(13) My Heart Has Never Changed (3:48)

[koobaa]

I can easily imagine Leonard Cohen singing this song. Nice little tune this one.

[nababo]

It's among my favourites, too. Very touching lyrics

[LoveExpresso]

I repeat myself but this is SUCH a great song - gives me so much more than Terminal Of Tribute To.. So pure Mark Knopfler sound.. the atmosphere, Ruth is excellent doing her background job (as she does on Basil, too). Wow! Just Wow!

If this was a recent MK album, this track would have probably been my favourite, but among those other 17 songs, this ones has trouble not to be covered by sheer greatness of the other songs.

LE

[Nick14]

Out of the 18 songs this is certainly one of my favourites - wonderful song.

[Marijo58]

Another fantastic song       

Totally agree with you Maroretto!! A really lovely song!!!

[border_reiver]

This song was a grower.

I like the very familiar (almost cliché) singer/songwriter approach to it.

[Fletch]

All 3 (this, Heart of Oak & Time...Sorrow) of the acoustic bonus songs are achingly beautiful.
I can only dream of a future boxset containing acoustic demos of so many released and unreleased songs, just MK and his guitar.

[LoveExpresso]

Yes indeed, River Of Grog was a first hint in that direction (ok, Marbletown album version was, but that was ages ago..)

LE

[nababo]

All 3 (this, Heart of Oak & Time...Sorrow) of the acoustic bonus songs are achingly beautiful.
I can only dream of a future boxset containing acoustic demos of so many released and unreleased songs, just MK and his guitar.

Oh, boy, we dream about a lot of things.... I dream about a superbox with all the DS inputs, plus b-sides and rarities, and about the same from the solo career!!!

[ingridswing]

All 3 (this, Heart of Oak & Time...Sorrow) of the acoustic bonus songs are achingly beautiful.
I can only dream of a future boxset containing acoustic demos of so many released and unreleased songs, just MK and his guitar.

Yes dreaming about this too, it's not a boxset by the way, it has to be a megaboxset ;-)
Oh, boy, we dream about a lot of things.... I dream about a superbox with all the DS inputs, plus b-sides and rarities, and about the same from the solo career!!!

[zigner]

Anyone know what this line is talking about?

"And the rooms along Exchange"

Note the upper case on Exchange.

[superval99]

This is a beautiful song and it is very reminiscent to me of Dylan's "Highlands" especially in the lyrics - the waitress for example. 

[LoveExpresso]

This is a beautiful song and it is very reminiscent to me of Dylan's "Highlands" especially in the lyrics - the waitress for example. 

Yes, exactly! 

LE

[Justme]

Today, I nearly fell off my chair when I tried to further investigate this little "ditty". As with most of his songs, it works on many different levels. If you dig a little deeper, it will appear even more meaningful and you may find information that contributed as an inspiration to write the song. Ragpicking.

This is kind of unstructured, as I'm not sure yet....

What initially struck me to look further into this song was the phrase "Hell's Half Acre": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell%27s_Half_Acre_%28disambiguation%29
Ah, there it goes, so many different possibilities.

Here used to be a restaurant called Hell's Half Acre:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell%27s_Half_Acre_%28Wyoming%29
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/8451

In Ford Worth there had been a red light district called HHA, formerly a saloon district, aimed at catering to cowboys on Chisholm Trail: http://www.fwtx.com/articles/highway-hell

There even is an "Exchange Avenue", hence the capital letter in "the rooms along Exchange": http://fortworthgazette.blogspot.de/2011/07/where-heck-was-hells-half-acre-probably.html
(I was always sure that this wasn't a hint at his IT guys at BGS (Microsoft Exchange Server) - hahaha  )
Today there only exists a church from ye olden days: http://www.redriverhistorian.com/badtarrantcounty.html

Okay, I didn't stop the ragpicking, what shall I do with the next information: the book "An Epic Life - Fort Worth" by JN Patoski about Willie Nelson, Fort Worth is described as the "Cradle Of Western Swing".
https://books.google.com/books?id=1To7AQAAQBAJ&pg=PT49&lpg=PT49&dq=highway+199+hell's+half+acre&source=bl&ots=LzfW2Ive9e&sig=wGB_EsCyGTtJAin7rxafto5gzB0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=9XMiVcGwG4aVsAGuhISQDQ&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAw

And what the heck does Highway 199 represent, it's a Californian Highway? Although in that book about Willie Nelson, it is described as "Jaxbeer Highway" - there would have been something for everyone: drinking, gambling etc.

To me, this is a mix-up of cowboy-romantic motives, Telegraph-Road-esque boom and decline metaphors, travelling musician's tales and the lives of ordinary people. But there is no singular clue, TOE (theory of everything), to interpret this song.

[Justme]

...and then in 1950 a car of some big cheese had been blown up, please read the last paragraph: http://www.fwtx.com/articles/highway-hell

That initiated the decline of Jacksboro Highway, the authorities had to act.