THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

298-Dire Straits-Romeo and Juliet.

1981-Number 8 single.

Best Bit-At 2.23. Romeo and Juliet is Mark Knopfler’s ‘Play’ on words.

Mark Freuder Knopfler OBE was born on August 12th, 1949, in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, he moved to Blyth, near Newcastle, England, with his parents, and his brother and sister, when he was seven years old.

Dire Straits (see also best songs 829) were formed in Deptford, London, England, in 1977, by Mark Knopfler,(lead vocals, and lead guitar) his younger brother David, (born 1952) (rhythm guitar) John Illsley, (bass) and David ‘Pick’ Withers (drums.) David Knopfler left the band in 1979 after the recording of their second studio Album ‘Communique,’ and Withers left after the completion of the bands fourth studio Album ‘Love Over Gold’ in 1982. Dire Straits were active between 1977-1988, they then went on hiatus, before reforming in 1990, until finally retiring the band in 1995, In total there have been 10 band members, with Mark Knopfler and John Illsley being the groups only too constants. They released six studio Albums between 1978-1991, with their fifth Album ‘Brothers in Arms’ from 1985 becoming the first Album on Compact Disc to sell one million copies in the UK, where it is currently the eighth best selling Album of all time in that country. They have released 23 singles between 1978-1994, with 11 of those reaching the UK top 40, and four making the Billboard top 40 in America, where ‘Money for Nothing’ reached the Number 1 spot in 1985.

‘Romeo and Juliet’ was written by Mark Knopfler, and produced by Knopfler, and Jimmy Lovine, it was the third and final single released from Dire Straits third studio Album ‘Making Movies’ from 1980. The song is based on Knopfler’s own real life experience of falling in love as a young man. He was dating the American singer/songwriter Holly Vincent, and he felt he was being used by her so that she could further her own musical career. The line in the song,’Now you just say, oh Romeo, yeah, you know I used to have a scene with him,’ refers to an interview with Holly Vincent where she says,’What happened was that I had a scene with Mark Knopfler, and it got to the point where he couldn’t handle it, and we split up.

‘In the song the couple are referred to as Romeo and Juliet, which of course is a reference to the William Shakespeare play. Knopfler also makes a point of mentioning other works involving young love, including the song ‘Somewhere’ from ‘West Side Story,’ which itself is based on the Shakespeare play, and also the 1963 song ‘My Boyfriends Back,’ from the American girl group ‘The Angels.’

‘Juliet when we made love you used to cry. You said I love you like the stars above, said I’ll love you baby till I die, and there’s a place for us, you know the movie song. When you gonna realise it was just that the time was wrong Juliet.’