The Mark Knopfler Songbook — Featured on MK's official YouTube channel

[Robson]

Great headphones Every time I watch your video I see the MK headband 

[quizzaciously]

Great headphones Every time I watch your video I see the MK headband 

Haha! Yes, I love them too. And it also reminds me of Mark's headband. It wasn't planned, however, I'm just a fan of red things, especially black/red things.

[quizzaciously]

Well, just like the video’s title suggest… Mark’s music is beyond borders and money, so nothing can stop me from playing this solo while losing a couple of zeros from my guitar’s price. As always, a million small details make this solo so beautiful, and I’m sure I missed a few, but I hope you enjoy this. The tab is in the description. Pavel.

[quizzaciously]

This is the "Kingdom Of Gold" solo... A great solo from one of the recent tours. Showcases Mark Knopfler's signature melodic improvisation style, amazing tone, and unique selection of notes, as if he had a whole day to pick each one, and not in real-time. Truly an amazing solo! Pavel.

[quizzaciously]

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mti8I9MLlOk

TAB is the description of this short. Always wanted to record something on this stairway with great natural acoustics! Nothing could work better for this than Mark Knopfler’s solo in the “Layla” song I transcribed yesterday. This solo was played by Mark in September 1997 at the charity concert Music For Montserrat, with Eric Clapton playing rhythm on acoustic guitar and singing. One of the finest performances by both musicians and naturally, I get a lot of requests for this solo all the time. I’ll be more than happy to discuss it later. Pavel.

[quizzaciously]

I'm going live in a minute!

[quizzaciously]

Going live discussing CALLING ELVIS.

[quizzaciously]

I never intended to record “Wild Theme” because my friend and one of the best musicians I know — Alexey Samoylenko — already did it beautifully, and he was even kind enough to provide me with a piano backing track taken from his own performance. However, it wasn’t a complete backing track, but rather a collection of notes with velocity data for samples. So I had to find a way to fully reconstruct it, which I did. I painstakingly recreated the piano backing track to its full glory and in the process added even more details to the arrangement, like additional chords and occasional melodic lines. I also learned the melody itself, which, as always, is filled with magical Mark Knopfler’s guitar work. I was so mesmerised, the melody was just too beautiful not to record it, so I did. This was the first take, but I liked it. And now I need to figure out a proper way how to share it with my audience because I have piano sheet music, guitar tablature, and backing track for “Wild Theme” that I can’t wait to show and teach on my channel. Pavel.

[JF]

 

perfect rendition of the studio version

do you play it in C ?

is it the case in the original ? I never paid attention to that, I always thought it was in D like live versions

[quizzaciously]

perfect rendition of the studio version

do you play it in C ?

is it the case in the original ? I never paid attention to that, I always thought it was in D like live versions

Thank you! Yes, indeed, the original is also in C major. I think "Wild Theme" is in C, and "Going Home" is in D, so it's what differentiates the two melodies the most. I don't know why everybody assumes they are the one thing, to me the difference is huge. Wild Theme is in C, and a more subtle, and Going Home is in D, and more energetic. Chords and rhythm are different too. But the melody is kinda the same tho.

[Jules]

Local hero theme in either of their versions were my wife's favourite song, because it was the last meaning the concert was about to end.

[quizzaciously]

Local hero theme in either of their versions were my wife's favourite song, because it was the last meaning the concert was about to end.

I remember this legendary joke/life story

In all honesty, it's not hard to sit through Mark's show, as it's not exactly a 3-hour endeavour. I remember the last MK show I visited, in Lisbon in 2019, it was one of the smoothest and shortest shows I ever attended. Incredibly laidback, easy, modest and fast.

[JF]

perfect rendition of the studio version

do you play it in C ?

is it the case in the original ? I never paid attention to that, I always thought it was in D like live versions

Thank you! Yes, indeed, the original is also in C major. I think "Wild Theme" is in C, and "Going Home" is in D, so it's what differentiates the two melodies the most. I don't know why everybody assumes they are the one thing, to me the difference is huge. Wild Theme is in C, and a more subtle, and Going Home is in D, and more energetic. Chords and rhythm are different too. But the melody is kinda the same tho.

well its't not THAT differenet. I bet the chords are the same, just in a different key
Live, Mark used to play the intro of going Home (so in D) and then the wild theme melody, also in D

To me, Wild theme is just the GH melody but played slowly, or if you want, GH is the WT melody, but played faster 
and yes, in a different key

I bet Mark composed one melody, and as it was used in a film score, he arranged it in differents paces, like every film-music composer does

