"So Far Away" is a 1985 rock song by Dire Straits

Dire Straits

Dire Straits were a British rock band active from 1977 to 1995, composed of Mark Knopfler , his younger brother David Knopfler , John Illsley , and Pick Withers .Dire Straits' sound drew from a variety of musical influences, including jazz, folk, blues, and came closest...

. It appears on the album Brothers in Arms

Brothers in Arms (Dire Straits album)

- Original LP track listing :- 2005 Re-Issue 2 LP track listing :The 2005 Limited Edition Deluxe 180 gram High Performance Vinyl reissue contained the full-length versions of all songs by spreading out the songs over two half speed mastered LPs....

. It became the band's fourth top 20 hit 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

The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations

The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations is a 2005 best of album. Named after their 1982 hit single, it consists of material by Dire Straits, with songs selected from the majority of the group's six studio albums from 1978 up to the group's dissolution in 1995...

.

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

Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks

The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...

 chart and #19 on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

, 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 the homeland.

In the United States, the song used for the B-side was "If I Had You", from Dire Straits' 1983 EP ExtendedancEPlay

ExtendedancEPlay

ExtendedancEPlay is a three-track 12" EP by the British rock band Dire Straits, released in 1983. It is commonly called Twisting by the Pool, after the minor hit song of the same name on its first track....

. In Canada, a Limited Edition double Vinyl featuring an extended version of "So Far Away" was released, along with live renditions of "Going Home" and "Sultans of Swing

Sultans of Swing

"Sultans of Swing" was the first single release of the British rock band Dire Straits. First released in 1978, its 1979 re-release caused it to become a hit in both the UK and USA....

", the instrumental section of "Why Worry" and a Mark Knopfler solo effort, "Fear and Hatred".