Your Latest Trick
Your Latest Trick is a song by Dire Straits from their 1985 album Brothers in Arms. It was released as the album’s fifth and final single in April 1986 by Vertigo Records. The track has several versions: the full studio version is 6:34, the original vinyl LP version is 4:46, and a radio edit is 4:10. It was recorded at AIR Studios in Montserrat.
The UK 12" single featured B-sides “Irish Boy” and “The Long Road,” both credited as solo efforts by Mark Knopfler. The CD version opens with a trumpet intro by Randy Brecker, and features a saxophone intro and solo by Michael Brecker. On live performances during the Brothers in Arms and On Every Street tours, the saxophone was played by Chris White. A cover of the sax intro was used as the theme for the Hong Kong TV series File of Justice.
Originally the song was faster and more jazzy, but manager Ed Bicknell suggested slowing it to a stately bossa nova. The single was released in the UK as a 12" maxi in April 1986; there was no US release. It reached number 26 on the UK charts.
Reception noted its bittersweet mood and lush horn work. Cash Box described it as bittersweet with hints of Tina Turner’s “Private Dancer.” Spin highlighted the sax intro and Knopfler’s Dylanesque vocal. Paul Rees later ranked it as Dire Straits’ 10th greatest song, praising its humid, smoky cantina atmosphere. The studio version appears on The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations, and a live version is included on On the Night and on Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 14:42 (CET).