To me, this song is about you quintessential subway guitarist. Johnnys down in the tunnels trying to make it pay, just trying to get noticed. "Backbeat, the talkin' blues" suggests a blues song, which is spoken rather than sung, and only has a quiet, simple guitar beat, but deep, meaningful lyrics. "The Walk of Life" could have a few interpretations. One being that "Walk of Life" is this subway guitarists greatest song, and the keyboard bit played after ...Do the Walk of Life..." is a brief representation of this song. This seems appropriate when you take into account Dire Straits pentiant for working subtle redundancy into their songs, i.e. a song written about itself, or a song about a band who is, in many ways, Dire Straits themselves. Another interpretation is that the Walk of Life is the cycle this young guitarist is going through, waiting to be noticed. Waking up, hitting the tunnels, playing his thing, and going home.
To me, this song is about you quintessential subway guitarist. Johnnys down in the tunnels trying to make it pay, just trying to get noticed. "Backbeat, the talkin' blues" suggests a blues song, which is spoken rather than sung, and only has a quiet, simple guitar beat, but deep, meaningful lyrics. "The Walk of Life" could have a few interpretations. One being that "Walk of Life" is this subway guitarists greatest song, and the keyboard bit played after ...Do the Walk of Life..." is a brief representation of this song. This seems appropriate when you take into account Dire Straits pentiant for working subtle redundancy into their songs, i.e. a song written about itself, or a song about a band who is, in many ways, Dire Straits themselves. Another interpretation is that the Walk of Life is the cycle this young guitarist is going through, waiting to be noticed. Waking up, hitting the tunnels, playing his thing, and going home.