[quizzaciously]

perfect rendition of the studio version

do you play it in C ?

is it the case in the original ? I never paid attention to that, I always thought it was in D like live versions

Thank you! Yes, indeed, the original is also in C major. I think "Wild Theme" is in C, and "Going Home" is in D, so it's what differentiates the two melodies the most. I don't know why everybody assumes they are the one thing, to me the difference is huge. Wild Theme is in C, and a more subtle, and Going Home is in D, and more energetic. Chords and rhythm are different too. But the melody is kinda the same tho.

well its't not THAT differenet. I bet the chords are the same, just in a different key
Live, Mark used to play the intro of going Home (so in D) and then the wild theme melody, also in D

To me, Wild theme is just the GH melody but played slowly, or if you want, GH is the WT melody, but played faster 
and yes, in a different key

I bet Mark composed one melody, and as it was used in a film score, he arranged it in differents paces, like every film-music composer does

It's too confusing... "Wild Theme" on the soundtrack album is this lush Local Hero theme with fancy chords and more pauses and space, and no intro. In "Wild Theme" there are usually fewer instruments playing, sometimes just two (Mark & Guy, for instance), and so you naturally play it more slowly, lusher, with fancier chords, and with more pauses to keep it interesting. But in case of the band, you obviously don't need such embellishments and the full Going Home theme uses the simplest chords that this theme would ever allow.

So yes, it's fair to say that Wild Theme is just a slow and stripped-out Local Hero theme, and Going Home is a fast one with an anticipating intro.

But in versions like On The Night, you have a stripped-out performance, yes, but it's still a fast Going Home theme with a full intro, and yet it has some elements from Wild Theme, and it has just three instruments, so how to call that? They settled on "Local Hero – Wild Theme", so Local Hero means the intro then?

I wonder how Mark thinks about it. I can bet anything in the world that he's just like "Let's play this tune from the movie now".

[JF]

perfect rendition of the studio version

do you play it in C ?

is it the case in the original ? I never paid attention to that, I always thought it was in D like live versions

Thank you! Yes, indeed, the original is also in C major. I think "Wild Theme" is in C, and "Going Home" is in D, so it's what differentiates the two melodies the most. I don't know why everybody assumes they are the one thing, to me the difference is huge. Wild Theme is in C, and a more subtle, and Going Home is in D, and more energetic. Chords and rhythm are different too. But the melody is kinda the same tho.

well its't not THAT differenet. I bet the chords are the same, just in a different key
Live, Mark used to play the intro of going Home (so in D) and then the wild theme melody, also in D

To me, Wild theme is just the GH melody but played slowly, or if you want, GH is the WT melody, but played faster 
and yes, in a different key

I bet Mark composed one melody, and as it was used in a film score, he arranged it in differents paces, like every film-music composer does

It's too confusing... "Wild Theme" on the soundtrack album is this lush Local Hero theme with fancy chords and more pauses and space, and no intro. In "Wild Theme" there are usually fewer instruments playing, sometimes just two (Mark & Guy, for instance), and so you naturally play it more slowly, lusher, with fancier chords, and with more pauses to keep it interesting. But in case of the band, you obviously don't need such embellishments and the full Going Home theme uses the simplest chords that this theme would ever allow.

So yes, it's fair to say that Wild Theme is just a slow and stripped-out Local Hero theme, and Going Home is a fast one with an anticipating intro.

But in versions like On The Night, you have a stripped-out performance, yes, but it's still a fast Going Home theme with a full intro, and yet it has some elements from Wild Theme, and it has just three instruments, so how to call that? They settled on "Local Hero – Wild Theme", so Local Hero means the intro then?

I wonder how Mark thinks about it. I can bet anything in the world that he's just like "Let's play this tune from the movie now".

to me, the mention of "Local Hero" doesn't have anything to do with the intro or not, it's just the name of the soundtrack (and of course of the movie) and they decided to mention it on the credit, because it's not a "regular" DS album

yes indeed, in 91-92, in 97, in 2000,  2001, in 2005, he played Wild theme but with the going home intro. I bet he thought that he could merge the two.
and, in 96, he played GH (the "fast" one) but at the end of the solo, he played a lick which features in the WT studio version, but not in the GH studio version

I talked about wild theme and Going home in my chronicle about the soundtrack : https://textes-blog-rock-n-roll.fr/il-y-a-40-ans-mark-knopfler-sortait-sa-premiere-musique-de-film/

 a funny thing : on the STP maxi CD, it's Wild theme, but it's credited Going Home