About Back To Tupelo

[Love Expresso]

it isn

[Masiakasaurus]

English isn't my native tounge, but "a ways to go", doesn't that mean that it's far away? I just posted in the other thread with the interview, Mark said that BtT was about Parker. I always thought it was more from Elvis perspective?

[shangri la 1]

"it's a wayS to go..." is a way of saying we/I still have a long way yet to travel to get to our destination.

[dustyvalentino]

"Just not ringing true" = even Elvis knows that these films are shit. But he can't just let go of all the fame and fortune and go back to being a "nobody" (like MK has?)

[Banjo99uk]

I think MK said it was about Elvis's frustration at not getting serious acting roles. He was fed up with shit films and wanted to be taken seriously like Marlon Brando. The music alone was not enough for him.

[Lis]

it isn

[Love Expresso]

Hey folks, thanks so far! Please let the good ideas/interpretations coming! 

LE

[yontwocrows]

Thanks LE for bringing this up!

My reading corrispondes a bit to the interpretation of Lis, although i wouldn't speak of MK but of an external view. But i also think that for the ambiguity of the song it is very important that one doesn't exactly know who is speaking. The whole lyrics can be read as "someone (MK?) is talking to the "idea of Elvis" in 1967". Some phrases (e.g.You'll soon be back in memphis/ Maybe then you'll know what to do / The story-lines they're giving you / Are just not ringing true) could be even spoken by Elvis to himself, and some other phrases (not so many) could be spoken by the Colonel (e.g. It isn't just the records / No, you must have Hollywood / The songs alone are not enough /That much is understood).
Due to this fact there is no perfect solution. As a listener you don't simply know for sure if the perspectives are changing or not. In the first verse we know at least that someone else is speaking to "Elvis" (you an the lying dutchman). That is why i go with Lis.

Listening to the lyrics i always think about how difficult it is to live your life, how you would like to, an stick to your ideals. It is for me very important to look back to youth, where you were able to express your ideals and your dreams without compromises, and without the reality of everydays living that forces you sometimes to do something that doesn't go with your true ideals. This memory of your pure ideals in the past helps to correct decisions that you make now.
In the first line MK is talking about clambake. It is well known that this film / period is a late turning point for Elvis. He wants from then on to play only in serious films, he is suddenly interested in religion and starts reading (which the colonel didn't want to), so he is looking for something, for true values (The story-lines they're giving you / Are just not ringing true). Around this time he recorded "How great throu art", suprisingly a gospel based album. So Elvis tries to go back to his youth in Tupelo, where he gets to know the gospels. BUT: It is easier to be the king of rock n' roll and to be a movie star then to go back to your roots and your ideals: it's a ways to go back to tupelo.

sorry for long post

[Love Expresso]

As I said before, great response by all. But Yontwocrows, you exactly got my problem and your post is very enlightening for me. I had some of the same
ideas but was not sure if they are going or not. So now we are two aleady and that tells me I am not totally wrong in my interpretation of this song.
And your post has the excact lenghts, no querie left! Thank youhuuu!

LE

[Banjo99uk]

This is from an interview with MK

[Lestroid]

Hi everyone!  New poster/longtime lurker here!    Interesting thread - just had to add my 2 cents worth - I like Yontwocrows interpretation and would just add that there seems to be a personal meaning for MK as well.  He seems to empathize with Elvis's struggles with fame and getting caught up in "celebrity" and moving further and further from one's roots.  Dire Straits after BIA was a whole different animal than the original 4-piece group.  They were performing in stadiums in front of 50,000 people, and the whole production had ballooned as well.  MK didn't have movies, but he had MTV and that whole circus.  He must have longed to return to his roots - back to Tupelo if you will.  How many times has he said "making your fortune is great, but you can have your fame".  And obviously he ended up shutting down Dire Straits and returning to his roots of focusing on songwriting.

[yontwocrows]

I'm very grateful to you, LE. I appreciate a lot to reflect upon deeper meanings in MK lyrics. Doing this together is more fun and really interesting.

@banjo: Very interesting! In my eyes it underlines our interpretation. But furthermore i think in Back to Tupelo we are confronted with an Elvis who recognizes for the first time in his career that fame is not everything. And that he lost values that he had in his past without beeing aware of having them in that moment. He wants to change the direction - from the highway to fame to the road of true values. As we know:  in the end he did not succeed! (Like you i feel that MK is thinking about this a lot. MK got in his life the right exit. He doesn't play anymore the music that makes him famous, but he plays music he loves. And although his fanbase got smaller, it is still big enough to support him. AND the quality of the fans is better how you and this thread shows  )   

[yontwocrows]

Ha Ha,  Lestroid: I just added the same point. But you nailed it better 

[Lestroid]

As they say, Yontwocrows, "Great minds think alike" 

[Knopflerfan]

Ways to go - isnt that 'a direction' as opposed to distance?