"Setting Me Up" is a song written by Mark Knopfler

Mark Knopfler

Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...

. It was originally recorded by British rock group Dire Straits

Dire Straits

Dire Straits were a British rock band active from 1977 to 1995, composed of Mark Knopfler , his younger brother David Knopfler , John Illsley , and Pick Withers .Dire Straits' sound drew from a variety of musical influences, including jazz, folk, blues, and came closest...

 on their self-titled debut

Dire Straits (album)

Dire Straits is the self-titled debut album by British rock band Dire Straits, released in October 1978 by Phonogram Records.-History:...

 album but not released as a single. Ken Tucker

Ken Tucker

Ken Tucker was an English footballer who played as a left winger....

 in Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

described the song as a "heavenly number" combining humor with bitterness, despite having a typical messed-up romance theme. Tucker noted that the song's impact is enhanced by the growling tone in Knofler's singing voice and by the song's country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

-style guitar solo. Carly Darling in Billboard Magazine praised the song's rockabilly

Rockabilly

Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...

 guitar but criticizes the lyrics.

The song appeared on Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton

Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...

's 1980 double live album "Just One Night

Just One Night (Eric Clapton album)

Just One Night is a live double album by blues rocker Eric Clapton, released in 1980. It was recorded live at the Budokan Theatre, Tokyo, December 1979 when Clapton was touring with his last record, Backless. The sleeve contains a Japanese painting by Ken Konno...

", with Albert Lee

Albert Lee

Albert William Lee, born 21 December 1943 in Leominster, Herefordshire, England, is an English guitarist known for his fingerstyle and hybrid picking technique. Lee has worked both in the studio and on tour with some of the most famous musicians which stretch through a very wide of genres...

 singing lead vocals. Albert Lee also covered the song on his album Hiding, with backing harmonies sung by Don Everly.

"Setting Me Up" is one of five songs that Knofler's publisher made country demos of without Knofler's approval, leading to a number of country covers of Knofler's songs. American country music group Highway 101

Highway 101

Highway 101 is an American country music band founded by Paulette Carlson , Jack Daniels , Curtis Stone and Scott "Cactus" Moser . With Carlson as lead vocalist, the band recorded three albums for Warner Bros. Records Nashville and charted ten consecutive Top Ten hits on the Hot Country Songs...

 covered the song for their 1988 album Highway 101²

Highway 101, Volume 2

Highway 101² is the second studio album by the American country music band Highway 101. It accounted for four singles on the Hot Country Songs: " Just Say Yes" at #1, "All the Reasons Why" at #5, "Honky Tonk Heart" at #6, and their cover of Dire Straits' "Setting Me Up" at #7...

and released it as the album's third single in January 1989. The song reached #7 on the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Hot Country Singles

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

chart in April 1989.

Chart performance

Chart (1989)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles	7
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	4