Tunnel of Love (Dire Straits song)
| "Tunnel of Love" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by Dire Straits | ||||
| from the album Making Movies | ||||
| B-side | "Tunnel of Love, Part 2" | |||
| Released | 2 October 1980 | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Recorded | 20 June - 25 August 1980 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 8:08 | |||
| Label | Vertigo Records/Warner Bros. Records | |||
| Writer(s) |
Mark Knopfler Richard Rodgers/Oscar Hammerstein II (Intro) |
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| Producer(s) | Jimmy Iovine, Mark Knopfler | |||
| Dire Straits singles chronology | ||||
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"Tunnel of Love" is a 1980 rock song by Dire Straits. It appears on the album Making Movies, and subsequently on the live albums Alchemy and Live at the BBC and the greatest hits albums Money for Nothing, Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits, and The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations.
It reached the position of only #54 in the UK Singles Chart upon its single release in October 1981, despite being one of the band's most famous and popular songs. Two music videos exist for the song, one depicting Mark Knopfler, John Illsley and Pick Withers performing on a blank set, intercut with imagery and actors relevant to the lyrics, the other featuring a larger band arrangement and telling the story of a couple escaping a group of soldiers who chase them from a funfair.
The Spanish City in the song was a fairground located in Whitley Bay, part of the North Sea coast to the north-east of Newcastle upon Tyne, one train stop along from Cullercoats as mentioned in the song. The term "Rockaway" references Rockaway Beach in New York City, the location of the Rockaways' Playland amusement park. In 1980s concerts, Dire Straits played the central theme of The Animals' "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" during an extended instrumental introduction to the song, as Knopfler talked about that group's hometown of Newcastle. Knopfler's outro solo has received numerous plaudits over the years:
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