Classical Composer Reacts to Sultans of Swing (Dire Straits) | The Daily Doug (Episode 418) 

The alchemy live version of this is arguably the greatest concert version of any song, ever.

I am a heavy metal head, but I can put some Dire Straits hits in my car and listen them for days. Some of the best songs, music, performance and one of the best band of the 20th century for sure...

As a guitarist, I hear so much in the guitar playing of Mark. His talent is immeasurable. In this song, if you listen, every guitar embellishment in between each verse line is completely different yet still retains the them of the song. absolutely brilliant.

I love the way Mark Knopfler is having a conversation with his guitar - he sings a few bars, his guitar answers him - a few more - an answer etc - it is much more interesting than doing both things at the same time... beautiful

Years ago, I heard MK relaying the story of the original Sultans in the pub and how the song came to be and I've always loved the fact that he then wrote it as a sweet and good natured tribute to these guys, who were just doing their thing. There isn't any teasing or ridicule in the song. The Sultans were legends in their own minds and MK then elevated them to true legends through this brilliant, imaginative tribute. It says a great deal about Knopfler's character, I would imagine.

I still think this song is an homage to all small time bands playing crappy little joints. I've seen so many of them, and almost all were just empty dreams. I LOVE this song, one of my all time favorites, but it makes me cry for that reason.

Doug, you should react to "Telegraph road" by this guys. Either version, live or studio.

they seriously kept their guitar tones the cleanest way possible and still made the coolest songs of the 70s/80s

KEY MOMENT IN THE LYRICS; when they refer to south of the river, you know this band is never going to make it. If they are playing in a pub in South London they have missed the big time. (I speak as a proud South Londoner.) The time bell refers to last orders, which would be called at 10.50 pm so you then have 20 minutes to get your last drink ordered and drunk.

It's not the notes you play, but how you play each note, that makes the difference. He's gifted.

As someone who spent a few years in radio, I just listened to your video, without watching the screen, and it occurs to me that what I heard would make a great radio show.

When I hear this song I like to think about a small group of musicians, somewhere in England, that hear this song and yell, "That's us! We were the Sultans of Swing!"

Doug, this song was huge in the UK when it was released. Nobody had heard such fantastic guitar as played by Mark Knopffler. It launced his career.

You must listen to Telegraph Road next. Then Tunnel Of Love. Two brilliant tracks.

Down To The Waterline is the first track of the first album and is still my favorite song of all time. No money in our jackets and our jeans are torn Your hands are cold But your lips are warm They don't write em like that anymore. Hope you give it a listen, y'all! Peace!

No one sounds like Mark Knopfler. You hear one note and you know exactly what you're listening to. Also, he wrote the soundtrack for "The Princess Bride", which is my favorite movie.😊 But his playing in the song "Brothers in Arms" sends shivers down my spine every time, the amount of emotion he put there is unbelievable.

Knopfler just bends those notes so naturally. One of my favorites of theirs that no one reacts to is ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, from the album Communique'.

I feel like the drum groove is the unsung hero of this track. Absolutely superb.

FINALLY! Dire Straits! :)

It's cultural importance cannot be denied, in a time of straight Disco and before punk and New Wave, this song was a beacon for Rock. All alone, check the charts!!!!

I was lucky enough to see Dire Straits numerous times in 1979 and 1980, right after Sultans of Swing was released, but before they became really big and playing large venues. Once was in a small nightclub in New Jersey. My friend and I were literally leaning on the stage right in front of Mark. I’ve been to a lot of concerts, but that was the best I’ve ever been to. Watching Mark’s finger-picking work up close is simply awe-inspiring. Almost every song performed live ended with a extended outro. Their studio work is beautiful, but Mark’s brilliance shines even more in concert. The best live solo I ever heard from him was the outro from Tunnel of Love where he incorporated a phrase from the song “Maria” from West Side Story. Took my breath away. Their most critically acclaimed album was probably Making Movies, but my favorite is still the first one. “In The Gallery” and “Setting Me Up” have some of the best finger picking he’s done, imo.

SUCH a good number! Glad to see you do this one, Doug. Great solos, but gotta say, awesome drumming as well. KILLER back beats and one of my favorite fills towards the end, accompanying one of my favorite lyrics ever: "Come on in out of the rain and hear the jazz pour down". SHIVERS... ;)

Mark Knopfler is a favorite of mine. His touch on the strings is eerily similar to Steve Hackett.

