The one songwriter who means everything to Mark Knopfler: “The most important”
To become a rock musician is not to lose your inspirations. Though some bands would profess to the contrary, that their sound is unique and wholly their own, every single rock artist can trace their musical heritage back for decades, even Mark Knopfler.
Knopfler should be more routinely considered one of British rock’s best performers. The man behind Dire Straits certainly has enough record sales under his belt to achieve such a moniker, but his songwriting chops are often forgotten alongside his imperious guitar skills. It was those skills that allowed him to work with his hero.
Bob Dylan is undoubtedly one of the most important songwriters of all time, if not the most important songwriter of all time. Penning pieces of protest and poetry accompanied by blues and folk instrumentation, he has won over audiences and fellow artists over the course of his six-decade career. One of his most devoted fans is Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler, who turned his admiration for Dylan into collaboration.
While Knopfler was growing up in the northeast, he delved into a range of musical styles, from the rock and roll of Elvis Presley to the jazz stylings of Django Reinhardt, but one songwriter became more important to him than most. Like many budding musicians, a young Knopfler was particularly stunned by Dylan’s creations.
Recalling the significance of Dylan to him as a pre-teen during a conversation with SiriusXM, the Dire Straits guitarist began, “The most important songwriter for me growing up was Bob Dylan. From the age of 12 onwards, really…” Over 60 years later, his admiration and appreciation for the folk songwriter is unwavering, as he admits, “It hasn’t changed that much.”
Though Knopfler would go on to create his own music in the rock sphere rather than folk, Dylan’s influence can always be found across genres and generations. Knopfler even managed to turn his childhood awe for Dylan into a working relationship with the songwriter, as they teamed up for ‘Blind Willie McTell’.
Recorded in 1983 but only released eight years later on the first of Dylan’s beloved Bootleg Series volumes, ‘Blind Willie McTell’ is an ode to the blues singer with a penchant for 12-strings. Fittingly, Knopfler took up the instrument in the recording of the piece, as well as taking on a producer role.
“We ended up doing that song in the studio, and this is Bob on a piano and doing a version,” he recalled, “and yours truly on a 12-string guitar, and that’s all it was. That’s a fantastic song, Bob, and what an honour to be part of it. ‘Blind Willie McTell’, studio outtake from 1983.”
Though it was just an outtake in Dylan’s mammoth catalogue, it served as yet another example of his mastery of songwriting. It also provided Knopfler with the opportunity to live out a childhood dream to work with the artist he, and many others, believe to be the most important songwriter of all time.
Listen to ‘Blind Willie McTell’ below.
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