The Man's Too Strong

There are a lot of guesses about a specific identity to the narrator and/or "The man." It can't be one person. I always thought it was clear that it was a personification of violent ideas and violent behavior… rather close to the idea of Ares / Mars in Greco-Roman mythology. The number of deeds he admits to and the various timelines that are implied couldn't possibly be one person in one lifetime. Drummer boys and burning books alone – to pick just two – are from entirely different centuries. Never known peace? Nobody's life in the century of burning books was surrounded entirely by war and never at peace. Silver and diamonds as currency – those are long since past. Nobody has ever done all of these things. Any specific person you guess will fail to match at least one of the attributes in the lyrics.

Is it the Devil, Satan, or evil in general? No, this is much more specific. He's not tempting people to do all sorts of wrong – this is war, the use of violence by large groups and nations. Sometimes "he" is doing large things with armies, sometimes stealing like a thief – things that armies have done throughout the centuries.

Obviously, the lyricist (Knopfler) is critical of this fictional warrior's activities, but will war ever end, and 'fade away"? No, the human inclination for war is too big, and too strong. That's the song's message. This song's narrator will never, unfortunately, fade away. It's too strong.