When Mark Knopfler drafted in Jeff Beck to play “the world’s second-ugliest guitar solo”
Outside of his contributions to Dire Straits as the band’s principal songwriter, Mark Knopfler is still a highly regarded composer and guitarist who has an Academy Award nod to his name, has written for several other stars and collaborated with countless other notable musicians on adventurous projects. An incredibly versatile player, the Northumbrian musician is rightfully celebrated for his musical output, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s proud of all of his own work.
Not every one of his collaborations has gone exactly to plan, and while it might sometimes be hard to pass up an opportunity to work alongside some of the biggest names in music, often these meetings of minds can come back to haunt those involved due to how misguided their decision to work together came to be.
In 1982, Knopfler wrote a song that was originally intended to be for Dire Straits’ fourth studio album, Love Over Gold, but after realising that something didn’t quite fit with the band’s style, the guitarist decided that it would perhaps work better with a female voice singing the lyrics he had penned. Some elements were still worked into the album’s title track, but the original composition eventually found its way into the hands of Tina Turner, who was intrigued by the unusual subject matter of the song being ostensibly sung from the perspective of a sex worker.
When Turner came to record ‘Private Dancer’, as it was known by then, in 1984, Knopfler was not only recruited to make slight tweaks to the song he’d written, but was also hired as a musician to perform on the song. Given that he was being asked to lay down a track with an artist considered pop royalty and eager to make a commercial comeback after a few years in the darkness, the guitarist saw fit to draft in a number of other talented musicians to work on the track.
While bringing in someone with the credentials of Jeff Beck might be seen as a smart and foolproof move, it wasn’t exactly what one might call his finest performance. Not everyone can be on top form at all times, but between the two of them, Knopfler couldn’t write a solo befitting of Beck’s greatness, and Beck certainly couldn’t salvage the uninspired one that was given to him for an already languid song.
Knopfler addressed his shortcomings in an interview with New Zealand publication Stuff in 2009, and stated that he believed the song was essentially ruined by the choice of “drafting in Jeff Beck to play the world’s second-ugliest guitar solo”. Repetitive and sluggish, it doesn’t exactly display why Beck is so revered as a guitarist, and also doesn’t paint Knopfler’s songwriting talents in the best light either. While the track was a top ten hit in America, it wasn’t the shining comeback that Turner had been after either, rendering the whole thing somewhat of an all-around disappointment.
Knopfler was understandably underwhelmed with the outcome; nevertheless, he clearly also thought there was unfinished business to see through with ‘Private Dancer’, and declared in the same interview that he’d tinkered with the track since. “There is a version I worked up,” he revealed, “It’s slower, moodier, more reflective. A quiet portrait, but I don’t think people need to hear that now.” While he may have missed the boat with releasing this alternate version to the world, we’re unfortunately left with the uninspired cut that shows off Beck’s dubious honour of having not quite performed the worst guitar solo ever, and I’m sure that it’s not one he’d have looked back on fondly either.
