Bill Forsyth’s 1983 comedy-drama Local Hero boasts two rather lofty accolades. Not only does the film have an indelible 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but its soundtrack features what Mark Knopfler believes is the greatest guitar solo he’s ever written.
It might feel like a sensationalist claim from a guitarist whose back catalog includes chart-smashing hits like “Sultans of Swing” and “Money for Nothing,” which have 2.3 billion Spotify streams between them, but the events of recent years have perhaps skewed things for the Newcastle-born musician.
The film is set in a fictional town on the coast of Scotland. It follows the representative of an American oil company as he pays a visit ahead of the company's purchase of the surrounding land and property.
Knopfler, by that point four albums deep into his Dire Straits career, was tasked with scoring the entire film. He penned “Going Home,” the movie’s main theme after taking inspiration from the Scottish landscape and interweaving snippets of traditional Scottish songs as he went.
“It’s [recorded on] a cheap guitar, it sounds very direct,” he tells Spanish newspaper El Pais. “I did everything wrong, but I think they’re perfect notes.”
In hindsight, he feels the fact that he didn’t slave over the song, and went for feel over thought, has proved its saving grace.
“I think it turned out well because I didn’t take it to the extreme of getting into trouble,” he continues. “I just said what I had to say. I didn’t go too far. I tried to portray the place, the people, the rocks, and the water. For me, it was a portrait of a place, an idea, a local hero.
“For me, the most important thing in a solo is the melody. I value simplicity over complexity. I’m not good enough to improvise like a jazz musician.”
The film scooped one BAFTA award — for Best Direction — from seven nominations and was, in 1999, listed as one of the top 100 British films of the 20th century. It was also adapted for the stage in 2019, premiering at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh.
Newcastle United Football Club, meanwhile, which Knopfler supports, has since adopted the song for the team's walk-out music, while Knopfler gave the song a special charity re-release last year. It helped raise funds for the Pete Townshend-backed Teenage Cancer Trust.
Townshend would go on to feature on the track — “Pete came through the door first armed with a guitar and an amp, he told Guitar Player — and it opened the door to over 60 more contributions from huge names.
Recorded either at Mark Knopfler’s London base, British Grove Studios, or remotely, even Dweezil Zappa’s still unreleased shredathon, “What the Hell Was I Thinking”, pales in comparison.
Eric Clapton, Steve Cropper, Buddy Guy, Alex Lifeson, Tony Iommi and David Gilmour – reading the credits is a who’s who of guitar greats. Beyond that, father-and-son pairing Ringo Starr and Zak Starkey handle drums, Sting plays bass, and Roger Daltrey plays harmonica.
“They just kept coming,” Knopfler had chuckled when reflecting on the project with GP. “Pete came and we plugged [his amp] in, and Pete played a chord. And we were happening, because when Pete plays a chord, it stays played.
“And then I think Eric Clapton came through the doors the next day, and Jeff Beck had recorded something at his place, which was so beautiful. Then David Gilmour came over, and everyone was playing great, and I was really knocked out.”
On the other side of the Atlantic, the likes of Joe Bonamassa, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai were tracking their own contributions. Then, “I came in one day and Bruce Springsteen was all over it.”
The organizers behind the project “just didn’t stop,” Knopfler says. The glut of talent the song boasts has them to thank.
“I remember saying, ‘How are we gonna deal with all this? This is going to be 30 miles long!’”
Revisiting the track and seeing so many other stars swarm the studio to play their part in its new iteration, perhaps made Knopfler reconsider the impact of the song, and its solo.
It also features what is largely considered one of, if not the last, guitar parts Jeff Beck recorded before his death on January 10, 2023. However, Mick Rogers has since cast doubt on that; he believes he has Beck's last-ever recording.
“Jeff was just something other, y’know?” Knopfler says, solemnly. “We’d just begun some talks, through management, about doing an album together. I’m really sorry we didn’t get to work together.”
The guitar Knopfler used to track his parts on the new version of “Going Home” – a 2021 Les Paul Standard Goldtop – was later sold at auction for over £400,000 (about $540,000).
Meanwhile, the “Brothers in Arms” producer has revealed how a stroke of luck resulted in one of the record’s most iconic guitar tones, and Knopfler has named the most challenging Dire Straits song to perform, and it has nothing to do with the riffs.
