Beautiful, sad song--- a detective is on the case of a woman's death/suicide, a woman with injured looks, no name, no fingerprints on file. Who is this woman? What caused her to do this? What was her life like? There has to be a clue to her identity somewhere, a record which will reveal her life history, the good and the bad of it, the mix of pleasure and pain. He looks for her face on every street. The world has gone crazy and he wonders why he's still on the case, and he thinks "what a waste -- why are you refusing to be traced." Every victory of solving other cases is bittersweet. So he is haunted by this woman and still looks for her face on every street.

It's obvious -- Mark Knopfler is making fun of the early mtv stars and their music videos. In the voice of a hard-working appliance mover and installer, he's saying there's no hard work going on with these rock stars and they're not dumb-- they may get a blister here and there (from playing guitar), but they're getting "money for nothing and chicks for free" (groupies), and maybe I "should learn to play the guitar on the MTV." Yes, some of the words are a little harsh and controversial, but this song was written tongue in cheek, and it backfired because it became a huge hit showcased on mtv with a clever music video and won a Grammy for Best Rock Performance of -- forgot the year -- in the 80s, I think. I know the purpose of these posts is writing the meaning of songs, but have you listened to this fabulous band (and Knopfler is fantastic, plays guitar beautifully[listen to Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits], does all the vocals and writes the songs)? Along with Brothers in Arms, listen to Why Worry, The Man's too Strong, Romeo and Juliet -- there are too, too many to name.

Clowns in a traveling circus rolling on through town after town in a caravan or circus train, putting up tents and tearing them down, washing away dirt and sawdust with one drink a day--one can't hurt. Rollin' on. Passing by houses with kids home from school, never knowing their names, and shops with drawn shades around supper time, while at the same time, the clowns are preparing for their performance. Doing their job, putting on an act -- making people laugh and cry through their silly antics with their happy/sad painted on faces, doing the soft shoe, being young at heart, helping people feel better and to forget about their aches and pains and their mundane lives for the moment; thus, for the clowns, a brief grandiose respite from their own grinding existence -- a symbiotic relationship between clowns and audience?-- "it's hard sometimes, pretty much it's alright." Rolling on. And so it goes.