So Far Away (Dire Straits song)



"So Far Away" is a 1985 rock song by Dire Straits. It appears on the album Brothers in Arms. It became the band's fourth and final top 20 hit (as well as top 40) on the Billboard charts, peaking at #19. The original studio version of the track appeared on the 2005 compilation The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations.

Single release
"So Far Away" was the lead single from Brothers in Arms in the UK and Europe on 8 April 1985. The song charted at #20 in the UK, but also reached the Top 5 in Norway (#4), Top 10 in Switzerland (#6) and Sweden (#7) and Top 40 in Italy (#33). The single was also released in Australia and peaked at #22.

After the song climbed to #29 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in 1985, "So Far Away" was released a year later as the album's third single in North America, where it peaked at #3 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart and #19 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Dire Straits a third consecutive Top 20 hit from Brothers in Arms on the Hot 100.

B-side
The 1985 European releases of "So Far Away" featured another track from Brothers in Arms, "Walk of Life". This song would itself be released as the fourth official single from the album in Europe (second in North America) in late 1985 reaching #7 on the Hot 100 and #2 in the UK - the band's highest ever charted single in their homeland. The 7" featured an edited version of "So Far Away" that had been used on the LP, but the 12" featured the full length version that was on the CD version. It is sometimes erroneously credited as an extended mix.

In the United States, the song used for the B-side was "If I Had You", from Dire Straits' 1983 EP ExtendedancEPlay. In Canada, a Limited Edition double Vinyl featuring the full length version of "So Far Away" was released, along with live renditions of "Going Home" and "Sultans of Swing", the instrumental section of "Why Worry" and a Mark Knopfler solo effort, "Fear and Hatred".

Live version
One of the songs on Mark Knopfler's 2006 album, Real Live Roadrunning, is a duet version of "So Far Away" with American country-folk singer Emmylou Harris.