All language subtitles for In Conversation With Mark Knopfler - 19th Jan 2024 _ Christie_s Guitar Auction-en

thanks uh Mark welcome thank you very

much Paul good to see you again to see I

think we should say big well done to

Christies because look this room looks

fantastic well done to

Christies

yeah you've uh you've done this before I

have

yeah so did you what I'm curious to know

is did you take some persuading to go

ahead with this project or did you do it

will did you come willingly to give away

so many of the colle I came quietly I

think that you know that uh I had I mean

I've had to go on asking myself

questions right up

till now till today and I actually when

I came in because I'd never been

in uh when I came in this afternoon I

must admit a couple of the things that I

saw did make me gulp a little bit but um

and uh you know I'm going to wish that I

was taking them home with me but at the

same time I'm happy it's a kind of a

happy pain

because you know that they'll go to

people who

hopefully uh will will will have new

friends you know we'll make new

relationships with them and uh I

remember Chad Atkins telling me you know

you get a guitar Mark a guitar as your

friend for life and um he'll be your

best friend I wasn't really thinking so

much at the time but I've had plenty of

time to think about that since and and

it is you know it's a

wonderful companion to you and I'm sure

a lot of you will know that already

would you talk about them like people

that they are sort of like members of

the extended family aren't they yeah

well you know anybody that's uh being

unfortunate enough to work in the studio

with me will know that you're looking

for

characters for songs you're looking for

a voice in the song they all have a

different voice you know

so that's just the funny thing about it

they they don't conform

to what you'd think you'd just think

what is this just two bits of wood isn't

it and and the guitarists in here will

know very very very well that it's just

not the way it plays at all yeah that

their characters and there will be a

song that answers you know for them for

just for that one thing and I was

looking at a one of

them it was a a blue Echo 300 that you

know and and it just C covered in

Sparkle and it looks more like something

you'd find at a kids party or something

You' get out of a swizzle

stick and uh but that was song for Sunny

Liston it had the song written all over

it and when I played the song on that

instrument it worked and you know I mean

I would do it on a Les pool or different

guitars or different nights but on at

the time when we were doing the record

that that was the that was the guitar

for for it it's a character it's like

finding a character for

for a play you know it's the same it's

the same thing and and it's like casting

yeah people for a for a song casting

musicians for for for a song I mean I

remember when I wrote a thing called

Sailing to

Philadelphia I suddenly heard James

Taylor singing the other guy and poor

old

James you know he he didn't he didn't

ask for that

and he didn't mind it though I happen to

know that he didn't mind he did great so

you are sort of casting the guitar

aren't you so does the song Always exist

first before you start thinking about

casting the guitar or does the sometimes

their way around and the guitar yeah

well you get to know your instrument

Paul you get to know it you know you

play it so much that you think ah this

is a job for a

1954 Fender Stratocaster with thick

strings and a tremolo arm can you really

hear it you can really hear it in in

your head yeah except that it could also

be a Gretch 6120 from

1957 and and I'm serious it could be one

of those two guitars and people who have

studied this stuff for whatever

godforsaken reason will know what I'm

talking about yeah but you can really

cast call those to mind the individual

tones of yeah the guar in fact the 6120

for for the train

spotters uh the shads did actually use a

6120 for some of their records and and

it was indistinguishable from the fender

actually at the time because they're

very similar pickups and in

1957 the the Gretch filtertron pickups

they changed

them and so I won't even look at a 6920

after 1950

so I'm glad you mentioned the shars

because in in many ways this is all Hank

Marvin's fault isn't it everything we're

looking at here that's where it starts

for you isn't it a lot of it is it's all

the always you can find a Jordy to blame

