Dire Straits’ 1985 Top 10 hit “Walk Of Life” was notorious in the U.S. for its video, for doubling as a pro sports highlight and bloopers reel and for an über-cheesy and über-’80s keyboard line. The song’s dramatic, extended intro especially piqued the interest of one Peter Salomone, however, who developed a hypothesis that the tune “is the perfect song to end any movie.” Going by the site he set up to test this theory, dubbed “The Walk of Life Project,” it’s an inexplicable but entirely plausible bit of conjecture.
“Walk Of Life” is the perfect reflection of the tension released at the end of Jurassic Park and WarGames, for example, and is also ideal for the fresh starts hinted at in Lost In Translation, The Matrix, and The Lion King. Even the happy-but-bittersweet tone of the tearjerker Friends finale is improved once Dire Straits is introduced into the scene. To date, Salomone has augmented 52 movie endings with “Walk Of Life,” all of which are viewable on the project’s website. There’s no good reason why the song works so incredibly well across so many different movies and eras, and sometimes it’s just best not to question greatness.