It's a mystery to me
The game commences
For the usual fee
Plus expenses
Confidential information
It's in a diary
This is my investigation
It's not a public inquiry

I go checking out the reports
Digging up the dirt
You get to meet all sorts
In this line of work
Treachery and treason
There's always an excuse for it
And when I find the reason
I still can't get used to it

And what have you got
At the end of the day?
What have you got
To take away?
A bottle of whisky
And a new set of lies
Blinds on a window
And a pain behind the eyes

Scarred for life
No compensation
Private investigations


Lyrics submitted by Novartza

Private Investigations Lyrics as written by Mark Knopfler

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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Private Investigations song meanings
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    General Comment

    I don't think myimaginaryband is that far off; it feels like the singer is judging himself and his relations, the people who were important in his life but disappointed him. The gloomy perspective and the cynicism is apparent: treachery and treason will be the source of your hurtings.

    People tend to see what goes wrong in other people's relations, but when they manage to find out what went wrong in their own they might realize how little this information eases their pain. To me, the private investigator is someone who appears to be able to find out; I think he (she) is inspecting himself and his (ex) lover because he seems unusually touched at the end of his investigations, plus, it's his investigation. It also seems he's wiser, but resigned with the fact that his investigations did not help beyond that: scarred, no (other) compensation.

    In the end, the only mystery left is the why of treachery, but there's nothing usual at not being compensated. He is still investigating, because there are new lies, but at the moment he does not expect to get any wiser: only more disappointed because he knows the 'why' proofs predictable. It hurts, but that's life.

    JVon February 17, 2007   Link

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