Sometimes you're the windshield; sometimes you're the bug.

Then came the churches, then came the schools, then came the lawyers, then came the rules.

My playing is fairly straightforward, really, and everything's pretty much standard no frills or special effects.

Sometimes you gotta be an s.o.b., you wanna make a dream reality

While I was into many different types of music, and played with many different local groups, I really didn't have a band to call my own until Dire Straits was formed in 1977.

I left for the same reasons everyone leaves jobs that are no longer fulfilling their hopes and aspirations. I didn't see myself spending the rest of my life being a strummer for someone else's dreams. Whatever the opposite of regret is best describes how I've always felt about that decision - it opened me up to a million creative opportunities I needed to experience away from the bullshit and distorting mirrors that fame engenders.

I used to go to the school folk club with my songs when I was only 13 or so and say "this is a traditional folk song" and sing it with a bad Irish accent to disguise the real source.