Music

Kill To Get Crimson

Kill To Get Crimson

Album Credits

Mark Knopfler: vocals and guitars
Guy Fletcher: keyboards
Glenn Worf: bass guitar and string bass
Danny Cummings: drums and percussion

ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS
Ian Lowthian: accordion
John McCusker: violin and cittern
Frank Ricotti: vibes
Chris White: flute, saxaphone and clarinet
Steve Sidwell: trumpet

Recorded at British Grove Studios, London
Produced by Mark Knopfler, Guy Fletcher and Chuck Ainlay
Engineered by Guy Fletcher and Chuck Ainley, assisted by Rich Cooper
Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway mastering Studios, Portland, Maine

All songs written by Mark Knopfler (Will D. Side Ltd)
©2007 Will D. Side Limited/Rondor Music (London) Ltd.

Mark Knopfler uses D'Addario strings.

Cover image: Four Lambrettas and Three Portraits of Janet Churchman by John Bratby (1928-1992), painted in 1958
Creative Director: Tom Bird
Photography: Fabio Lovino
Design: Salvador Design

Released: Mercury/Warner Bros. (2007)

Kill To Get Crimson

  • 1. True Love Will Never Fade
    True love will never fade
    True love will never fade
    True love will never fade
    True love will never fade
    True love will never fade

    I wonder if there’s no forever
    – no walking hand in hand
    down a yellow brick road
    to never-never land
    These days I get to where I’m going
    – make it there eventually
    follow the trail of breadcrumbs
    to where I’m meant to be
    to where I’m meant to be

    I don’t know what brought you to me
    that was up to you
    There’s so many come to see me
    who want their own tattoo
    I fixed a needle in the holder
    laid my hand upon your spine
    and there upon your shoulder
    I drew the picture as your sign

    When I think about us
    I see the picture that we made
    the picture to remind us
    true love will never fade
    True love will never fade
    True love will never fade
    True love will never fade

    I work the rowdies and day-trippers
    Now and then I think of you
    Any which way we’re all shuffling
    following the queue
    They’d like to move my operation
    They’d like to get me off the pier
    And I dream I’m on a steamer
    pulling out of here

    When I think about us
    I see the picture that we made
    the picture to remind us
    true love will never fade
    True love will never fade
    True love will never fade
    True love will never fade
    True love will never fade
    True love will never fade
  • 2. The Scaffolder’s Wife
    The scaffolder’s wife
    driving out of the yard
    with a face that’s as hard
    as a scaffolder’s bar –
    when she goes into town
    she might take the top down
    on the car

    The quick little steps
    in the stiletto boots
    and the hair with the roots
    She comes in as a rule
    to get the nails done
    and the tan for the sun
    when the kids are in school

    Don’t begrudge her the Merc
    it’s been nothing but work
    and a hard life
    Losing her looks
    over company books
    – the scaffolder’s wife

    In the wicked old days
    when they went it alone
    kept the company going
    on a wing and a prayer
    They don’t pay what they owe
    when they have the cash flow
    – they don’t care

    Don’t begrudge her the Merc
    it’s been nothing but work
    and a hard life
    Losing her looks
    over company books
    – the scaffolder’s wife
  • 3. The Fizzy And The Still
    Sunday morning, here we are
    The boy’s come home
    not quite the movie star

    He’s been in Hollywood
    The boy’s come home
    The boy’s done good

    He says she asked too high a price
    neglecting to declare
    what sits between them there on ice,
    chilled, with the fizzy and the still:
    he tried but didn’t make it there

    ‘It’s not for me
    It’s not for me’

    Sunday papers, here we are
    The boy’s come home
    The boy’s come home
  • 4. Heart Full Of Holes
    You can tell me your troubles
    I’ll listen for free
    My regulars trust me, it seems
    You can come and see Uncle
    to get through the week
    leave your pledges with me to redeem
    Some folk sell their bodies
    for ten bob a go
    Politicians go pawning their souls
    Which doesn’t make me
    look too bad, don’t you know
    me, with my heart full of holes
    All my yesterdays broken
    a watch with no face
    all battered and old
    Bits of the movement
    all over the place
    and a heart full of holes
    A heart full of holes
    A heart full of holes

    Brass knuckles and banjos
    are out on the town
    at the knees-up
    in Teddy Boys’ Row
    The gold block and tackle
    tells the time upside down
    Rock n’ roll – well, I don’t know
    Dead people’s wedding gifts
    walk out the door
    A clarinet squeals to be free
    Accordions hop
    from the shelves to the floor –
    start playing their polkas to me

