Portobello Belle Wild West End Private Investigations Dire Straits

Portobello Belle Album: Communiqué (1979)
Wild West End Album: Dire Straits (1978)
Private Investigations Album: Love over Gold (1982)
by Dire Straits

Portobello Road in the Notting Hill area of London is the home of a famous street market. Several early Dire Straits songs were inspired by Mark Knopfler's then recent move to and wanderings about the capital. Described as an Irish reggae number and running to 4 minutes 29 seconds, "Portobello Belle" sees him continuing where he left off with the last two tracks on the group's debut album, "Wild West End" and "Lions," exploring the streets of his adopted home, as ever with an eye on the ladies.

Wild West End refers to an area of London. Lead guitarist Mark Knopfler moved to the capital after completing an English degree at Leeds University. Like most tourists - foreign and domestic - he enjoyed walking around the West End, always with an eye on the ladies. He spots one particularly attractive young woman in Shaftesbury Avenue; another song on this album, "In The Gallery," had its genesis in a different sort of encounter in that same street. "Wild West End" runs to 4 minutes 42 seconds.

Dire Straits exploded onto the UK music scene in 1978 with the single "Sultans Of Swing" and a unique guitar style from frontman and songwriter Mark Knopfler. Four years later, they released a single in an entirely different style. "Private Investigations" begins with a lengthy acoustic introduction; the words are spoken, whispered, rather than sung.
In Michael Oldfield's illustrated history of the band to date, published in 1984, Knopfler said the song was sparked off by something he'd read about Philip Marlowe, adding, "You hear different interpretations of it, but to me it's deliberately movie."

Philip Marlowe was the private detective created by the American novelist Raymond Chandler. The Marlowe novels could have been tailor made for film noir, a style of cinema that evolved in the United States after the Second World War. These were often low-budget gangster films made in black and white and portraying the underside of the American dream. Marlowe found his way onto both the big screen and TV.

"Private Investigations" captures the genre more than any other song, including contemporary songs. If it had been written 30 years earlier it would almost certainly have won an Oscar for a film noir soundtrack.