You walk out on the high wire
 you're a dancer on thin ice
 you pay no heed to the danger
 and less to advice
 your footsteps are forbidden
 but with a knowledge of your sin
 you throw your love to all the strangers
 and caution to the wind

 And you go dancing through doorways
 just to see what you will find
 leaving nothing to interfere
 with the crazy balance of your mind
 and when you finally reappear
 at the place where you came in
 you've thrown your love to all the strangers
 and caution to the wind

 It takes love over gold
 and mind over matter
 to do what you do that you must
 when the things that you hold
 can fall and be shattered
 or run through your fingers like dust

Seeing the Suzzane Vega poem/song set me thinking about various artists whose work falls in the twilight zone between poetry and music. I am submitting a rather well known song by Dire Straits. I love the simplicity of their songs - straightforward (but meaningful) lyrics, hummable tunes, and above all the lovely voice and chords of Mark Knopfler. Dire Straits songs, in my opinion, fall into two categories - the racy rock songs like Sultans of Swing /Money for Nothing and the softer ones like Love Over Gold/Brothers In Arms. I think some of the latter songs come close to qualifying as poetry (or almost poetry with due apologies to all the purists).

This song expresses a beautiful sentiment.The essence of the human spirit is intense curiosity. The desire to explore, to experience, to understand is what sets us apart from other species and is resposible for our current state of affairs. (For better or for worse). :-) To really appreciate this song, of course, one has to listen to it.

There have been no previous postings of Dire Straits/Mark Knopfler on the Minstrels website so here is a short bio - Mark Knopfler, a singer, songwriter, guitarist formed the group in 1977. The group was immensely popular during the 70s and 80s. The distinctive feature of the group was the meaningful songs, excellent guitaring (which seems to be ‘singing’ along with Knopfler) and the gravelly voice of Knopfler. They have had many hit songs among which the best loved song is arguably ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Dire Straits disbanded in 1995 after which Knopfler has pursued a solo career.

Thanks
Sachin Desai.