    There’s a ringing of bells
    a dunderhead’s curse
    Fingers are pointing at you
    And you take work in hell
    and be glad it’s not worse
    and you get to the back of the queue
    Handcuffs and hunting knives
    clang on the bars
    Air pistols shoot out the lights
    I’ve a whole Wailing Wall
    of electric guitars
    could shatter the windows
    down Brick Lane tonight

    If one of us dies, love
    I think I’ll retire
    see my boys and my beautiful girls
    A Garden of Eden
    no gates or barbed wire
    who knows, maybe gates made of pearls
    Well, if we go to heaven
    and some say we don’t
    but if there’s a reckoning day
    please God, I’ll see you
    and maybe I won’t
    I’ve a bag packed to go either way

    Redeeming your pledge, dear
    I’ll keep it for you
    It’s not going to go anywhere
    But your soul, your soul
    that is not what I do
    There’s not a lot I can do there
    I remember the officer’s watch
    in my hand:
    ‘Repair it or die’ I was told
    It’s a wonder to me –
    I still don’t understand
    why I ever survived to be old
    with a heart full of holes
    A heart full of holes
    A heart full of holes
  • 5. We Can Get Wild
    We’re old enough for leaving home
    the old joanna and the old trombone
    It’s all going on
    I’m growing my sideboards long
    And you and me
    can be who we want to be
    Listen now, right here
    It’s going to be a beautiful year

    They’re calling it the teenage scene
    and I have a dream
    Don’t know if I’ll be a star
    but I’m going to play guitar
    I’ve seen this rocking cat
    Oh, I want to be just like that
    Listen now, right here
    It’s going to be a beautiful year

    Hey, look at you, baby
    Tell your daddy you’re no child
    Hey, look at you, baby
    We can get wild

    We’ll be on our own
    Billy Fury on the gramophone
    Take you to the pictures and a dance
    Me in my drainpipe pants
    Check the mirror and the old DA
    And you can play in a day
    Listen now, right here
    It’s going to be a beautiful year

    Hey, look at you, baby
    Tell your daddy you’re no child
    Hey, look at you, baby
    We can get wild
  • 6. Secondary Waltz
    The school Christmas party is coming
    We ain’t doing rugby no more
    MacIntyre’s teaching us waltzing
    out on the gymnasium floor
    out on the gymnasium floor
    MacIntyre’s out of the army
    You’ll be slippered if you get it wrong
    And MacIntyre’s din
    booms loud in the gym
    and we’ve only got our little shorts on
    We’ve only got our little shorts on

    And it’s one, two, three, two, two –
    we’re all a disgrace
    MacIntyre tore us apart
    And we danced with ourselves
    when he yelled ‘Find a space!’
    waltzing with fear in our hearts
    waltzing with fear in our hearts

    Comes the day of the final manoeuvres
    All of our heads are awhirl
    It’s getting much closer to D-day
    This time we’re going to do it with girls
    This time we’re going to do it with girls
    In the arena the ladies were waiting
    a 12 year-old partner to guide
    Some matches were fixed
    the rest of us mixed
    and a fat girl got left at the side
    A fat girl got left at the side

    And it’s one, two, three, two, two –
    we’re all a disgrace
    MacIntyre tore us apart
    And we danced with ourselves
    when we’d all found a space
    waltzing with fear in our hearts
    waltzing with fear in our hearts

    When you come to my fights
    and I’m under the lights
    and you see that my footwork is false
    don’t count me out
    at the start of the bout
    I’m just doing the Secondary Waltz
    doing the Secondary Waltz
  • 7. Punish The Monkey
    They’re driving long nails into coffins
    You’ve been having sleepless nights
    You’ve gone as quiet as a church mouse
    and checking on your rights
    The boss has hung you out to dry
    And it looks as though
    they’ll punish the monkey
    and let the organ grinder go

    You’ve been talking to a lawyer
    Are you going to pretend
    that you and your employer
    are still the best of friends?
    Somebody’s going to take the fall
    There’s your quid pro quo
    They’ll punish the monkey
    and let the organ grinder go

    Here comes a policeman
    He won’t be sidetracked
    He’s asking about a smoking gun
    He’s after the facts

    It’s a quiet life from here on in
    You’ve dropped your poison cup
    The telephone is ringing
    But you’re not picking up
    Time’s up, Sir Lord Flunkey
    And everybody knows
    they’ll punish the monkey
    and let the organ grinder go
  • 8. Let It All Go
    When it’s pop goes the weasel
    let go of the easel
    You don’t want
    this rickety rackety life.
    It’s seat of the trousers
    It’s all sink or swim, son
    I’d kill to get crimson
    on this palette knife.
    And I’d steal in a minute
    I’m up to here in it
    You here behaving
    as though I’m a saint
    Get a job with a pension
    Don’t ever mention
    you once had a craving
    for the brushes and paint.

