(21) Chess

[localhero1986]

Sorry for being such an ignorant, but did Down the Road Wherever come with vinyl-only bonus tracks, too? And if so, how and when did the become available digitally?

(No need to tell me that shouldn't have sold my father's vinyl player many years ago ... )

That box came with a download code for all tracks.

You mean the Down the Road Wherever boxset, right? I wonder/hope that the same will be true this time.

Yes, DTRW box.

[Jules]

Updated with lyrics, thanks Knopflerfan

[Pasc']

Chess, my favorite song ; I tuned it loop !

Chess would go very well with the next OSS 117   

[KnopfleRick]

The song is also playing non-stop for me today. The groove, flute and guitar are addiction.

[JF]

The last phrase of each verse (sung or played on guitar) reminds me of Preciso Me Encontrar, the song that closes the soundtrack of the film Central do Brasil (at 1:16) :


https://youtu.be/GkYcFV7qkyk?t=76

[Rail King]

Only listened to this now (needed some summery weather to back it, it wouldn’t have worked in the snow).

It‘s Mark going lounge pop! I love the the flurrying flute work, too. Perfectly clear why there was no place for it on the album, though.

The story it tells seems to be rather nasty — any idea from what point of view it’s told? Another pyroman?

[dustyvalentino]

Not sure about lounge pop, but not sure what it actually is! Maybe yacht rock/jazz fusion type style, Steely Dan/Weather Report?!

[Robson]

For me, the spirit of J.J. Cale is present in this song.

[Rail King]

Not sure about lounge pop, but not sure what it actually is! Maybe yacht rock/jazz fusion type style, Steely Dan/Weather Report?!

That sounds like a fair description, yes (and better than mine). But give me a clue about the lyrics, please!

[dustyvalentino]

Don't ask me, I've no idea.

(That was pretty funny, actually)

[stratmad]

It's one of those songs with a hundred meanings, I guess.

The storyteller is playing chess, maybe at a hotel by the sea (cooks in the kitchen), while others are not involved in the game (the boys play cards), or they are not really interested in it, because they (usually) play cards, not chess.
Then he becomes aware that it would take just a small thing, an accident or whatever for his whole perfect litttle world to collapse, and he could do nothing at all about it.

So, literally, the mouse that trips the wire would upset the chessboard and stop the game.
Metaphorically, it's the storyteller's life, and our own lives that could be upset by some small incident. And of course you can take this idea further and expand it to the world as a whole.

The only thing that doesn't fit is the last line! "But the truth will finish first." That means "the truth will win" (finish first as in horse racing), right? Which means "Lies and Fake News" will lose. And somebody "rich and smart", in his "noble house", "his golden chair", "won't be going anywhere", because he'll "be trapped" and roasted alive amongst his "works of art".
Now, let's all guess who that may be.   

[Rail King]

Don't ask me, I've no idea.

(That was pretty funny, actually)

Oh, it was! 

[Rail King]

It's one of those songs with a hundred meanings, I guess.

The storyteller is playing chess, maybe at a hotel by the sea (cooks in the kitchen), while others are not involved in the game (the boys play cards), or they are not really interested in it, because they (usually) play cards, not chess.
Then he becomes aware that it would take just a small thing, an accident or whatever for his whole perfect litttle world to collapse, and he could do nothing at all about it.

So, literally, the mouse that trips the wire would upset the chessboard and stop the game.
Metaphorically, it's the storyteller's life, and our own lives that could be upset by some small incident. And of course you can take this idea further and expand it to the world as a whole.

The only thing that doesn't fit is the last line! "But the truth will finish first." That means "the truth will win" (finish first as in horse racing), right? Which means "Lies and Fake News" will lose. And somebody "rich and smart", in his "noble house", "his golden chair", "won't be going anywhere", because he'll "be trapped" and roasted alive amongst his "works of art".
Now, let's all guess who that may be.   

So you think the storyteller is talking about himself and his life all the time? Interesting. I didn't think that for a second (although of course you could be perfectly right). I kind of had the impression that somebody poor(er) than that rich bastard, maybe a maltreated employee, was planning his revenge, planning to set that noble house on fire. But why exactly, or how, I have no idea. "It's a mistery to me ..."

[Robson]

"Now, let's all guess who that may be"

Did you know?

[stratmad]

"Now, let's all guess who that may be"

Did you know?

I think so. If you read it as a political song, anyway, which I think it is.
Then it all points in one direction.
All the "boys" play cards, but one "strong man" plays chess, the game of emperors, which is all about winning. He sits in a palace by the sea, in a golden chair, he is rich and smart, and he is moving his pawns and knights across the global chessboard, sacrificing a few on the way because he wants to win, even if that means setting the world on fire.
There are not many that fit the description...

So you think the storyteller is talking about himself and his life all the time? Interesting. I didn't think that for a second (although of course you could be perfectly right). I kind of had the impression that somebody poor(er) than that rich bastard, maybe a maltreated employee, was planning his revenge, planning to set that noble house on fire. But why exactly, or how, I have no idea. "It's a mistery to me ..."

That's the image we get at the beginning, but it's very unlikely that he is talking about himself or people in general. I thought about the revenge thing, too, someone must be very angry.
But it's really the last lines that change the whole picture. The line about truth (and the underlying contrary of fake news and lies) and the chess image itself, which is often used as a metaphor for political "power play".