1985 · Behind the Songs
The almost-reject that walked into the top 10.
“Walk of Life” nearly didn’t make Brothers in Arms at all. Mark Knopfler wanted it left off the album, and legend has it he was outvoted by the rest of the band and co-producer Neil Dorfsman. It went on to become one of the album’s biggest hits — proof, if any were needed, that the singer doesn’t always know best.
The song’s engine is Alan Clark’s bouncing organ riff, all fairground cheer, and its hero is Johnny, a street singer playing oldies in the underground for spare change. Where much of Brothers in Arms is polished and weighty, “Walk of Life” is pure daylight: a busker’s anthem about the joy of playing.
Released as a single in late 1985, it reached number 7 in America and number 2 in Britain. Its video — a cheerful compilation of sports bloopers — made it an MTV favorite and fixed the song in the memory of anyone who watched television that year.
Sequenced between the album’s heavier moments, “Walk of Life” is the deep breath in the middle of Brothers in Arms — three minutes of uncomplicated happiness from a band not known for it.