Escrita por Mark Knopfler, foi gravada entre fevereiro e março de 1978, e lançada em 9 de junho de 1978, no disco de estréia de Dire Straits, chamado apenas de Dire Straits. Foi produzida por Muff Winwood. Mark Knopfler cantou, guitarra solo e guitarra base. David Knopfler tocou guitarra base e fez backing vocals. John Illsley tocou baixo e fez backing vocals. Pick Withers tocou bateria.
A letra:
Red
sun go down way over dirty town
Starlings are sweeping around
crazy shoals
A girl is there high heeling across the square
Wind
blows around in her hair and the flaqs upon the poles
Waiting in
the crowd to cross at the light
She looks around to find a face
she can like
Church bell clinging on trying to get a
crowd for Evensong
Nobody cares to depend to depend upon the chime
it plays
They're all in the station praying for
trains
Congregation late again
It's getting darker all the time
these flagpole days
Drunk old soldier he gives her a fright
He's
crazy lion howling for a fight
Strap hanging gunshot sound
Doors
slamming on the overground
Starlings are tough but the lions are
made of stone
Her evening paper is horror torn
But there's hope
later for Capricorns
Her lucky stars give her just enough to get
her home
Then she's reading about a swing to the right
But
she's thinking about a stranger in the night
I'm thinking about
the lions tonight
What happened to the lions
A versão do Dire Straits: