Telegraph Road - What's the Meaning?

[rich_g85]

Just recently heard this song and think it's good. Now, I understand the first two verses but what's the meaning of the song overall?!

A long time ago came a man on a track
Walking thirty miles with a sack on his back
And he put down his load where he thought it was the best
He made a home in the wilderness
He built a cabin and a winter store
And he ploughed up the ground by the cold lake shore
And the other travellers came riding down the track
And they never went further and they never went back
Then came the churches then came the schools
Then came the lawyers then came the rules
Then came the trains and the trucks with their loads
And the dirty old track was the telegraph road

Then came the mines - then came the ore
Then there was the hard times then there was a war
Telegraph sang a song about the world outside
Telegraph road got so deep and so wide
Like a rolling river...

And my radio says tonight it's gonna freeze
People driving home from the factories
There's six lanes of traffic
Three lanes moving slow...

I used to like to go to work but they shut it down
I've got a right to go to work but there's no work here to be found
Yes and they say we're gonna have to pay what's owed
We're gonna have to reap from some seed that's been sowed
And the birds up on the wires and the telegraph poles
They can always fly away from this rain and this cold
You can hear them singing out their telegraph code
All the way down the telegraph road

You know I'd sooner forget but I remember those nights
When life was just a bet on a race between the lights
You had your head on my shoulder you had your hand in my hair
Now you act a little colder like you don't seem to care
But believe in me baby and I'll take you away
From out of this darkness and into the day
From these rivers of headlights these rivers of rain
From the anger that lives on the streets with these names
'cause I've run every red light on memory lane
I've seen desperation explode into flames
And I don't wanna see it again...

From all of these signs saying sorry but we're closed
All the way down the telegraph road

 

[MarcLister]

Thanks for reminding me to look up another song on wikipedia. I couldn't find anything about Telegraph Road there but there was a link to the Rolling Stone site (magazine not the band) review of the album Love Over Gold from which Telegraph Road is taken.

From what I could make out the song is about America and the building of that country:

"the song's historic sweep and intimate tension–the building of America and the dashing of one man's dreams in the wake of its accelerating crumble" taken from the Rolling Stone review of the album.

 

[KPeh]

I know Mark Knopfler is British, but it reminds me very much of a National Geographic Article concerning how a lot of old and small 'upstart' towns in America (set up for say mining or agriculture in the 19th C) were becoming desolate, for either mines had run out of resources, or more often whatever the produce was, just wasn't profitable enough - so people moved to the cities for work. I know this could happen anywhere, but it was/is of particularly large scale in America, and I don't think tracks, cabins and wilderness really describes the UK too well.

The last verse (second to last) is slightly different, for it seems to be talking about two persons in love etc rather than soley the development of a town, but the theme is nevertheless the same: "From these rivers of headlights these rivers of rain" - of prosperity to collapse.

Now this is reading it quite literally.. There might be more to it than this, but I'm no English lit student.

 

[v0n]

Every time I hear this song I immediately see Detroit. I see young people who spent their youth in late sixties in golden era of American Dream, with neons, glitter and chrome, spending their evenings between greasing their hair, street racings and cruising down to cofee bars full of Fonzies. Then comes the end of industrial age. Once the capital of motorized world, today there's no work, no future, just ruins:

 

[rich_g85]

Yep, I can see it now - the founding of a town, the prosperity and success which it brings followed by the decline and 'bust'...

It's a very emotive song, and Knopfler really paints a very vivid picture through some excellent 'musical imagery'.

 

[lee32uk]

my fav dire straits song absolutely brilliant

 

[Vandle]

There is a boozer behind the station in Newcastle called the Telegraph.
Its a great pub but with pretty much nothing around it.
Theres a long road that runs under the trainlines that leads straight to the front door of the pub.
Getting to the pub is almost the sole reason for using that road.

Check out the pub review from the link in my sig.

 

[Pinkeyes]

my fav dire straits song absolutely brilliant

and good value for money on a jukebox due to it being really long