Take A Low Ride With Me Girl

Image credit: Wikipedia/Fantailfan

As a friend and I were travelling home from vacation yesterday, I played Dire Straits' Making Movies. I hadn't heard it in a few years. At least, I don't remember having heard it, which probably means I just wasn't paying attention the last few times it played. It's always been a favorite of mine, perhaps Dire Straits' best. The album is mostly about loves won and lost, where those loves are both people and passions.

The first song on the album is "Tunnel Of Love", a song about a gambler who loses the love of his life to his addiction. The chorus puts the protagonist's situation in perspective:

Oh girl it looks so pretty to me,
just like it always did
Like the spanish city to me
when we were kids.

The next verse goes on:

She took off a silver locket.
She said remember me by this.
She put her hand in my pocket.
I got a keepsake and a kiss,
and in the roar of the dust and diesel
I stood and watched her walk away.
I could have caught up with her easy enough,
but something must have made me stay.

The obvious subtext is that the woman in his life just got tired of his habit. The bracelet works as a symbol of his materialism winning out over his need for her.

Some readers may remember that I'm something of a Bruce Springsteen fan, and this song has always reminded me of him. Songwriter Mark Knopfler's protagonist is much like Springsteen's in "Meeting Across The River" - someone who feels trapped into making a difficult decision, which he will probably regret forever.



There's no deep meaning here, besides the obvious observation that who we are and what we value is really shown by our actions, and the choices we make. Just as obviously, caring about someone or something almost inevitably leads to some regret.

I suppose the trick in life is to know what you really care about.