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Home » Telegraph Road: what happened to America

Telegraph Road: what happened to America

The New Neo Posted on by

Mark Knopfler is British. But “Telegraph Road” is his song about the history of America – in particular, the city of Detroit, but certainly more than that:

A long time ago came a man on a track
Walking thirty miles with a sack on his back
And he put down his load where he thought it was the best
Made a home in the wilderness
He built a cabin and a winter store
And he plowed up the ground by the cold lake shore
And the other travelers came walking down the track
And they never went further, no, they never went back
Then came the churches then came the schools
Then came the lawyers then came the rules
Then came the trains and the trucks with their loads
And the dirty old track was the telegraph road

Then came the mines – then came the ore
Then there was the hard times then there was a war
Telegraph sang a song about the world outside…

Here’s the young Knopfler singing and playing the song with his band Dire Straits on tour during its heyday, 1983. There are some especially poignant parts for me right now, in particular the passage from 8:18 to 8:27 in which Knopfler sings:

I’ve seen desperation explode into flames
And I don’t want to see it again…
…all of these signs saying sorry but we’re closed…

In years past I’d sing along with the song, thinking of the riots of the 60s and 70s, and when I got to the line “I don’t want to see it again!” I’d sing that even louder than the rest. Now, of course – I have seen it again, only now I don’t think “desperation” is as good a characterization of the motive for most of today’s arsonists, looters, and rioters – unless you consider being fed lies, and being part of a culture that has lost much of its guidance and morality, leads to a different sort of desperation.

Perhaps it does.

Anyway, here’s Knopfler and the group in 1983:

And speaking of poignant, here’s Knopfler performing the same song over thirty years later, in 2015. The voice is a lot more gruff and shaky, and the words less distinct, but the guitar is still crystal clear and ringingly sweet (two guitars actually, he changes guitars at around 5:12):

Comments

Telegraph Road: what happened to America — 37 Comments

  2. “Telegraph Road” was my road song when I drove cross-country from Boston to Los Angeles seeking my fortune in California.

    I can’t hear it today without remembering those months when I was a wee lad of 31.

    Four years ago I left San Francisco to travel east and find a new home. LA, Tucson, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos, Arkansas, Atlanta and back to Albuquerque. Four years of staying in cheap hotels and crummy, dark apartments. I listened to “Telegraph Road” more than a few times.

    However, I now have a new home, a few blocks from UNM on a tree-lined street (very rare in Abq). It closed yesterday and I’m mostly moved in. It’s time to set down some new roots.

  3. As far as I can tell, this is the first time I have heard the song, though I am familiar w Sultans of Swing. Good song.The last 2 minutes of guitar remind me of While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

    While I did go to Altamont, that’s about the only rock concert I have gone to- many more Newport Jazz Festival concerts in RI and in NYC. Though did go many times to a local club that was mostly rock.

  6. “Telegraph Road” shows up a lot in my random YouTube mixes (because I listen to it a lot). Those two versions displayed above are two of my favorites, and, IMO, two of the best.

    Huxley: I offer my congrats as well.

  7. I live in Fairfax, VA and we also have a telegraph road. The road follows the original telegraph line that was one of the first telegraph lines in the world. it was part of the Washington-New Orleans telegraph company line which was built from Washington DC to Petersburg, VA in 1847. That was how the road got its name.

  8. neo & Pete: Thanks!

    This afternoon I discovered an additional bonus — the best deli in Abq is three blocks from my house. I got a more than decent Reuben plus a swell pickle.

    I didn’t live over 40 years in Boston and San Francisco without learning about delis and their place in the Good Life.

  9. There have been many efforts at the long rock song, but “Telegraph Road” is among the most successful.

    I’d say TR is the most cinematic rock song ever written.

  10. Should probably mention that Detroit is NOT burning in 2020.

    (Wonder why that might be….)

