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 Knopfler OBE was born Mark Freuder Knopfler, on August 12th, 1949, in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, in 1956 he moved to Blyth, near Newcastle, England, with his parents, and his younger brother and older sister. 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.) Dire Straits were active between 1977-1988, they then went on hiatus, before reforming in 1990, until finally retiring the band in 1995, Mark Knopfler has often been quoted as saying that he will never play in Dire Straits again.

With record sales estimated between 100-120 million, Dire Straights are one of the best selling artists of all time, their fifth studio Album ‘Brothers in Arms’ from 1985 became 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. The discography of Dire Straits includes six studio Albums released between 1978-1991, and 31 singles released between 1978-2005, there are also four extended plays, (EP’s) two box sets, three official compilation Albums, and four live Albums available. In the UK all six of their studio Albums have made the top 5, with three of those Albums making the Number 1 position, while 11 of their singles have reached the UK top 40, with ‘Private Investigations,’ (1982) and ‘Walk of Life, (1985) both peaking the highest at Number 2. In America all six of their studio Albums have made the ‘Billboard 200 Album’ chart, with ‘Brothers in Arms,’ (1985) peaking the highest at Number 1, while four of their singles have reached The ‘Billboard Hot 100,’ top 40, with ‘Money for Nothing’ peaking the highest at Number 1, and ‘Romeo and Juliet’ failing to chart.

The solo discography of Mark Knopfler includes 10 studio Albums released between 1996-2024, and 26 singles released between 1983-2024, there are also three extended plays, nine soundtrack Albums, and two official compilation Albums available. In the UK three of his singles have reached the top 40, with his 2006 duet with Emmylou Harris, ‘All the Roadrunning,’ peaking the highest at Number 8, while none of his solo singles have reached the American Billboard Hot 100. Mark Knopfler has remained busy following the demise of Dire Straits, as he has also released two collaborative Albums, with Chet Atkins (1924-2001) in 1990, and with Emmylou Harris in 2006, he has also released an Album in 1986 with ‘The Notting Hillbillies,’ a Country Rock group he formed in that year. Mark Knopfler has several production credits for other artists, including Bob Dylan ‘Infidels,’ (1983) and ‘Knife’ for Aztec Camera (1984.) He has played as a session musician on dozens of tracks for other artists, including ‘Gotta Serve Somebody,’ for Bob Dylan, (1979) and ‘Foreign Affair’ for Tina Turner, (1989) he had previously written Turner’s hit single ‘Private Dancer’ (1984-Billboard Number 7 & UK Number 26.)

‘Romeo and Juliet’ was the third and final single released from ‘Making Movies,’ which is the third studio Album from Dire Straits, from October 1980, the song was written by Mark Knopfler, with the production being by Knopfler, and Jimmy Lovine (see also best songs 84.) Jimmy Lovine was born James Lovine, on March 11th, 1953, in New York City, United States, as well as being involved in the engineering, mixing, and production of more than 250 Albums between 1973-2014, he was the co-founder of ‘Interscope Records,’ In 2006, along with Dr. Dre (see also best songs 564-544-482-189-128 and 48) he co-founded ‘Beats Electronics.’ In 2008, the brand launched its first set of headphones, and in 2013, they began the development for ‘Beats Music,’ and released it in 2014, which went on to become the framework for ‘Apple Music.’ The company was purchased by ‘Apple Inc.’ for $3 billion in May 2014. Jimmy Lovine has worked on some of the most iconic Albums of all time including ‘Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born to Run,’ (1975) Meatloaf’s ‘Bat Out of Hell,’ (1977) and ‘U2’s ‘Rattle and Hum’ (1988.)

‘Romeo and Juliet’ is based on Mark 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 said, ‘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 (1564-1616) play which was first premiered in 1597. Mark Knopfler also makes a point of mentioning other works involving young love, including the song ‘Somewhere’ from ‘West Side Story,’ (1957) which itself is based on the Shakespeare play, and also the song ‘My Boyfriends Back,’ (1963-Billboard Number 1 & UK Number 50) 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.’