"Private Investigations" was released as the lead single from the album in Europe, It reached the number 2 position in the United Kingdom.
After the verses, the song opens up into a slow, bass-driven beat, with strident electric guitar chords at the end, before the gradual diminuendo featuring extended interplay between Mark Knopfler's acoustic guitar and marimba played by Mike Mainieri.
private | Parliamentary Private Secretary | Private (rank) | Private Eye | Private | Saving Private Ryan | Private Lives | private equity | private (rank) | public-private partnership | The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex | Richard Diamond, Private Detective | private investigator | private eye | private detective | The Private Life of Henry VIII | Public–private partnership | Private Secretary | Private Passions | private member's bill | Virtual private network | Private Media Group | Private Lessons | private label | Private Eye (magazine) | Office of Special Investigations | virtual private network | The Private of the Buffs | The Private Life of Don Juan | Private Snafu |
Knopfler used several guitars during the sessions, including four Schecter Stratocasters—two red, one blue, and one sunburst—a black Schecter Telecaster, an Ovation classical guitar on "Private Investigations" and "Love Over Gold", a custom Erlewine Automatic on "Industrial Disease", and his 1937 National steel guitar on "Telegraph Road".
Inspired by the large collection of Roman artifacts on display at the Johanneum (the largest museum in Graz) and at Seckau Abbey, he embarked on private investigations which in 1845 led to his discovery that the archeological finds near Leibnitz marked the site of the Roman town Flavia Solva.