This song means the world to me. One of the first songs my Dad ever made me listen to. In my top 3 songs ever. Knopfler and Taylor what a combination man...

From Mark's first guitar note you are drawn in. The song is told in an autobiographical form about the famous surveyors Mason /Dixon. Mark's and James are magical together. James Taylor and Van Morrison both added vocals to Mark's album. It sold 3.5 million albums. Jame's also included this song on his 2002 album October Road. Wonderful collaboration. Great reaction Harri. Thanks Harri and David. Cheers from Canada 🇨🇦

This song is indeed based on a true story. The Mason-Dixon Line was a surveyors line across the what is now the western border of Delaware and the southern border of Pennsylvania, plotted in the 1760s by the two surveyors portrayed in this song, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon. Later, the territory north of this line marked the Northern (non-slave-owning) states, while the territory south of the line included the Southern (slave-owning) states.

@StevenQ74

Жыл бұрын

Mark Knopfler wrote this song after reading a book about that story

@gregscott7777

9 ай бұрын

At the time the Mason-Dixon Line was drawn, it wasn’t about free vs. slave states, that came later. Originally, it separated the overlapping land grants of William Penn and Charles Calvert. After years of dispute, Mason and Dixon surveyed the boundary between what would become Pennsylvania and Maryland.

@frankiefourfingers6717

6 ай бұрын

@@bobster708I read this book. It would make a good door stop 😅

Have loved this song for years, and.....damn, when JT's voice comes in, it just makes me smile every time.

One of my favourites from Knopfler. He's also probably my favourite artist, favourite guitarist for sure. He's truly a poet as well as a superb musician.

Besides being one of the most fantastic guitarist and composer he is a fantastic story teller too.

Another masterpiece created by Mark Knopfler. Never has there been another artist who invokes movies and pictures in your mind, like Mark Knopfler. He can turn his hand to anything. He wrote this song with James Taylor in mind. Whilst Knopfler is known for his virtuoso style, he really can do anything. The man is a genius. What a catalogue of music he had, solo, soundtrack and with Dire Straits

Mark is an amazing storytelling artist! ❤❤. This whole album is fabulous as is The Ragpickers Dream

I grew up with a lot of guitar because my dad plays (acoustic six-string and twelve-string), and he's always said that if God plays the guitar, the sound's probably pretty close to Mark Knopfler.

The Mason/Dixon Line. In pre-independent America, Mason and Dixon were hired the British Government to survey and establish the border that defined the Pennsylvania colony on the north with roughly Virginia, Delaware and Maryland on the south and Pennsylvania on the north. Later, as the United States the Mason/Dixon line defined the separation between the northern Free states and the Southern Slave states. So, the dialogue between Charlie Mason and Dixon (the Geordie boy) was whether this new country would be a land of liberty or not. A beautiful and deeply meaningful song.

One of my favorite james taylor collabs.

One my favorites from Mark, there is a good video of how he researched to write this song.

@revsharkie

Жыл бұрын

Reminds me of some of the history-based songs Brian MacNeill has written. But the music feels like something Christy Moore or his brother Luka Bloom might do. I'll maybe see if I can find some Brian MacNeill songs to request next month.

David - This submission was excellent and particularly enjoyable if one was born and raised in Philadelphia. 😎 I haven't heard this magical pairing for too many years. Terrific performance by Mark and James. Harri, your review was most insightful and enjoyable. Thanks to both of you for this one!

@davidtalley4816

Жыл бұрын

DaveBZen: I love this song, so glad you enjoyed it too.

History lesson included in this song!

Great song from a great album. My personal favourite from this album is “Speedway at Nazareth.” I really want to thank you for showcasing some of Mark Knopflers post Dire Straits work. There’s lots of it, dabbling with all sorts of genres. Beautiful music and lyrics as you’d expect from this bizarrely, forgotten genius.

@jjc5407

Жыл бұрын

If you've ever had the privilege of seeing Mark and his band live then of all the songs they perform Speedway at Nazareth is the one that is taken to a whole other level compared to the studio recording, great as that is. The sense of cars careening around a track at high speed during the outro is hard to describe unless you've witnessed it. Magical stuff.

