I was always partial to "Industrial Disease":

"Doctor Parkinson declared, "I'm not surprised to see you here
You've got smokers cough from smoking
Brewer's droop from drinking beer
I don't know how you came to get the Bette Davis wheeze
But worst of all young man you've got industrial disease"

Oh yes, that's exceptional too. Other's in the same mode might be "Heavy Fuel"

I don’t care if my liver is hanging by a thread
Don’t care if my doctor says I ought to be dead
When my ugly big car won’t climb this hill
I’ll write a suicide note on a hundred dollar bill
’Cause if you wanna run cool
If you wanna run cool
Yes if you wanna run cool, you got to run
On heavy, heavy fuel
Heavy, heavy fuel
Heavy, heavy fuel

And "The Bug"

sometimes you're the windshield
sometimes you're the bug
sometimes it all comes together baby
sometimes you're a fool in love
sometimes you're the louisville slugger baby
sometimes you're the ball
sometimes it all comes together baby
sometimes you're going to lose it all

One hundred years from this day
Will the people still feel this way
Still say the things that they're saying right now?
Everyone said I'd hurt you
They said I'd desert you
If I go away, you know I'm going to get back somehow

Nobody knows what kind of trouble we're in
Nobody seems to think it all might happen again

One hundred years from this time
Would anybody change their mind
And find out one thing or two about life?
But people are always talking
You know they're always talking
Everybody's so wrong that I know it's going to work out right

Nobody knows what kind of trouble we're in
Nobody seems to think it all might happen again

Gram Parsons is why I like this song but he didn't write it.

Three cheers for the greatest rock band ever.

I had Sultans of Swing on vinyl in '78. It was the shit, but evaporated in the first divorce war. I have all of Knopfler's stuff on my ipod now, and am partial to the ballads. They're all good. Don't Crash The Ambulance, and The Doctor are favorites, but I even love his collaborations. Chet Atkins and Emmylou Harris? What's not to like??

Thanks for the memories. Another guitar centered rock band of note in the late 70s was the Eagles - and of course their fantastic "Hotel California"

I cannot recall another rock musician employing this use and range of dynamics. Sultan doesn't get old.

First album I purchased, and the CD I purchased. Awesome.

Once, when I was in college, my friends and I went down to Club Schmitz in Dallas for a jar. A couple of hours and pitchers later, we decided that, while country music was a fine accompaniment to the night's activities, a better time might be had by all if a bit of rock and roll were to be played on the jukebox. At that juncture one of our number took out a roll of quarters he had procured for this purpose, fedall ten dollars' worth into the jukeox, and started punching buttons. He sat down, and a few songs later "Sultans of Swing" began to play.

The next song was also "Sultans of Swing." And the next. And the next. "I really like that song," explained One of Our Number in a boozy voice.

After eight or nine replays of "Sultans of Swing", a tall man in cowboy clothes got up from a barstool. Without a word, he walked to the jukebox and unplugged it. No more "Sultans of Swing". The bar became quiet. He plugged it in again, put in a few quarters, punched a few buttons, and returned to his beer.

Country music began to play once more. The normal hubbub of laughter and conversation returned to the barroom. We all applauded and ordered another pitcher of Shiner.

True story.

I have seen a number of videos of live performances of Sultans of Swing that were ponderous, verging on lame-o. This one is not, it must be the best live recording of that song. Bravo!

Communique was for many years on my most-played list, just a well-packaged song pile that took the listener into it's own little world. And Making Movies had some wonderful performances, with Mark Knopfler laying down some exquisite licks. The trail out at the end of Skateaway gives me goosebumps every time, I never tire of it; the guitar and drum stutter is sheer genius.

Mark Knopfler, like Richard Thompson and J J Cale and John Martyn and a few others were among the few who had some excellent early works and still maintained a long and interesting career with a lot of fine music even in the later stages. We are lucky to have them among us, though John Martyn passed a few years ago.