    So go, forget it, let it all go
    let it all go.
    Go, forget it, let it all go
    Go, forget it, let it all go
    let it all go.
    Go, forget it, let it all go
    let it all go.

    A hack writer judges
    my swipes and my smudges
    he doesn’t like pictures
    with blotches and blots.
    The drawing room tea set
    wants horses, sunsets
    sweet nothing –
    the seaside with yachts.
    Here’s the end of the thirties
    no time for arties
    over in Poland
    a right old to-do
    So go join the navy
    the air force or the army
    They’ll all be enrolling
    young fellows like you.

    So go, forget it, let it all go
    let it all go.
    Go, forget it, let it all go
    Go, forget it, let it all go
    let it all go.
    Go, forget it, let it all go
    let it all go.

    These are not my decisions
    flaming visions
    ringing expression
    the clamouring voice.
    It’s volcanic desire
    the unquenchable fire
    It isn’t a question
    of having the choice.
    Anyway, now i’m old
    but if you won’t be told
    if you’ve been created
    to answer the call
    all passion and lust
    is going to end in the dust
    but you’ll hang on some
    government gallery wall.

    So go, forget it, let it all go
    let it all go.
    Go, forget it, let it all go
    Go, forget it, let it all go
    let it all go.
    Go, forget it, let it all go
    let it all go.
  • 9. Behind With The Rent
    This didn’t used to be me, old boy
    This isn’t what I’d want
    pulling old night fighters
    in a restaurant.
    There’s smoke and flames behind me
    where the self-respect all went
    and I’m behind, behind
    with the rent.

    I’ve been stitched up like a kipper, old son
    but I won’t be again
    Hell hath no fury
    Oh, I’m like a lot of men.
    Now I’m stalking this old Doris
    with lascivious intent
    and I’m behind, behind
    with the rent.

    Just a little duck and dive
    and a bit of wheel and deal.
    She’ll remind me I’m a live.
    She’ll remind me I still feel
    Just a little shelling out
    for a bit of you-know-what
    I know this is all about
    something that I never got.

    Well this crumpet’s past it’s sell-by-date
    but they all would qualify
    They’re going to be lonely
    and be happy to comply.
    She knows that I’m a chancer
    coming on like a gent
    but I’m behind, behind
    with the rent.
    Yes, I’m behind, behind
    with the rent.
  • 10. The Fish And The Bird
    When I gave my heart
    to a tinker boy
    he said a fish could love a swallow
    And I will go with my travelling man
    Wherever he goes I will follow

    He will mend
    your pots and pans
    Your kitchen knives he’ll take and sharpen
    Then I’ll be gone with my travelling man
    and never more your doorway darken

    The fish and the bird
    who fall in love
    will find no place to build a home in
    The fish and the bird who fall in love
    are bound forever to go roaming
  • 11. Madame Geneva’s
    I’m a maker of ballads right pretty
    I write theme right here in the street
    You can buy theme all over the city
    yours for a penny a sheet
    I’m a word pecker out of the printers
    out of the dens of Gin Lane
    I’ll write up a scene on a counter
    – confessions and sins in the main,
    boys confession and sins in the main.

    Then you’ll find me in Madame Geneva’s
    keeping the demons at bay
    There’s nothing like gin for drowning them in
    but they’ll always be back on a hanging day.

    They come rattling over the cobbles
    they sit on their coffins of black.
    Some are struck dumb, some gabble
    top-heavy on brandy or sack.
    The pews are all full of fine fellows
    and the hawker has set up her shop.
    As they’re turning them at the gallows
    she’ll be selling right under the drop,
    boys selling right under the drop.

    Then you’ll find me in Madame Geneva’s
    keeping the demons at bay
    There’s nothing like gin for drowning them in
    but they’ll always be back on a hanging day
  • 12. In The Sky
    Are you home from the sea, my soul balladeer
    You’ve been away roaming far away from here
    weathered a storm, your heart unafraid
    crossed every ocean in the boat that you made

    Been blowing your horn, scaring the spooks
    No crotchets or quavers in your books
    Gone sailing all night, straight in the vein
    like a bird on his own flight in his domain in the sky

    Running in on the tide with the first of the stars
    the moon on the water and the sound of guitars
    Glide into the homing as the night falls
    to tie up in the haven by the old harbour wall

    And the hard-bitten stranger as deaf as a post
    who stands at the fire where a poet’s dreams roast
    He can’t know the story, he can’t feel the pain
    and all of the glory falls around him like rain in the sky

    You’re a light in the dark, a beacon of hope
    and strong as a sea boat, strong as a rope
    And the vagabond wind, whispers over the bay
    and the songs and the laughter, are carried away in the sky