Dire Straits: Telegraph Road

Although it will never be part of a 'Pure Michigan' tourism campaign, Dire Straits' "Telegraph Road" is one of the best songs written about the Great Lakes State.

The band's frontman, Mark Knopfler, wrote it on his tour bus while he was on his way to a concert in Detroit--its tailspin was already well underway when this song was released in 1982. Telegraph Road is a major thoroughfare in the Motor City.

But believe in me baby and I'll take you away
From out of this darkness and into the day
From these rivers of headlights these rivers of rain
From the anger that lives on the streets with these names
'cos I've run every red light on memory lane
I've seen desperation explode into flames
And I don't want to see it again. . .
From all of these signs saying sorry but we're closed
All the way down the Telegraph Road

I chose a Michigan song for today's Saturday musical selection in honor of the Michigan Primary in ten days. Next week I'll have a song about Arizona--the Grand Canyon State holds its primary on the same day. This performance of "Telegraph Road" was recorded in Switzerland in 1984. The next year I saw Dire Straits play at the old Poplar Creek Music Theater in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. They didn't play this song. Damn.