beggars
You can’t complain about the rules
You know what they say about beggars
You know who’s the first to blame his tools
You never gave a damn about who you pick up
And leave lying bleeding on the ground
You screw people over on the way up
Because you thought that you were never coming down
And he takes you out in Vaudeville Valley
With his hand up smothering your screams
And he screws you down in Tin Pan Alley
In the city of a billion dreams

przes³a³: Hardlover