1. Down To The Waterline 4:09
DOWN TO THE WATERLINE Sweet surrender on the quayside You remember we used to run and hide In the shadow of cargoes I take you one time And we're counting all the numbers down to the waterline Near misses on the dogleap stairways French kisses in the darkened doorways A foghorn blowing out wild and cold A policeman shines a light upon my shoulder Up comes a coaster fast and silent in the night Over my shoulder all you can see are the pilot lights No money in our jackets and our jeans are torn Your hands are cold but your lips are warm She can see him on the jetty where they used to go She can feel him in the places where the sailors go When she's walking by the river and the railway line She can still hear him whisper Let's go down to the waterline
SIX BLADE KNIFE Your six blade knife can do anything for you Anything you want it to One blade for breaking my heart One blade for tearing me apart Your six blade knife - do anything for you You can take away my mind like you take away the top of a tin When you come up from behind and lay it down cold on my skin Took a stone from my soul when I was lame Just so you could make me tame You take away my mind like you take away the top of a tin I'd like to be free of it now - I don't want it no more I'd like to be free of it now - you know I don't want it no more Everybody got a knife it can be just what they want it to be A needle a wife or something that you just can't see You know it keeps you strong Yes and it'll do me wrong Your six blade knife - do anything for you
WATER OF LOVE High and dry in the long hot day Lost and lonley every day Got the flats all around me sky up above I need a little water of love I've been too long lonley and my heart feels pain Crying out for some soothing rain I believe I have taken enough I need a little water of love Water of love deep in the ground No water here to be found Some day baby when the river runs free It'll carry that water of love to me There's a bird up in a tree sitting up high Waiting for me to die If I don't get some water soon I'll be dead and gone in the afternoon Once I had a woman I could call my own Once I had a woman now my woman is gone Once there was a river now there's a stone You know it's evil then you're living alone
WILD WEST END Stepping out to Angellucci's for my coffe beans Checking out the movies and the magazines Waitress she watches me crossing from the Borocco Bar I'm getting a pickup for my steel guitar I saw you walking out Shaftesbury Avenue Excuse me talking I wanna marry you This is seventh heaven street to me Don't be so proud You're just another angel in the crowd And I'm walking in the wild west end Walking with your wild best friend And my conductress on the number nineteen She was a honey Pink toenails and hands all dirty with money Greasy hair easy smile Made me feel nineteen for a while And I went down to Chinatown In the backroom it's a man's world All the money go down Duck inside the doorway gotta duck to eat Right now feels alright now You and me we can't beat And a gogo dancing girl yes I saw her The deejay he say here's Mandy for ya I feel alright to see her But she's paid to do that stuff She's dancing high I move on by The close ups can get rough When you're walking in the wild west end
SULTANS OF SWING You get a shiver in the dark It's raining in the park but meantime South of the river you stop and you hold everything A band is blowing Dixie double four time You feel alright when you hear that music ring You step inside but you don't see too many faces Coming in out of the rain to hear the jazz go down Too much competition too many places But not too many horns can make that sound Way on downsouth way on downsouth London town You check out Guitar George he knows all the chords Mind he's strictly rhythm he doesn't want to make it cry or sing And an old guitar is all he can afford When he gets up under the lights to play his thing And Harry doesn't mind if he doesn't make the scene He's got a daytime job he's doing alright He can play honky tonk just like anything Saving it up for Friday night With the Sultans with the Sultans of Swing And a crowd of young boys they're fooling around in the corner Drunk and dressed in their best brown baggies and their platform soles The don't give a damm about any trumpet playing band It ain't whet they call rock and roll And the Sultans played Creole And then the man he steps right up to the microphone And says at last just as the time bell rings 'Thank you goodnight now it's time to go home' and he makes it fast whith one more thing 'We are the Sultans of Swing'
