We can´t compare Mark´s and David´s music because those are 2 different types of music and levels. Aswell the tours and fans quantity. David is a tipical text writer, sound is on second place, while Mark´s making great sounds, riffs and rythms, and text is on second place. Of course, Mark´s text´s are also beautiful.

Hello LEPI: I think David's success has been limited while Mark's been an icon of rock and roll for 30 years..Their music might be different but I think Mark's a better musician and one of the best songwriters of all times....Mark's lyrics are outstanding,  just listen to  "Romeo And Juliet" and you will understand how good those lyrics are.......Great to share some thoughts with you, have a nice afternoon(night).........."When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, juliet"........

I wouldn't ask him a thing except "would you and your mates like to come over for dinner? I'm a helluva cook!"

Just to see the response.

 I would like to shake his hand and thank him for 30 years of wonderful music.

 

Hello TrackRatMole: I would like to shake his hand too and congratulate him for being the best guitar player in Rock Music........You know, since you are a great cook, I would want to ask Mark what is his favourite food.....Take care.........."We gotta move these refrigerators, we gotta move these colour TVs"......

I'd like to know if he has ever played the 5-string banjo. Just curious because of his right-hand technique.

Cheers,

Boog 

Hello Boog: Good question you have there..I'm sure Mark has tried to play many string's instruments and maybe the 5-string banjo is one of them......Regards........................................."Then I recall my fall from grace, another time another place"............

Back down under?  When??

MarkKnopflerBelgium:

I wouldn't mention YouTube if I were you... Mark pretty much hates the concept: 'When your whole career is based on attention to detail it's a bit of a kick in the teeth to see your carefully engineered recordings/performances in such a way' And you cannot deny the poor quality, sure it's fun from time to time but still..

 

Oh oh. I do a lot of YT videos, and always ask people to listen with their headphones because the sound quality is not so hot, mind you I'm deaf on one side and getting there on the other, so loud is always good . But for me YouTube has been a wonderful source of musical re-education. Like an idiot, I stopped playing at about age 25 and didn't pick it up again until age 50 ... I was writing computer code one day, and thought to myself, "F*** this crap!, I'm haulin' out the old banjo and makin' me some music" ... it was actually pretty grim for the first year - brain knows what to do, hands ... well that's another story

My two favourite Rock musicians are Mark Knopfler and John Fogerty.

One by Mark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH0aKqUGI-Q 

One by John (I did this one at six in the morning before my first cup of coffee ... now that's dedication )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4V-BHunGZ0

Hope Mark doesn't want to tear my head off and use it for a football. Because of the weird style I have I don't jam much with other folks; where I live the 5-string banjo is all about bluegrass. I don't mind bluegrass, I played a lot when I was young, I just like Rock&Roll and Blues better .

Cheers,

Boog
 

Hi samcclelland1: It's just a matter of time before Mark goes back to Australia, I'm sure...But I'm also sure that he will never come to Colombia because of many reasons that I will not repeat again...At least for you down under it's just a matter of time, but he eventually will be there...As for us, we can kiss that option good bye!!!....Have a good day in Australia................."Way on downsouth, way on downsouth, London town".....

How about, "can you teach me to play like that?"

LOL! good question!

Hi Jensen66: Good question, but unfortunately only Mark knopfler can play like that..Geniouses are very hard to come bye and many times it's because of them that humanity can advance..Einstein, Beethoven, Newton, Van Gogh, Galileo, Mozart, Spitz, and Mark Knopfler are all geniouses that humanity can enjoy very rarely...Mark´s music is probably the best rock music ever and we are very fortunate to be able to listen to his songs and enjoy his concerts.........Have a nice day in Georgia, US...................................................."Check out the shingles, it's brand new, excuse me while I mingle, hi, how are you".......

Hi, I'm really curious about "Postcards From Paraguay" and where Mark got his inspiration from, or what's the story with this song, anybody knows??..I'm asking this because since I'm from South America, it's intriguing to me why Mark decided to write a song that mentions a South American country...Not that Paraguay is very close to Colombia, in fact, New York is closer by plane than Asuncion(Paraguay's capital) from Bogotá, but nevertheless it would be interesting to know the real story behind this excellent song..........Thanks for your time................................................................"She says hey mister you wanna take a walk in the wild west end sometime"...

ryofeliz:

Hi, I'm really curious about "Postcards From Paraguay" and where Mark got his inspiration from

Truly, you don' t have to search for long if you need an inspiration for writing a song like this. Just read the papers: seems like everyday routine these days...

Anyway, I found a site (songmeanings.net) in which people discuss about the meanings of the lyrics. Talking about Postcards, some say it' s inspired by the Enron-affair. Could be.

To me, it always remembers me the Parmalat-shock, that exploded here in Italy at the end of 2003 (just a few months before the release of Shangri-La, BTW...). But it' s to say, the lyrics fit for almost every financial breakdown: "I had to steal from Peter, to pay what I owed to Paul": making debts to pay previous debts, and those debts keep on growing. And we know some creditors are more patient (or simply, less aware) than others. So, when "There' s blood on the wall", financial pirats always try to throw debts on weaker shoulders. Calisto Tanzi (Ceo of Parmalat), with the help of many bank advisors, did exactly this. Many savers here lost huge amounts of money.

As for South America... Well, we from Europe always see Latin-American countries as a cheap way of escape... who knows if it' s actual... But when we Europeans joke about robbing money and escaping, the destinations we always mention are: Mexico, Santo Domingo; and then Brazil and all the other countries of South America. I don' t know what this habit comes from: perhaps the many wild-west-pictures in the latest 40 years, in which outlaws always tried to escape south from the USA... perhaps the fact that many war criminals of WW2 actually escaped in South America... Who knows? By the way, Tanzi went to Portugal in december 2003, as the police had decided to arrest him; he stood there for a few days, without anyone knowing where he was and what he was doing... and then returned here in Italy and was arrested.

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ognuno vada dove vuole andare, ognuno invecchi come gli pare, ma non raccontare a me cos' è la libertà

I would like to ask Mark who his favorite author is.

BTW  Annamaria...Josef Mengele lived in Paraguay for a while...before moving back into Brazil. Mark may have been having a little fun with all the "financial wizards" that cost so many so much money by using "Paraguay" as a place for them to escape to. They are no better then Mengele...the cost to society was different..but still high.                

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Doctor parkinson declared Im not surprised to see you here
Youve got smokers cough from smoking, brewers droop from drinking beer
I dont know how you came to get the betty davis knees
But worst of all young man youve got industrial disease