Songfacts®:

• This is the title track of the seventh solo album by Mark Knopfler, which was the first studio double-LP of his career as a recording artist. Recorded between March and December 2011, the record was released on September 3, 2012 by Mercury Records, but was not made available for a year in North America due to a contractual dispute between Knopfler and his longtime United States record company, Warner Bros. Records. Following the signing of a new distribution deal with Universal Music Group, Privateering was eventually released in America on Verve Records on September 10, 2013.
• The record takes its title from Knopfler's own nomadic life, wandering the world as a traveling musician with his supporting session artists and crew. "I really get a buzz out of having this little group of people that sallies forth across the world," said the former Dire Straits frontman. "I enjoy being in command of it, the band, the crew, traveling through this ever changing landscape and playing in all these different places. You get where you get without any kind of assistance, really, making your own way in the world. There are no government grants to play this music. You're a privateer. And that's the way I like it."
• The Privateering LP was a hit throughout Europe, reaching the #1 position on album charts in Austria, Germany, Norway, and the Netherlands.