"Industrial Disease" is a song by the British rock band Dire Straits and written by Mark Knopfler. It appeared on their 1982 album Love over Gold. The song was released as a single in the US and as a rare B-side to "Private Investigations" on cassette tape in the United Kingdom. The B-side to the US "Industrial Disease" single was "Solid Rock" from the previous Dire Straits album Making Movies. The song is actually about the decline of the British manufacturing industry in the 1980's. The environmental damage depicted in this video is purely my interpretation. LYRICS: Warning lights are flashing down at Quality Control Somebody threw a spanner and they threw him in the hole There's rumors in the loading bay and anger in the town Somebody blew the whistle and the walls came down There's a meeting in the boardroom they're trying to trace the smell There's leaking in the washroom there's a sneak in personnel Somewhere in the corridors someone was heard to sneeze 'goodness me could this be Industrial Disease? The caretaker was crucified for sleeping at his post They're refusing to be pacified it's him they blame the most The watchdog's got rabies the foreman's got fleas And everyone's concerned about Industrial Disease There's panic on the switchboard tongues are ties in knots Some come out in sympathy some come out in spots Some blame the management some the employees And everybody knows it's the Industrial Disease The work force is disgusted downs tools and walks Innocence is injured experience just talks Everyone seeks damages and everyone agrees That these are 'classic symptoms of a monetary squeeze' On ITV and BBC they talk about the curse Philosophy is useless theology is worse History boils over there's an economics freeze Sociologists invent words that mean 'Industrial Disease' Doctor Parkinson declared 'I'm not surprised to see you here You've got smokers cough from smoking, brewer's droop from drinking beer I don't know how you came to get the Betty Davis knees But worst of all young man you've got Industrial Disease' He wrote me a prescription he said 'you are depressed But I'm glad you came to see me to get this off your chest Come back and see me later - next patient please Send in another victim of Industrial Disease' I go down to Speaker's Corner I'm thunderstruck They got free speech, tourists, police in trucks Two men say they're Jesus one of them must be wrong There's a protest singer singing a protest song - he says 'they wanna have a war to keep us on our knees They wanna have a war to keep their factories They wanna have a war to stop us buying Japanese They wanna have a war to stop Industrial Disease They're pointing out the enemy to keep you deaf and blind They wanna sap your energy incarcerate your mind They give you Rule Brittania, gassy beer, page three Two weeks in Espana and Sunday striptease' Meanwhile the first Jesus says 'I'd cure it soon Abolish monday mornings and friday afternoons' The other one's on a hunger strike he's dying by degrees How come Jesus gets Industrial Disease?