  11. Barry, I’m genuinely curious, why? Democrat Mayor. Democrat Governor. Hmm. I really don’t know.

  12. Congratulations, Huxley. May it be a solace and a joy.
    I grew up in a town that had two major parallel arteries, one was Telegraph Road and the other was Telephone Road.
    Who’s bright idea was that?
    None of the townsfolk had any problem actually getting around but giving directions was bloody hell.

  13. There have been incidents and some violence but memories of the 1967 riots that destroyed the city are still vivid.
    It also may have to do with the fact that central Detroit, after decades of neglect, negligence and systematic top-down corruption is starting to come back due to entrepreneurs taking advantage of the low price of real estate (and other incentives) to begin the process of building up those neighborhoods over the past five (or more) years.
    https://www.bridgedetroit.com/detroit-under-curfew-after-george-floyd-protests-turn-violent/
    https://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/2020/07/20/opinion-dont-let-outsiders-hijack-protests-violence/5461462002/
    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/detroit-united-against-racism-divided-protesting-tactics-n1226536

  14. Grew up a mile from Telegraph Road in Redford Twp

    Never did rock do I’ve never heard this. I might say I grew up among it. Lots of good people trying and making it work. Until 67.

  15. I grew up a few miles east of Telegraph Rd, near the also-famous Eight Mile Road. Telegraph seemed like a mainly suburban road going from nowhere to nowhere, whereas Eight Mile was the boundary between the increasingly all-black city and white suburbs. Eight Mile Rd decayed into a strip of liquor stores, strip clubs, and gas stations. Telegraph Rd seemed to be a stable collection of restaurant and retail chains. No burning out there in ’67, but there was in my ‘hood. Never knew this song.

  16. This song speaks to me of how we can start something to be simple, free, and full of promise only to be left with something that morphs into complex, burdensome, and overbearing. This is one of my all time favorite songs from one of the best composers, guitarists, and singer of all time.

  17. This song appeared on the Love Over Gold lp. I saw the Love Over Gold tour in Tokyo in March 1983. Front row center.

    The band tanked after that but their first four albums were stellar.

  18. Jimmy, before I-75, if you went from Detroit south to Toledo and beyond, you took US-24.
    Telegraph Road.
    Or Jefferson/Dixie Highway which hugs the river/lake coast and is a slower route.

  19. Regardless of whether its tobacco road, telegraph rd, the down easter alexis, Allentown, etc… Its all about the same thing.. following the plan to cause a great divide between the wealthy and the poor (because there is no middle in socialism, there is only the top, and the bottom and no bridge between them but odd luck). this started with shipping jobs out which had many slice the salami facets… it included dumbing the kids in school.. included disenfranchising the rising kids with immigrants and h1b visas who are at work now, but those kids arent. it included bribing the african community with social programs to live subsistence over success. The taking over of publishing houses and others by foreign interests (starting with munzenberg the first limousine liberal)

    i of course could go on..

    but if you put it all together it becomes obvious that there was a plan being followed that would lead to people out of work, riots, their inability to reject conspiracy, their inability to compete in the world, their desire to be a victim, their inability to have children, and more…

    you all reap what you sow, and no one wanted to oppose any of these things and called those who saw it 40 years ago for what it was, as crazy, tin hatters, haters, and more…

    how long did we ignore communism as a fad? how long did we watch as the laws prohibiting it was removed? the teachers replaced with feminist ideologues who all were for communism even if they didn’t know it? did we ignore vpered and voorworts? the internationale? the che t-shirts? Did we stop paying for movie tickets from people who were pandering the ideology, or did we fear another ‘red’ scare and on and on..

