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Cover of Making Movies by Dire Straits — Cover: Making Movies

Song · Dire Straits

“Skateaway” by Dire Straits

From the album Making Movies (1980)

“Skateaway” by Dire Straits appears on 22 radio countdowns from 9 stations between 1991 and 2024. It was first released in 1980 on the album Making Movies. Its best result is #288 on the WBAB Top 1,023 Rock and Roll Songs of All Time (1997). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #6,573 alternative song of all time.

22countdowns

9stations

#288best position

0#1 finishes

0top 10 finishes

1991–2024years charted

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Dire Straits - Skateaway

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"Skateaway" rolls through Dire Straits' 1980 album Making Movies, and Mark Knopfler, who wrote it and sings it, builds a whole city around one character: a girl on roller skates weaving through busy streets with a portable radio piped into her headphones, the traffic turned into her private movie. Knopfler's guitar does the gliding, John Illsley and Pick Withers keep the wheels turning, and Roy Bittan's keyboards fill in the city lights. Jimmy Iovine produced, with Shelly Yakus engineering.

Out as a single, it got to 58 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 37 in Britain in January 1981. The video caught on at MTV, with Jayzik Azikiwe, whose father Nnamdi Azikiwe was Nigeria's first president, skating as Rollergirl under the name Jay Carly; Lester Bookbinder directed.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

#6,573 of all time

Indie & Adult Alternative

Classic Rock

#1,397 of all time

All Rock Formats

All-time and decade countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1991	811	CFNY 102.1 The Edge	CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (1991 Edition)	1002
1997	288	102.3 WBAB	WBAB Top 1,023 Rock and Roll Songs of All Time (1997)	1023
2001	592	WFPK	WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time	2000
2004	614	WXPN	WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2004)	885
2011	858	100.7 WZLX	100.7 WZLX Top 1100 Countdown (2011)	1100
2012	898	100.7 WZLX	100.7 WZLX Top 1200 Countdown (2012)	1200
2013	721	100.7 WZLX	100.7 WZLX Grand Jam 1000 (2013)	1000
2014	753	100.7 WZLX	100.7 WZLX 1K Countdown (2014)	1000
2014	841	WXPN	WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2014)	885
2015	727	100.7 WZLX	100.7 WZLX Top 1007 Classic Rock Countdown (2015)	1007
2016	689	100.7 WZLX	100.7 WZLX Top 1007 Countdown for 2016	1007
2016	405	WYEP	WYEP 913 Countdown 2016	913
2020	867	102.5 KZOK	KZOK Classic Rock Top 1025 (2020)	1025
2020	991	WXPN	WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time	2020
2021	841	90.9 The Bridge	90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s	909
2022	930	Q104.3	Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2022)	1043
2022	914	102.5 KZOK	KZOK Classic Rock Top 1025 (2022)	1025
2023	1018	Q104.3	Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2023)	1043
2023	595	WYEP	WYEP Countdown to Fall 2023	1229
2023	535	90.9 The Bridge	90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of All Time	909
2024	781	Q104.3	Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2024)	1043
2024	753	WYEP	WYEP Best Songs of the Past 50 Years	1049

Also listed as: Skate Away.

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