Mixed messages

Songs can be misappropriated. Songs can be taken and given a different life to the one intended for them. The song that is currently in my head as the best song ever is one that has a complicated personal history.

• The song's writer, Mark Knopfler, is not someone people admit to liking without reservation. Dire Straits have history. Like Queen only less interesting and without a dead member to help people reassess their (non-existent) worth. Although it needs to be said that any song, used appropriately can be brought to life. Dire Strait's Brothers in Arms was astonishingly (and annoyingly) effective when used the in The West Wing
  
• Newcastle United play the song as the teams run out at St James' Park. Newcastle United are currently another one of those joke football teams where cliches are spouted about passionate its fans are whilst new story focus on the pathetic way the business side of the club is handled
• It has taken ages for the film concerned to be released on DVD. The reason for watching it this time round was a newspaper give-away in a recent promotion. As much as I love both the paper concerned and the film, I am uncomfortable with this as a method of promotion. It blurs the lines of what papers are there for and that worries me. Is it a reward for loyal readers or a pathetic attempt to lure in the waverers? I think I know the answer
  
• Last year I wrote an essay about the producer of the film, David Puttnam for my MA. It's an area I'd like to explore more but watching the film reminded my how much better I'd have done if I'd looked at it more closely. There's so much to write about but I only had 5000 words and half a dozen elements to write about. I'm revising for next exam at the moment and am following the same, lazy pattern. I could do more. I ought to do more. I probably wont
  

The film, Local Hero, is a truly fantastic film. The soundtrack is almost perfect.
The contrast between the city and the sea is more important to me than ever. Although I now live in a relatively quiet part of London, it's still London. And I still want out.
For the next fifteen minutes, Going Home from the Local Hero soundtrack is the best song ever.