for quite a lot of things yeah but you

told me the story many times about you

know how the first guitar had to be a

red Strat you wanted it to be a red

Strat because of Hank Marin so Shadows

come along made an huge impression on

you and then then you start looking at

these things in the in the local guitar

shop window yeah oh yeah and uh all the

you know all the cliches nose nose up

against the glass and when I first

actually managed to pick pluck up the

courage to take uh pick a guitar down

from the wall I can still see my hand

reaching up tentatively to take down

this Spanish guitar from the wall and

there were a couple of Jordie boys

working in the shop and one of them said

as I was lowering in it carefully down

he said you drop that I'll drop

you learning on tin side you know it's

yeah it's it didn't poop me off no um

and that started the whole thing didn't

it that that day really started the I I

didn't but actually Paul I didn't even

know how to hold a guitar I didn't even

know what to do with it I didn't even

know I hardly even knew the difference

between left hand and right hand and

uh what to I just needed to be in touch

with the thing and there were some Lads

making them in the W woodwork room I'm

making solid body guitars in the

Woodwork room when I was at school and I

would just go down there just to be able

to to get a chance just to hold a body

you know to hold a to hold a fender

shaped body or something like that it it

yeah it's uh it's not probably not very

healthy looked at you know um over the

years uh I don't know what if there's

any psychologists here who who could

help could help

me the first guitar you owned was not a

strat was it it was your dad kind of

stepped up yeah it was a copy it was a

hofner copy of 50 Quid which was a big

stretch room um those days and I think

those days it was probably the

equivalent of about a thousand now now

you know and I didn't know what to do

with it and I didn't have the nerve to

ask poor old dad for an amplifier

because being a stretch for the guitar

so I I blew up the

radio in short order yeah and then I was

B borrowing friends Acoustics you know

and and they were very often pretty

rough acoustics with high action which

means the strings were a long way from

the finger board but I learned how to

play him somehow a finger pick uh that

you all know like a clammer finger pick

was taught to me by a folk singer in

North umberland who was my Pal's big

sister's boyfriend Joe Davidson was his

name and he taught me my only guitar

lesson was was that to to do that finger

pick that was it the only Le guol you

ever had well the other one was my

sister who suggested that I hold it the

other way around see she said you know

that's that's the way people play it cuz

cuz I'm left-handed so she I was

actually playing a tennis racket and she

switched it round and said you play it

like that and so she made me a

right-handed guitar player on a tennis

racket um and I'm glad that she did

because I had quite a strong leftand

in and um uh so I could could do those

things where it could take three strings

and strangle them you know do things

with them it give you extra dexterity

perhaps yeah here and there and that

might have helped I think I think doing

everything wrong being a guitar

teacher's

nightmare has advantages you know um you

know that you just find your own answers

yeah I've always as my old Headmaster

said gone my own way

in spite yes of all good advice yeah

yeah yeah I mean you used to get in

trouble at school for not paying

attention sort of playing guitar runs on

the I'd be the one

going and no you stop making that

horrible metallic sound with the back of

your voice back of your throat boy what

is

that and um rock and roll

sir

get out

yes funny enough though when you came to

performing for the first time as you

sort of hinted at before you kind of

went down the folk route didn't you

first well it was economic I couldn't

afford an I was just happy to be playing

you know and and and of course I was

exposed to everything I was exposed to

to everything from Bob Dylan Joan bz to

all the way through through the folk eel

um you know and lots and lots of stuff

with playing electric and Acoustics so

do you know advancing on that double

front was a big Advantage I think and I

didn't see it that way at the time I

just was cuz you know kids are always

frustrated yeah always you know anxious

to get going and get moving and get out

of my way but it's a good thing that I I

