Album: Love Over Gold (1982)

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• A long time ago came a man on a track
  Walking thirty miles with a sack on his back
  And he put down his load where he thought it was the best
  Made a home in the wilderness
  
  Built a cabin and a winter store
  And he plowed up the ground by the cold lake shore
  The other travelers came walking 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 load
  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 sang 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
  Six lanes of traffic, three lanes moving slow
  
  I used to like to go to work but they shut it down
  I've got a right to go to work but there's no 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
  
  I'd sooner forget, but I remember those nights
  Yeah, 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 just 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
  'Cause I've run every red light on memory lane
  I've seen desperation explode into flames
  And I don't wanna see it again
  
  From all of these signs saying, "Sorry, but we're closed"
  All the way
  Down the Telegraph Road Writer/s: Mark Knopfler
  Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 24

• Brian from Warrington CheshireLet’s take the music for granted, it saves me stayed the obvious. It’s Mark Knopler. Enough said.
  The whole song from start to finish really sums up modern day life, even now, 40 odd years later. It was written during a trip in the states but it could be applied to any working town in the UK or anywhere in the world. It’s a beautiful dream that turns into a living nightmare, especially for the “working” class.
  It’s a timeless masterpiece and a work of pure genius straight from the heart right through the guitar strings.
• Ian P from Coventry UkIn my opinion Telegraph Road is one of the most underrated songs ever to written/performed even before finding out it was about Detroit my imagination took me to that area and the rise and fall of industry in America. The guitar and piano complement each other in ways that will never be repeated and the vocals come in and convey all the feeling of the song alongside them. Love Over Gold was handed to me on a recorded cassette tape by my best friend in school and I knew I just had to own a real copy for myself I wore out several cassette versions and 2 cd before streaming began and still keep a cd in pristine condition just in case.
• Peter Scislowski from Halifax, UkA 14 minute musical masterpiece telling about the rise and decline of a once great country.
• Paulo from PortugalI have set myself to the task to show my kids the musical masterpieces that influenced my youth. Dire Straits is amongst the vinyl collection I have them listen to. They can curse me or thank me for it later on.
• Jonny from London, UkI'm not a wordsmith so I won't be able to write something that does justice to the majesty of this masterpiece but I couldn't leave this page without writing something.
  The song tells a story in a way that many tunes of years ago did, and hardly any tunes today (2022) do. It has parallels with Tunnel of Love in that respect. That appeals to me for starters and when combined with with the music of Dire Straits it is always going to be good.
  It perhaps goes without saying that the guitar work of Mark Knopfler is sublime but I think Telegraph Road, particularly in the 5 minutes after the words finish, is elevated to another level by the accompanying piano. It's beautifully done.
  It's quite simply one of the best songs ever written and I find it amazing it isn't better known, despite the 14 minute length making it understandably difficult for radio stations.
  A masterpiece.
• Vam from AlbertaMight be hard for most to believe, but after living with a green card, my wife ( whom at the time unlike now!) Was an dual citizen
  Originally from the motor city, we moved to Detroit to start something new. I had a job already lined up, just a matter of paper work! But it was always my favorite road, telegraph! Racing between the lights! Yup! So true! But yeah, I really never realized it until my wife pointed out, the old graves (that you can't see from the road!). When we looked one afternoon, you start to see the big picture! So many people before me staked a claim I couldn't have fathomed! So much history lost, just garden of stones forgotten. Never knew what or heard this song before. But someone told me and I checked it out. So true!! Take a trip to the big D and drive down Telegraph Rd. ,,, Maybe play the song,,,tell me your heart doesn't tell you something.
  Peace and love to all!
  J
