Laughs and Jokes and Drinks and Smokes

Album: Tracker (2015)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song documents Knopfler's pre-Dire Straits career. "'Laughs and Jokes and Drinks and Smokes.' That was what it was all about when you were young," he said. "You're so resilient, you don't even think about the wear and tear, at all. I certainly didn't."

    "Back in those days, I'd be listening to a lot of Van Morrison, and Dylan and all the rest of it," Knopfler continued. "So when I hear it now, it just takes you back, it's like food you used to eat as a kid. They're wonderful signposts, in your life, some of these songs."
  • Knopfler told Mojo: "That song is about all of us. All of those times, not just that time, all the times rolled together. It's just, where are they now?"

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