Mark Knopfler wrote this song, which appeared on his band’s 1985 mega-hit album “Brothers in Arms,” about the difficulty of conducting long-distance relationships by telephone. Speaking from experience, even 35 years later, in the age of What’s App and Skype, it remains difficult, though at least the phone bills are lower. To illustrate how long ago 1985 was, when “So Far Away” was released as a single it made it to the top 20 on the Billboard 100, a difficult feat for a rock song nowadays.
