Dire Straits - Private Investigations

Private Investigations Lyric

Its a mystery to me
The game commences
For the usual fee
Plus expenses
Confidential information
Its in a diary
This is my investigation
Its not a public inquiry

I go checking out the report
Digging up the dirt
You get to meet all sorts
In the line of work
Treachery and treason
Theres always an excuse for it
And when I find the reason
I still cant get used to it

And what have you got at the end of the day ?
What have you got to take away ?
A bottle of whisky and a new set of lies
Blinds on the window and a pain behind the eyes

Scarred for life
No compensation
Private investigations

Song Notes : "Dire Straits exploded onto the UK music scene in 1978 with the single "Sultans Of Swing" and a unique guitar style from frontman and songwriter Mark Knopfler. Four years later they released a single in an entirely different style. "Private Investigations" begins with a lengthy acoustic introduction; the words are spoken, whispered, rather than sung"

"In Michael Oldfield's illustrated history of the band to date - published in 1984 - Knopfler said the song was sparked off by something he'd read about Philip Marlowe, adding "You hear different interpretations of it, but to me it's deliberately movie." Philip Marlowe was the private detective created by the American novelist Raymond Chandler. The Marlowe novels could have been tailor made for film noir, a style of cinema that evolved in the United States after the Second World War, low budget gangster films and such made in black and white and portraying the underside of the American dream. Marlowe found his way onto both the big screen and TV."Private Investigations" captures the genré more than any other song, including contemporary songs. If it had been written thirty years earlier it would almost certainly have won an Oscar for a film noir soundtrack"