@markbrooks8144

Жыл бұрын

@@jjc5407 Very true. I'm fortunate enough to have had that privilege a few times and am very much looking forward to the next one.

@bernardfinch7046

Жыл бұрын

@@jjc5407 I saw him perform Speedway at Nazareth in Birmingham and I know what you mean it was on another level. The guitar seemed to go right through my body never forgot it.

@jjc5407

Жыл бұрын

@@markbrooks8144 I'd heard that Mark's decided to stop touring. I hope that doesn't mean he won't perform concerts again, at least in the UK. That said, his last couple of tours haven't come down to my neck of the woods like previous ones. He's largely stuck to Glasgow, Newcastle and London in the UK legs of his tours (given their personal significance to him) and then gone around the world. I would very much like the pleasure of seeing him and the band again.

@marksimpson1991

Жыл бұрын

I can't listen to Speedway At Nazareth very often. Having raced in the 70s, it chokes me up every time. A brilliant song.

Gosh, it’s been a long time since I’ve heard this. Thanks Harry

I just knew that this would be wonderful David, I love them both so much.

Love this song. I would listen to this song on the airplane flying to my home in Philadelphia from the UK in the 90s and early 2000s

BTW Harri...Knopfler's favourite style is a fusion of folk, country/rockabilly and blues. With a little pop thrown in.

I love “El Macho “ from this album. Give it a try.

Sounds like a beautiful Irish song.

On of my favorites!

Thank you for this reaction. Lots of Dire Straits references in this album! What It Is, Silvertown Blues, Speedway At Nazareth, One More Matinee, and of course Sailing To Philadelphia. Check them all out, you won’t regret it.

Mason & Dixon, an epic postmodernist novel by Thomas Pynchon first published in 1997, centers on the collaboration of the historical Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in their astronomical and surveying exploits in Cape Colony, Saint Helena, Great Britain and along the Mason-Dixon line in British North America on the eve of the American Revolutionary War.

@frankiefourfingers6717

Жыл бұрын

I’ve read the book twice and it’s one hell of a long read but really good. Also handy as a door stop it’s so big

Love this song! Mark is a historian - see "Remembrance Day" on his "Get Lucky" album. But if you want to hear a pair of legendary musicians just having fun, listen to kzread.info/dash/bejne/Z6Sfzs6ucbbelqQ.html from his album with Chet A"tkins. Another great cut from that one is "Yakety Axe." Love you, Harri!

You should do Yusuf/Cat Stevens, Where Do The Children Play.

I am from Philadelphia. In my opinion this is the very best song about Philadelphia - out of dozens of songs written about my city ... Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Boyz II Men, Oates & Hall, etc. notwithstanding. It tells a true story: the story of two English surveyors who were commissioned to settle a border dispute concerning two English colonies: Maryland and Pennsylvania. Even today we call the boundary line "The Mason Dixon Line."

You can also hear Paul Franklin playing the pedal steel in the background, he played with Mark solo, with Dire Straits and with Marks other band "The Notting Hillbillies" kzread.info/dash/bejne/kZOtrLBrhNioc9I.html

America did a cover of this one Harri, well worth a listen, features Mark Knopfler on guitar!

@davidnavidadmaeso9708

4 ай бұрын

Man, thank you! I did not knwo that version.

Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits

The reference to the Georgie boy and the boy from the west country are also references to the north and in south of America. The industrial north and agricultural south west of Britain.

@donnahighley2940

Жыл бұрын

Geordie.

It's not surprising that you wouldn't know about America's Mason Dixon line. What's amazing is how much Mark Knopfler knows about it. Beautiful song.

@Sagitarria

Жыл бұрын

He read Thomas Pynchon’s book. A great read

@JG-fv9bv

11 ай бұрын

If memory serves me correctly Mark Knopfler made a tv documentary on the Mason Dixon line

Going out West in those days was a gamble. You might lose you shirt, or your scalp, depending on where you wound up.

Greatly inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s book Mason & Dixon

It’s criminal that radio/tv focuses on the popular garbage designed for mass consumption rather than classic mastery like this. Mark has released 9 solo albums after DS (and working on #10), and virtually nothing from any of these albums is widely known.