    I was asked by neo 10 years ago how did i think it was going to turn out and i said we were going to lose… and gave good reasons for it. and they were right as to what would be unopposed, what would grow into crazy town, and more…

    how much longer before we seize homes and start building ovens? (camps?) and why would anyone think that this would not happen given the mob has already started on wanting property…

    “A collective insanity seemed to have seized the nation and turned them into something worse than beasts. The princess de Lamballe, Marie Antoinette’s intimate friend, was literally torn to pieces; her head, breasts, and pudenda were paraded on pikes before the windows of the Temple, where the royal family was imprisoned, while a man boasted drunkenly at a cafe that he had eaten the princess’ heart, which he probably had.”
    ? J. Christopher Herold, The Age of Napoleon

    “The cry ‘Liberty, equality, fraternity or death!’ was much in vogue during the Revolution. Liberty ended by covering France with prisons, equality by multiplying titles and decorations, and fraternity by dividing us. Death alone prevailed.”
    ? Louis de Bonald

    =====================================================

    “Rz?dy Terroru nie zadowalaj? si? “?ledzeniem z?ych poczyna?, odstraszaniem od nich, wymierzaniem za nie odpowiednich kar; polegaj? one na gro?eniu osobom, gro?eniu im stale i za wszystko, gro?eniu im tym wszystkim, co tylko wyobra?nia potrafi wymy?li? najokrutniejszego” (Jean-Lambert Tallien).

    Terror zagra?a ludziom i karze ich za to, kim s?, a nie za to, co zrobili; tak wi?c wprowadzaj?c poj?cie “klas podejrzanych”, sprawiedliwo?? zast?puje on samowol?. “System Terroru zak?ada sprawowanie samowolnej w?adzy w [sic] tych, którzy bior? si? do stosowania go. Zak?ada równie? w?adz? absolutn?, a przez w?adz? absolutn? rozumiem tak?, która nie jest winna pos?usze?stwa ani zdawania rachunku nikomu, sama za? wymaga tego od wszystkich…

    Translation:
    “The reign of Terror is not content to” follow bad deeds, deter them, punish them appropriately; they consist of threatening people, constantly threatening them for everything, threatening them with whatever their imaginations can come up with the cruelest “(Jean-Lambert Tallien).

    Terror threatens and punishes people for who they are, not for what they have done; thus, in introducing the concept of “suspect classes,” justice replaces lawlessness. “The system of terror assumes the exercise of arbitrary power in [sic] those who take to apply it. It also assumes absolute power, and by absolute power I mean one that is not guilty of obedience or accountability to anyone, but itself requires it from everyone …

  21. huxley:

    Somehow I don’t see you shouting “Get off my lawn!’ But does a ruben in Abq come with green chille? Congratulations! 😉

  23. “……thinking of the riots of the 60s and 70s…….”
    I was a college freshman when radical students shut down the college I attended.
    At most, I would say there were 200 to 300 students actively agitating and causing chaos.
    Even as an apolitical, snot-nosed freshman, I noticed that these few hundred students never bothered to ask the other 20,000 !!!!! students if they desired the college shut down.
    That was my first taste of iberal progressive, leftist methodology; don’t dare disagree with them, succumb to their demands or else, and the violent, determined, and persistent ideological and numerical MINORITY determines for the majority, how things will be.

    One year earlier and one mile south of my college, that POS Mark Rudd and his SDS vermin, had shut down Columbia U. and had defecated in the office of Columbia U’s president.
    Today, all these “progressives” are now demokrats (with the exception of a few, e.g. David Horowitz ).

    Though I am not a gun owner, I sure am glad many are, because one day……. well…… I had better just not say anything more.

  24. I’ve always loved that song. I grew up a few miles from Telegraph Road and still take it part way to work. Never realized that the song was about MY Telegraph Road.

  26. The first house I remember living in was off of 10 Mile Road, a mile or so west of Telegraph Rd. The second house I lived in (still with my parents) was about a mile west of Telegraph Rd near Lone Pine (17 Mile Rd). The first job that I actually got a paycheck from (and began paying income taxes) was at Devon Gables Restaurant, NE corner of Long Lake (18 Mile Rd) and Telegraph Rd. My second job was at the Machus Red Fox Restaurant on the corner of Maple Road (15 Mile Rd) and Telegraph, and my third job (first job as a short-order cook) was at a Palace Fine Food Restaurant on the corner of 10 Mile and Telegraph Rd. You might say that Telegraph Road from about 7 Mile to the Miracle Mile was my old tromping ground. I likewise didn’t realize that song was about My Telegraph Road.

