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Everybody Pays Lyrics
I got shot off my horse
So what? I’m up again
And playing
In one of these
Big saloons on main
You can come up here
Take a look
Around these sinners’ dens
You’re only ever going to find
One or two real games
Nobody’s driving
Me underground
Not yet anyway
But either on the strip
Or on the edge of town
Everybody pays
Everybody pays to play
Yeah, you ought to stay
Right where you are
In sawdust land
It’s probably the
Safest place to be
With your
Greasy little pork pies
And your shoestring hands
It makes
No difference to me
All those directions
Which we never took
To go our different ways
Who went and wrote
The oldest story in the book?
Everybody pays
Everybody pays to play
Curl up inside
A boxcar dream
And disappear
With a couple
Low roller friends
You were never one
For trouble
So get out of here
I knew the game
Was dangerous back then
But nobody’s breezing
Through these swinging doors
Just ups and walks away
Everybody has to leave
Some blood here on the floor
Everybody pays
Everybody pays to play
So what? I’m up again
And playing
In one of these
Big saloons on main
You can come up here
Take a look
Around these sinners’ dens
You’re only ever going to find
One or two real games
Nobody’s driving
Me underground
Not yet anyway
But either on the strip
Or on the edge of town
Everybody pays
Everybody pays to play
Right where you are
In sawdust land
It’s probably the
Safest place to be
With your
Greasy little pork pies
And your shoestring hands
It makes
No difference to me
All those directions
Which we never took
To go our different ways
Who went and wrote
The oldest story in the book?
Everybody pays
Everybody pays to play
A boxcar dream
And disappear
With a couple
Low roller friends
You were never one
For trouble
So get out of here
I knew the game
Was dangerous back then
But nobody’s breezing
Through these swinging doors
Just ups and walks away
Everybody has to leave
Some blood here on the floor
Everybody pays
Everybody pays to play
Song Info
Submitted by
redmax On Oct 04, 2004
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This is a real gem.
It seems to be about the life of a card gambler and the cost that is exacted by such a life, whether in money at the table, a back alley beating afterward, or just simple lonliness.
My favorite stanza is the last. He seems to be telling a more respectable friend to stay away and not get entangled with his problems. "You were never one for trouble/so get outta here/I knew the game was dangerous back then" calls to mind an unlucky instance where the main character's debts catch up with him and he's in for some severe trouble, and he doesn't want his friend to get involved.
Very touching.
I have a different view! The meaning of the song is: no matter how successful or rich you are, eventually you have to suffer and one day you're surely gonna die (But either on the strip or on the edge of town, everybody pays). This song was written after a bike accident when he broke his shoulder, his collarbone and some ribs. There was some doubt if he would ever be able to play guitar again and he recovered fully (I got shot off my horse, So what? I'm up again and playing in one of these big saloons on main) and (Everybody has to leave some blood here on the floor). The accident makes him aware of his own mortality (Nobody's driving me underground. Not yet anyway). Actually, I think the gambling is only a metaphor for life!
@adao112376
I believe you are absolutely 100% correct, and very well expressed. Thanjs.
@adao112376
I believe you are absolutely 100% correct, and very well expressed. Thanjs.
Yes, Jonpalin I agree. It seems like he's warning an old friend for the dangers of gambling.
This song is about Frank Sinatra, who referred to himself as a "saloon singer". He had setbacks in his career but always bounced back. The attitude--contemptuous, confident, kind of nasty, aware of his gifts and willingness to take risks and do it "his way", are all Sinatra.
@deshack Interesting. Do you see the primary connection to Frank Sinatra as being the fact that both he and Mark Knopfler have "saloon" in their vocabulary? That seems like a stretch, but then I don't know much about Sinatra...
@deshack Interesting. Do you see the primary connection to Frank Sinatra as being the fact that both he and Mark Knopfler have "saloon" in their vocabulary? That seems like a stretch, but then I don't know much about Sinatra...
And then there's that curious line about "...With your greasy little pork pies and your shoestring hands..." Is that a Las Vegas or Sinatra reference? Don't get me wrong -- I love the many cynical snippets in this song, but don't ask me to explain it !!
And then there's that curious line about "...With your greasy little pork pies and your shoestring hands..." Is that a Las Vegas or Sinatra reference? Don't get me wrong -- I love the many cynical snippets in this song, but don't ask me to explain it !!
A year before this, Mark broke six ribs and a collarbone in a crash while riding his motorbike in London.
"I got shot off my horse, so what? I'm up again".
And he foresaw it in his Dire Straits days, in a song called News (Communique album)