12 Quotes & Sayings By Mark Knopfler

The drinking dens are spilling out There's staggering in the square There's lads and lasses falling about And a crackling in the air Down around the dungeon doors The shelters and the queues Everybody's looking for Somebody's arms to fall into And it's what it is It's what it is now There's frost on the graves and the monuments But the taverns are warm in town People curse the government And shovel hot food down The lights are out in the city hall The castle and the keep The moon shines down upon it all The legless and asleep And it's cold on the tollgate With the wagons creeping through Cold on the tollgate God knows what I could do with you And it's what it is It's what it is now The garrison sleeps in the citadel With the ghosts and the ancient stones High up on the parapet A Scottish piper stands alone And high on the wind The highland drums begin to roll And something from the past just comes And stares into my soul And it's cold on the tollgate With the Caledonian BluesCold on the tollgate God knows what I could do with you And it's what it is It's what it is now What it is It's what it is now There's a chink of light, there's a burning wick There's a lantern in the tower Wee Willie Winkie with a candlestick Still writing songs in the wee wee hours On Charlotte Street I take A walking stick from my hotel The ghost of Dirty DickIs still in search of Little NellAnd it's what it is It's what it is now Oh what it is What it is now . Mark Knopfler

This empty kitchen's where I'd while away the hours Just next to my old chair You'd usually have some flowers The shelves of books Even the picture hooks Everything is gone But my heart is hanging on If this old neighborhood Survived us both alright Don't know that it withstood All the things that took our light You on the stair I can see you there Everything is gone But my heart is hanging on Once there was a little girl Used to wonder what she would be Went out into the big wide world Now she's just a memory There used to be a little school here Where I learned to write my name But time has been a little cruel here Time has no shame It's just a place where We used to live It's just a place where We used to live Now in another town You lead another life And now upstairs and down You're someone else's wife Here in the dust There's not a trace of us Everything is gone But my heart is hanging on It's just a place where We used to live It's just a place where We used to live. Mark Knopfler

I’m a maker of ballads right pretty I write them right here in the street You can buy them all over the cityyours for a penny a sheet I’m a word pecker out of the printersout of the dens of Gin LaneI’ll write up a scene on a counter- confessions and sins in the main, boysconfessions and sins in the main Then you’ll find me in Madame Geneva’skeeping the demons at bay There’s nothing like gin for drowning them inbut they’ll always be back on a hanging day, on a hanging day They come rattling over the cobblesthey sit on their coffins of black Some are struck dumb, some gabbletop-heavy on brandy or sack The pews are all full of fine fellowsand the hawker has set up her shop As they’re turning them off at the gallowsshe’ll be selling right under the drop, boysselling right under the drop Then you’ll find me in Madame Geneva’skeeping the demons at bay There’s nothing like gin for drowning them inbut they’ll always be back on a hanging day, on a hanging day . Mark Knopfler

Juliet, the dice were loaded from the start. / When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet? Mark Knopfler

I don't know whether your heart ever necessarily changes, but time changes the way that you perceive the world. And you just hope it gives you more empathy and all those other things. Mark Knopfler

There happened to be guitar classes at the college, and there was a guitar teacher there with whom I used to play. In addition, I also would go out into country schools and teach little kids basic guitar and singing a few times a week. Mark Knopfler

My idea of heaven is a place where the Tyne meets the Delta, where folk music meets the blues. Mark Knopfler

The music just tends to be a vehicle for that poetry. Mark Knopfler