LIONS Red sun go down way over dirty town Starlings are sweeping around crazy shoals A girl is there high heeling across the square Wind blows around in her hair and the flags upon the poles Waiting in the crowd to cross at the light She looks around to find a face she can like Church bell clinging on trying to get a crowd to Evensong Nobody cares to depend upon the chime it plays They're all in the station praying for trains Congregation late again It's getting darker all the time these flagpole days Drunk old soldier he gives her a fright He's a crazy lion howling for a fight Strap hanging gunshot sound Doors slamming on the overground Starlings are tough but the lions are made of stone Her evening paper is horror torn But there's hope later for Capricorns Her lucky stars give her just enough to get her home The she's reading about a swing to the right But she's thinking about a stranger in the night I'm thinking about the lions tonight What happend to the lions
WHAT'S THE MATTER BABY? There's a shadow hanging over the valley Total eclipse of the moon Closing up the gates of the city The wind plays a wild storm Don't you put the lock upon the window Don't you put the bar on the door Don't you cry for the rain in the sky You seen the storm before Well, what's the matter with you baby Baby, what's the matter now Tell me what's the matter you running in the shadows Every time you hear the wild man howl C'mon, tell me what's the matter with you babe Baby, what's the matter now What's the matter now you running in the shadows Every time you hear the wild man howl Lightning gonna strike at midnight Thunder gonna shake it around Don't you flinch don't give an inch Just a-let the flood come down C'mon, tell me what's the matter with you babe Baby, what's the matter now What's the matter now you running in the shadows Every time you hear the wild man howl C'mon, tell me what's the matter with you babe Baby, what's the matter now What's the matter now you running in the shadows Every time you hear the wild man howl
TUNNEL OF LOVE Getting crazy on the waltzers but it's the life that i choose Sing about the sixblade sing about the switchback and a torture tattoo And I been riding on a ghost train where the cars they scream and slam And I don't know where I'll be tonight but I'd always tell you where I am In a screaming ring of faces I seen her standing in the light She had a ticket for the races just like me she was a victim of the night I put my hand upon the lever said let it rock and let it roll I had the one arm bandit fever there was an arrow through my heart and soul And the big wheel keep on turning neon burning up above And I'm just high on the world Come on and take a low ride with me girl On the tunnel of love It's just the danger when you're riding at your own risk She said you are the perfect stranger she said baby let's keep it like this It's just a cakewalk twisting baby step right up and say Hey mister give me two give me two cos any two can play And the big wheel keep on turning neon burning up above And I'm just high on the world Come on and take a low ride with me girl On the tunnel of love Well it's been money for muscle another whirligig Money for muscle another girl I dig Another hustle just to make it big And rockaway rockaway And girl it looks so pretty to me just like it always did Like the spanish city to me when we were kids Oh girl it looks so pretty to me just like it always did Like the spanish city to me when we were kids 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 dust and diesel I stood and watched her walk away I could have cought up with her easy enough but something must have made me stay And the big wheel keep on turning neon burning up above And I'm just high on the world Come on and take a low ride with me girl On the tunnel of love And now I'm searching through these carousels and the carnival arcades Searching everywhere from steeplechase to palisades In any shooting gallery where promises ar made To rockaway rockaway from Cullercoasts and Whitley bay out to rockaway And girl it looks so pretty to me just like it always did Like the spanish city to me when we were kids Oh girl it looks so pretty to me just like it always did Like the spanish city to me when we were kids
Guitars: Mark Knopfler Guitar: David Knopfler Bass: John Illsley Drums: Pick Withers **Guitars: Mark Knopfler Bass: John Illsley Drums: Pick Withers Keyboards: Alan Clark Guitar: Hal Lindes Written by: Mark Knopfler (* David Knopfler and Mark Knopfler) Recorded at: Live In Concert (22/07/1978), **The Old Whistle Test (31/01/1980) Year: 1995 Format: CD Label: Vertigo Reference No: 528 323 2 Songs: 8 Total Time: 46:04