• Mr Sunshine from Liverpool UkI've known of this track for years but never really listened to it...until just now. I bought the single Private Investigations many years ago and didn't give the album a chance, even though friends told me that I would really enjoy it, which I have, 40 years later! What an outstanding piece of music and poetry/prose. The story behind the writing of the song sounds a little pretentious. However this can be forgiven, given the resultant masterpiece. Knopfler's guitar work is beautiful but the track is taken to me heights by the piano/keyboard playing which is sublime.
  Why I've taken so long to actually listen to this I'll never know. but, now I have, it's on repeat, good and loud, on my Apple Music app...and I'm LOVIN' every last second of it!
• Gurse from IndiaAbsolute banger
• Robbie Hamilton from LiverpoolAbsolute Masterpiece.Guitar playing is awesome.Dire Straits should be in the hall of fame for this alone.
• Ian Smith from London England.I always thought it was about the destruction of the mining industry and the local communities by that bitch Thatcher.
• Paul from MelbourneLove it - especially the keyboard. I gather the keyboard parts were developed by Alan Clark. He talks about his role in developing Telegraph Road at https://bit.ly/2T0mfeg
• Karen Lipson from New YorkHaunting and brilliant...the utter despair conveyed by music and lyrics. This song is a masterpiece. An absolute masterpiece.
• Don Lafontaine from Quebec, CanadaThis is one of my all time favorite also, and one that will make me stop everything and listen to it intently as soon as I hear that one opening note. It evokes a wide range of emotions. It's a beautiful and heartbreaking song. Masterful playing by everyone.
• Kelly from Colorado I had always thought this was written about the Lincoln Hwy/Interstate 80, the original American path across our country from east to west. The original route for the Pony Express then the first telegraph system and the first intercontintal railroad. I always pictured in my mind from the first line of the song about the man with a pack to have been at the southern tip of Lake Michigan around Gary Indiana and the rest to describe the continued development that turned into Chicago. I'm happy to discover that i wasnt that far off. This song will always remind me of the years I spent shuttling freight back and forth from Chicago to Sacramento across I 80.
• Guy from Tel Aviv, IsraelIn the 1995 movie Trainspotting the hero Mark Ranton moved from his home town in Belfast Scotland to telegraph road at London.
• Susan from Airdrie, -I agree with all of your comments. I'm trying to write what I love most about the song, but just can't. I think I'll listen to it again...
• Leo from Westminster 1, MdProbably the best song Mark Knopfler has ever written-It is the British equivalent of Free Bird. Yet Telegraph Road is a sad story about America's absolute terminal decline-Factories closed and love falling apart. Dire Straits were the closest thing Britain had to a jam band and Telegraph Road is their best and most hard-rocking song. They are long overdue for a Hall of Fame nomination because Mark's guitar playing on the Fender Stratocaster is fantastic and brilliant. One of the better classic rock bands of the Seventies and Eighties. Dire Straits are classic rock at its absolute best and Telegraph Road makes that claim.
• David from Youngstown, OhThe song's sound is very similar to early Bruce Springsteen - at least it is to me.
• T. Michels from Venlo, NetherlandsEpic song, without a doubt their best.
  
  For me, ther is only one way to listen to this masterpiece: Fully without a pause, even if I hear just the silent beginning.
  
  Mark's voice along with the instrumentation create a shivering atmosphere and story where you get sucked into.
  
  The second genious thing about this song is the reprising of the main theme during the coda.
  (At 12.10 the first one, excuse me that I don't exactly know the other ones.)
  You hear the music that they played during the 'rise of the town', and now they reprise it for the 'downfall of the town'.
  How genius.
  
• Scott from Boston, MaThis is such an unbelievable song. One of my all-time favorites.
• Andrés from Montevideo, UruguayAmazing song, incredible guitar, this guys ROCKS!
• James from Westchester, EnglandSome of the best guitar work ever.
• Dave from Houston, TxA beautiful and haunting song. Dire Straits best and my all-time favorite. Too bad it never got any airplay, but radio stations are all about commercial and 14 minutes is way beyond their attention span.
• John from AucklandProbably Dire Straits' finest moment this song. The live version on their greatest hits is my favourite. The desperation he manages to convey in his voice is amazing.
  
  John
  Auckland, NZ

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