Your Latest Trick Lyrics

Lyric discussion by BobHyland 

Cover art for Your Latest Trick lyrics by Dire Straits

@rikdad I think you nailed it. She's not a hooker, but to him she acted just like one by the way she stole his heart.

A couple other notes:

  • This is her latest trick... meaning that she's done this before. There is perhaps an undercurrent of self-loathing in the sense of "How stupid am I to let her do this to me again?"
  • This song is full of musical imagery:

"You played robbery with insolence And I played the blues in twelve bars down Lover's Lane"

-- He's sad / bemoaning this situation, so he plays The Blues about Lover's Lane -- ...in twelve bars - 12 bar blues is the most famous / common blues progression

"And you never did have the intelligence to use The twelve keys hanging off from my chain"

-- The insult says that if she had been smart, she could have taken much more. -- The twelve keys - there are exactly 12 musical keys that music can be played in -- Hanging off of my chain - he is shackled to the life of a musician

  • The last segment is a reflection on the situation:

"Now it's past last call for alcohol Past recall has been here and gone The landlord he finally paid us all The satin jazzmen have put away their horns"

  • After last call, the customers leave and the band waits to get paid (by the landlord). Past recall are his reflections while performing; a musician leaves a part of himself and his experiences behind on the stage with each performance. He characterizes the band as 'the satin jazzmen' who are now finished for the night.

  • His imagery finishes with a final, dual reflection on the situation: she's gone, and the music has ended ('there's nothing left')

"And we're standing outside of this wonderland Looking so bereaved and so bereft Like a bowery bum when he finally understands The bottle's empty and there's nothing left"

Song Meaning