Why Worry

Album: Brothers In Arms (1985)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Written by Mark Knopfler, this song finds him comforting a loved one in rather poetic terms:

    But baby, just when this world seems mean and cold
    Our love comes shining red and gold
    And all the rest is by the way


    It's almost a lullaby, as he turns the cold, cruel world into a place of tranquility.
  • This runs 8:31, with the last four minutes instrumental. When Mark Knopfler spoke with the BBC in 1989, he had second thoughts about this section. "The playout of 'Why Worry' seems to be a very pointless thing to me now, all that faffing around with pretty sounds," he said.
  • The Everly Brothers released this on their 1985 album Born Yesterday; Jennifer Warnes included it on her 2018 album Another Time, Another Place. She told Songfacts: "Mark Knopfler understands the Everly Brothers and Ricky Nelson and all the American music, maybe more than a lot of Americans know it. He wrote this lovely, gentle song that the Everlys did, and I loved it. It's musical, it's intimate, it's loving."

Comments: 1

  • Kreuzer from IndyI’ve always loved this song. I knew it from the Dire Straits album but I also found it on a cassette years later for baby lullabies. I would play it for my daughter when she was a baby. She’s now 26. The Everly’s did an excellent job singing it, too, with their melodic voices!
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Marvin Gaye

Marvin GayeFact or Fiction

Did Marvin try out with the Detroit Lions? Did he fake crazy to get out of military service? And what about the cross-dressing?

Lita Ford

Lita FordSongwriter Interviews

Lita talks about how they wrote songs in The Runaways, and how she feels about her biggest hit being written by somebody else.

In The Cards

In The CardsSong Writing

Songwriters have used cards and card games to make sense of heartache, togetherness, and even Gonorrhea.

Kevin Godley

Kevin GodleySongwriter Interviews

Kevin Godley talks about directing classic videos for The Police, U2 and Duran Duran, and discusses song and videos he made with 10cc and Godley & Creme.

Dexys (Kevin Rowland and Jim Paterson)

Dexys (Kevin Rowland and Jim Paterson)Songwriter Interviews

"Come On Eileen" was a colossal '80s hit, but the band - far more appreciated in their native UK than stateside - released just three albums before their split. Now, Dexys is back.

Millie Jackson

Millie JacksonSongwriter Interviews

Outrageously gifted and just plain outrageous, Millie is an R&B and Rap innovator.