had that little

aspect the frustration is important well

I know you you have always said how

grateful you were for the fact that when

Straits made it when D States made it

big you'd you'd had that education that

long period you know you were a little

old this is one of the ways in which the

business has changed so much isn't it

you know you've done all those years of

the hard the 10,000 hours or whatever

you would call it you know yeah um so

you're more prepared for it perhaps well

I I think it's different nowadays as a

friend of mine and the record company in

America was telling me he was showing a

Young Band the singer of a Young Band

that they'd

signed you know his first tour he said

there's your first tour he said it's 29

shows and the kid goes 29 shows he said

I didn't get into this to

work and you know John and I had done

250 shows that year I think yeah that's

right um so there was a different

philosophy

y now I think there is a bit of a

different philosophy yeah all these

early years I mean would you say that

you became a a sort of bit of a guitar

connoisseur quite quite early on were

you studying you know all the different

possibilities yeah kids are horrible

snobs and we obviously lusted after the

The Grail The Grail objects the Holy

Grail objects with Fender strats and the

Gibson L Pauls and you know you you you

learn a bit more as you go on and you

start specializing and branching off

here and there and people bring you

instruments and uh introduce you to

instruments and you hear

instruments and uh thankfully um the

success meant that I could could go and

buy a couple of them but it wasn't for a

long time I mean our first royalty check

I I need John to remind me

but 18 months months before we got

anything wasn't it we were number one

all over the world but we were living in

a council

flat and um well there's now a plaque on

the wall is but John had sorted the

meter at

least um for D Straits we were

rehearsing in the council flat and we we

had underlay on the walls uh whatever we

thought that was going to

do but the neighbors were surprisingly

kind and patient and uh we somehow got

from A to B so I'm sure a lot of people

will want me to ask you in relation to

this lovely exhibition how you went

about choosing which ones you were going

to let go of I me this feels like it

must have been a very long process was

it not yeah I've got a couple that I'm

regretting second thoughts everybody you

know when we said hello earlier on you

said I'm here to say goodbye to some

friends it's quite emotional isn't it

yes uh the the ones you know you're

saying goodbye and you've already made

your peace with the fact that that

that'll it'll be gone that's all right

and when you're playing the the the hits

you know in the set and the ones that

people are looking forward to there are

particular guitars that you have to you

kind of do you kind of have to just like

there are

particular I hate to say it but there

are particular notes that you have to um

um because I don't you know I'll have

remembered starting wrting say Brothers

NES and you know how it you know how it

starts

it it goes like

this

right

so 1 2 3 four those four notes I will

have tried it hundreds of times on stage

to play something

else

and

failed each

time so what I would end up doing was

play those notes so that everybody would

know cuz as soon as you do that well

it's yours now you be careful with

that You' you know as soon as you played

those notes you everybody ah they know

where they are and it doesn't matter and

then I realized

after a little bit that I could then

start to improvise and maybe play

something else but not those three if

it's not those notes if I'd started

with

yeah it it's not

it you know and so you start to realize

that the F the the improvised bit that

gave you the song the version of the

song in the first place has become part

of the furniture of the thing and it's

become and you know that's become

important part of people in people's

minds it's the same thing with with

Sultans isn't it as You' often said when

you get to that bit and everyone knows

the bit I'm talking about near the end

of The Motif um you know I've tried

believe

me yeah and I remember once I got home

and said I something was weird about Sal

tonight Kitty said did you do your

twiddly

bits I said no she said well there you

are then yeah and if you don't play it

then people have come out spent money

parked cars bought

[Laughter]

