When I came back on the scene in 2006, John Illsley contacted Mark Knopfler and proposed reforming Dire Straits, the answer was no no no. Was this because he was having such a good time posturing with other celebrities, who hadn’t yet been informed he wasn’t being truthful about who had written the lyrics to Dire Straits hits like Sultans of Swing, and he was filling his belly with the fruits of deceit and enjoying every moment before the table was chopped up for firewood, bringing to a end the phone calls for him to collaborate on others stars albums, no no no . Then perhaps Illsley had been to hasty and expected with my return our collaboration together could bring the old Dire Straits back together, but how could that reunion ever happen, Illsley’s enthusiasm didn’t seem to get approval from Knopfler who was touring with Emmy Lou Harris, and hadn’t he been told by his friend Mark, that he had already sold the rights of the songs and the lyrics written by Robert Marshal to the major record companies Polydor for example and had spent the money, and as that was never part of our agreement made in Deptford, and just outright theft and fraudulent dealings with those record companies he’d obviously duped into buying someone else’s Intellectual Property he had to say no no no. You’d think surely after all the records D.S. sold would money be a problem to Mark, or maybe the truth is you just can’t get enough of the stuff, and your reputation means nothing as long as you’ve got a healthy bank balance. No no no when I met him his opening gambit was, ” Are you the guy whose going to make me a millionaire,” didn’t seem like a greedy geezer to me, or maybe yes yes yes.?
It was then Illsley decided to put away his learn to paint book, close his studio and hide his paint pots, and make believe he could handle the lead guitar role and give his bass position to someone else, and with him singing he had some of the ingredients that were once Dire Straits, but without Mark there was no-one able to take on the lead guitar, and certainly not Illsley whose come back into the music business, has been a financial disaster according to him. I’ve got to pay for our equipment being stored and the roadies wages and there’s the venue costs, and a hundred or so paying punters isn’t going to cover the expenses, he moaned. However Mister big spender Illsley has again overlooked the reality of the situation, its mostly the money he’s pocketed that should have gone to Robert Marshal he’s spending, and he’s got the balls to complain, money for nothing mate remember.
Dire Straits Story 
Posted by Briggerino on May 2, 2020 at 11:04 am
“he wasn’t being truthful about who had written the lyrics to Dire Straits hits like Sultans of Swing”
What do you say about the claims Bill Wilson made many times that he co wrote Sultans of Swing when Knopfler was in America in the mid 70’s?
Posted by straitjacketmusic on May 2, 2020 at 12:36 pm
I was told about this guy many years ago, and Mark was in America, and if he did collaborate with Bill Wilson, it had to be between 1975 when the lyrics were written and 1978 when the Dire Straits album was released. Now the lyrics of Sultans of Swing is about someone from the East End of London crossing the river Thames into the territory on the Southside, “You stop and hold everything,” Bill Wilson is American so the districts of the Big Smoke would mean little to him, what I took from what he said about Sultans was that he helped in writing the music, though I have my doubts about that, when I wrote the lyrics Mark was sceptical about the length of the story, and I told him when asked about it just to say, ” I know,” and I believe that is what happened, and since the music for Sultans is almost six minutes long, I’m afraid Bill Wilson may have helped Mark, but he definitely didn’t compose it or write any of the lyrics.