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The Ragpicker's Dream

His third solo album, with songs from the point of view of poor but dignified itinerant men.
Mark Knopfler, 2002

Released
30 September 2002
Label
Mercury / Warner Bros.
Producer
Mark Knopfler and Chuck Ainlay

The Ragpicker's Dream was released on 30 September 2002 by Mercury, with Warner Bros. in the United States. Its songs are told from the point of view of poor but dignified itinerant men. The first track, Why Aye Man, was the theme tune for the third series of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, and Jimmy Nail and Tim Healy sing backing vocals on it. Other songs refer to North East England, including the village of Tow Law in Hill Farmer's Blues.

The cover is Elliott Erwitt's photograph Spain, Valencia, 1952, Robert and Mary Frank. Hal Horowitz of AllMusic gave the album three out of five and called it a pleasant, classy, often inspired effort. It reached number seven in the UK, number 38 in the US and number one in Norway. The planned tour was cancelled after Knopfler's motorcycle crash in March 2003.

Track listing

  1. Why Aye Man6:14
  2. Devil Baby4:05
  3. Hill Farmer's Blues3:45
  4. A Place Where We Used to Live4:34
  5. Quality Shoe3:56
  6. Fare Thee Well Northumberland6:29
  7. Marbletown3:33
  8. You Don't Know You're Born5:20
  9. Coyote5:56
  10. The Ragpicker's Dream4:20
  11. Daddy's Gone to Knoxville2:48
  12. Old Pigweed4:34

Personnel

More from Mark Knopfler

Local Hero (1983), Golden Heart (1996), Sailing to Philadelphia (2000), Shangri-La (2004), Real Live Roadrunning (2006), All the Roadrunning (2006), Tracker (2015)

Sources

  1. The Ragpicker's Dream, Wikipedia
  2. Mark Knopfler discography, Wikipedia