    Waidmann

  27. Like many commenters here, I spent a chunk of my life on Telegraph Road…and listening to Mark Knopfler. My suggestion to any and all is to catch Mark Knopfler, even now, if he ever comes to your area. Among the best ever- live. I saw everyone in my days. The single best concert I saw was Knopfler, post Dire Straits, maybe about 8 or so years ago. I left Detroit years ago, but was back recently, traveling up Telegraph from the City north through the suburbs and beyond. Used to be that it went from the City, north through industrial parks and small machine shops, into the northern suburbs where beautiful corporate offices, slick shopping centers stood, then on up to the wealthier suburbs where the execs from various industries lived. The route hasn’t changed, but things look so worn out now. The entire trip up Telegraph looked…worn out, sorry to say. Still- great city, great people. It’ll come back…some day.

  28. Back in the early ‘70’s while I was going to Wayne State I drove a cab in the Detroit area for a while, so I spent a lot of time on Telegraph. I have to admit that I love the city despite all it’s problems and like Neumanian I hope it comes back some day.

  29. Detroit isn’t burning because there is nothing in the city worth burning.
    Well, nowhere worth looting, anyway.
    53 years after its 1967 riots, and it’s never recovered. Lesson learned??

  30. huxley, I’m glad for you! Will you have a garden or stuff like that?

    Ed, that was a neat reminiscence.

  31. Thanks for the links, Ed. Brought back memories of downriver Detroit where Mrs X grew up. When we moved away from Detroit we would occasionally return to visit her mom. I remember lying awake during the hot summer nights and listen to the plaintive horn of the train far away travelling to the Motor City. Nice to know there are so many (former) Detroiters here. Good people.

  32. “that’s a dobro”

    … or steel-body resonator. Dobro was actually a brand of resonator guitar but some use it more generically.

  34. The first and easiest way to rig the vote is through the post office itself. I suspect this is the Democrats’ play as well as there will be no way to directly prove any wrongdoing went on. By simply looking at recent historical voting trends of any ZIP code in the country, one can quickly decide which mailed in ballots can be destroyed. If it has a ZIP code on it that previously voted majority Republican, it can be discarded. Let all the others go through and get counted and you should end up with a solid Democrat majority, with minimal to no ballot harvesting or filling in of stacks of blank ballots needed after the fact.

    This fraud could only be detected by indirect means, and Trump will be long gone before the necessary statistics are made available. When reliable red-ZIP codes only show a “virtual” turnout of 5-10%, and reliable blue ZIP codes show a turnout of 80-90%, it should be clear that the fix was in at the post office processing level. Of course, the Democrats will be ready to say, “I guess there wasn’t much enthusiasm for candidate Trump as compared to candidate Biden” and “Too bad, you lost”.

  35. I was born (in 1968) and raised in Pontiac, right next to the north end of Telegraph Rd. I remember Telegraph as a river of car noise that would help me sleep at night…when I moved away I needed a fan at night because I missed the sound! Like some of the other posters I never knew it was about ‘my’ Telegraph…and yet another reason to like Mark / Dire Straits…

  36. ” river of car noise that would help me sleep at night” – David Graham .

    A friend of mine made a similar observation.
    Her family moved “into town” when she was young, and at first the street noise really bothered her.
    Then, she told me, she realized the whoosh-whoosh was not all that different from the sound of the stream that ran by their old house, and so she re-framed the “noise” to “nature” in her mind, and it never bothered her again.

  37. I went to Big Cow School in the mid-60s. I was never all that impressed with the kids from Detroit. Many of my wife-to-be’s sorority sisters were Ed majors, and I said at the time, “When these people get to run the schools, we’re doomed.”

    P.S. Our local SDS leader lived at home in Lansing and had his mother iron his carefully unbuttoned shirts.

    P.P.S. We were at the Aretha Franklin concert at Cobo Hall mentioned in The Big Chill. She had laryngitis and could hardly sing a note.

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