Walk of Life (Dire Straits song)

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"Walk of Life"

Single by Dire Straits
from the album Brothers in Arms
Released	1985
Genre	Rock
Length	04:12
Label	Vertigo
Writer(s)	Mark Knopfler
Chart positions
#7 (USA, Hot 100) #2 (UK Singles Chart)
Dire Straits singles chronology
"Brothers in Arms" (1985)	"Walk of Life" (1986)	"Your Latest Trick" (1986)

"Walk of Life" is a 1985 song by the British rock band Dire Straits. It appeared on their best-selling album Brothers in Arms. It subsequently appeared on their live album On the Night.

The song was nearly excluded from the album when the co-producer Neil Dorfsman voted against its inclusion, but the rest of the band out-voted him.

A simple rock 'n' roll rhythm is used, with chord changes limited to the famous I, IV and V chords. The lyrics reference oldies, including "Be-Bop-A-Lula" and "What'd I Say".

The music video for the song shown in the U.S. features sports bloopers intercut with footage of the band performing the song on a stage, while the UK video features a street musician wearing the same shirt as Mark Knopfler intercut with the band performing on a stage.

"Walk of Life" was the song played during the Space Shuttle Discovery crew wake-up call on STS-114 Flight Day 7.

The introduction to the song was also used for a time as the theme music for Test Match Special Cricket in the United Kingdom.

When the song was originally released, the band explained that a "walk of life" in the context of this song is a traditional journey taken by a storyteller in the countryside, in which he went from town to town telling stories, in the days before radio, television, and recording.^{[citation needed]}