"Private Investigations" is a song by the British rock band Dire Straits from their album Love over Gold.

It reached number 2 in the United Kingdom (despite its length), and is one of their biggest chart successes in the UK.

The song begins with a deep-pitched synthesizer orchestration (omitted from the 7" single edit), leading into a slow piano progression accompanying a classical guitar, followed by several spoken verses.

After the verses, the song opens 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.

A section of the footage cut from the final release dealt with the time spent on the run, in Mexico, by Rachel Ward’s & Jeff Bridges' characters.