sandwiches and you realize of course you

know people have given something back to

what they love you know they love and

that's why they're they're there to

celebrate and it's the performance is a

important celebration it's a mutual

thing of coming together with

the people that want to be there when

you're playing it for them and you try

and make you try and you try and give it

something else as well of course you

it's another reality so so I'm very

conscious when I'm when I would be

starting Brothers nums this is the

reason why people are here you know that

that's one of the reasons why so it

better be bloody good yeah yeah and it's

also about recreating not just playing

the song and doing it the way people are

expecting but it's recreating the actual

tone isn't it of the yeah of the record

um or at least I mean often thinking

about the same whichever guitar you

played on the recording no it's not

about it's not about the recording it

starts to become something

else apart from the recording and

actually when you hear the recording

when you've been on tour for a you know

for it seems like a year yeah and you

hear the the record you go oh my God it

sounds a bit straight yeah it it's so it

does become something else so that's the

ongoing thing is keep it fresh yeah find

something in it that's real yeah yeah

and that's all that we tried to do do

you ever hear an old track of yours back

and think in terms of the the choice of

guitar do you ever go actually maybe

that wasn't the right one yeah oh God

yeah and the

keys all sorts of horrible things that

you don't want to know

about no yes we do we oh I mean I

remember there's a song called why worry

I know we used to call it why bother

and it was just too damn high for me you

know so you make those mistakes but you

make them in public you know and then

you just get so you you've just got to

quit worrying about it and get on with

it that's it yeah um you got a new album

on the way um more details to come on

that you know not not too far away but

it's wonderful record I've heard it

already are there new guitars on that

album are have you relied on some old

friends or is it a mixture yeah there a

there is a new acoustic guitar maker in

Oregon

um called uh B Boswell Arthur Boswell

and and uh I bought a couple of them

already and you know I've got there

already thanks to again to Rudy my

friend Rudy in New York who you all know

about and he goes Marcus I hear this

amazing guitar you got to I got I but I

get you one and um that's

Rudy and

uh and uh you got to hear this guitar

man so um yeah so B bosswell who was

Rudy's repair man for a long time he was

doing his 10,000 hours yeah doing that

and now he can make them he makes

beautiful beautiful guitars so I just

suited me and I found one little guitar

in that lot that ended up being on four

or five songs on the new album yeah so

yes the same thing starts happening yeah

you know things worm their way into

the you know they just end up in the

garage and being used yeah yeah so

you're still building the collection

really aren you yeah exactly that Rudy

wanted to come over he he he wanted to

bring me a

guitar and you know I've got a picture

of it on my phone and blue blue guitar

that sums it all up and he wanted to

bring it because he was excited about it

and and I've got a new one from new

Boswell as well the other day and I was

showing it to one of the kids the other

day and getting excited about it all

again so yeah it just that doesn't stop

no it's just renewing itself all the

time isn't the whole thing you must be

very curious to know what's going to

happen on on the day of the auction I'll

be fine you know H I'll be fine I'll be

fine turning to therapy is therapy

session I know but there there are some

real Beauties in there you know there

are some real crackers yeah yeah oh tell

me a story about this one we had a

specific thing or two about this lovely

lovely Beast here that was Mandela and I

remember um going

out uh as we were going out to get on

the stage age I remember somebody saying

there's over 650 million people watching

this it was Food For Thought yes that is

a crowd like that makes you think yeah

but then you were Veterans of live by

then so you know well yes we were sort

of used to it I I suppose and the the

funny thing about live a is we were

doing a kind of a residency at Wembley

pool at the yeah the um Arena the

arena and I don't know how many gigs we

were doing

there 20 or so and all we had to do was

cross the car park and do the Let Live a

yeah yeah so we just walked across the

car park did live a walked back and did

the gig at the uh the arena yeah yeah

two gcks in one day well in those

Stadium years and I know you're much

happier now in playing smaller places

aren't you generally but were there

certain guitars that you you would the a

fit a bigger Stadium setting I mean is

that part of the consider no I think it

would be the same the just the right

thing for the song yeah it's the right

thing for the song all all the time you

know it's whatever it is you don't need

too many you don't need certainly don't

need as many as I've been using

[Music]

um on a gig I might go get through

uh six or seven guitars

the reason why the penil Rudy the

Rudy came along was because I was

looking to find a way of using less

guitars on the set so I could get a

powerful sound that thick pickup you see

by the bridge and that's a humbucking

really powerful pickup and the single

pole pickups in front was more like

Fender

pickups and um I was just trying to get

more sounds out of one instrument so I

didn't have to keep jumping around

and um and some of the nicest sounds you

get are the Blends between the the

pickups at the back of the where the

where the bridge is the harder sounds

and and the ones at the front end which

are softer more pillowy and you can get

tones between them but then I found out

that you can get a lot of different

sounds from alz Paul too and know if you

know if you can be bothered which I

couldn't for a long time but if you can

be bothered to learn how the volume

controls actually

work together and and the tone controls

actually work that you can actually get

some proper effects out of the guitar

and get it to the guitar to work for you

a little bit but better instead of just

turning everything full on which was my

speciality um there's a much better way

that you can work with a Les pool yeah

and I had to learn that um and probably

you know my old guitar Tex would be

sitting there thinking now he tells us M

you know I mean I know Ron I know just

leave it I'm I'm buying yeah um no I no

you know it it's a very slow learning

process and and I didn't I didn't have

the money for a good L bow for a long

time and you know uh so it it was slow

it was slow but that was the main perk

of success for you wasn't it the ability

to to start owning some of these things

you'd been um fantasizing about for so

long yeah it it's really exciting to get

to know them that way yeah you know and

to to have had the chance so I didn't

know what all the fuss was about until I

saw what all the fuss was about um and

it's a endlessly

fascinating thing to be part of of it

goes on goes on mystery goes on yeah

Mark it's lovely to see you I just want

to let everybody know about the

exhibition which is here at Christies in

King Street until the 30th of January um

so please do enjoy having a look around

and tell your friends have come and have

a look come around yeah uh the auction

is in this room 1 p.m. 31st of January

uh and it's going to be live streamed on

christies.com and on YouTube as well um

I think All That Remains is to ask

everyone to join me and say great big

thank you to mark very much

thank