Bass is so important to this song. So is the drumming, really. Neat, driving forward.

I love Dire Straits. The solos are just so melodic. Mark is such a unique player in the way he uses his fingers to play the solos. Everything is good about this tune.

I'd been thinking for months about asking you to do Dire Straits "Telegraph Road" - definitely the album version. It's Mark Knopfler's masterpiece and one of the greatest epic rock songs ever written.

I think this is a universal piece of music, The world isn't big enough! Thanks Doug 🎸

How about Dire Straits' "Tunnel Of Love"? Another great outro solo...

One of my all time favourite bands, one of my all time favourite guitarists and probably my favourite song of all time. No wonder this was one of the few guitar solos I still remember note per note even years after learning it!

Well Doug, this South African thanks you from the bottom of his heart for this, it's been decades since I heard this and, aah the memories.

I'll never forget hearing this on the radio for the first time in 1978. I was in nineth grade and it BLEW. ME. AWAY. Been one of my favorites ever since...

I think the melodic composition of this song is so easily overlooked. The chords are pretty standard as far as I can tell, but the solos are just phrased so well.

I love how there's a new guitar lick pretty much after every line he sings. One of my all time favorites, this one!

People rave about the outro guitar but for me the main solo is a thing of melodic beauty. Every chord implied..fantastic player

Talk about a great year! I was in college and this came out the same year as Elvis Costello's My Aim Is True. Talk about thinking you've died and gone to heaven!!!! To this day, both Sultans of Swing, and Alison still sound as great and are as powerful as they were when they were first released.

this is my favorite song ever, it is just so unique, there are very few songs that are so complex and interesting as this one, and for some reason this tune especifically just cativates me, i cant even count the many times i have heard it and never get tired of it, still very new to music in general, but every time i find a song just so visibaly cared about like this one it just gets me..

There was an Australian band called The Easybeats who had hits in the UK in the late 1960s. Two of the members were Harry Vanda and George Young. In later years they were incredibly influential in Australian music as songwriters and as producers for bands including AC/DC (featuring George's brothers Angus and Malcolm). Mark Knopfler paid tribute to them in this song by giving the Sultans musicians the names Harry and Guitar George.

It is just a joy to watch you go through all of my favorite music and provide musical analysis

I never tire of hearing this song. Perfect in every way, every note.

The really magical guitar work in this one, to me, is all in the fills. The solos are great, but the fills do just about everything you can do with a riff on a guitar without using effects.

Dire Straits drummer Pick Withers was in a short-lived progressive band in the 70s called Spring. They made just the one, eponymous, album. They were based in my hometown and their keyboard player is a mate of mine.

Very entertaining, educational, and your enjoyment of it is engaging! Listened to this song over and over again as it played on the radio driving around with a good friend on Friday nights.

Hey! There ya go, Doug!!! Having a nice drink, while you listen to a great song! Love your channel!

The amount of music that came out of the 70's that'll last for centuries is mind-blowing.

Thanks for that. The analysis was interesting. Great choice of number.

Dam, it gives me chills down the spine everytime!

Don’t know what more to add then, you can ALWAYS tell when Mark is playing. Sharp bright, beautiful timing, hollow, brilliant

Really lifts my spirits every time

Love your reaction and background information. Cheers.

Apparently Harry and George who are mentioned are Harry Vanda and George Young, the songwriting duo Vanda & Young. George was the older brother of the Young brothers from AC/DC

I bought the first five Dire Straits albums on vinyl as they were released and remember happy times sitting around the record player in the downstairs teen cave with my buddies listening to them for the first time. The Mark K and Pick Withers combo was always an understated highlight of their early work. For me, Single Handed Sailor is Mark's best song ever out of a fantastic body of work.

Been playing this for 35+ years, it took on a new importance when my nephew and I jammed it at my mothers wake. Even my sister in law (who hates me) said she enjoyed us playing the song. I was doing the rhythm guitar. Love Straits, first song I played live in front of a paying audience was So Far Away, but it was nearly Sultans. Both are part of the inner circle of songs that I can just pick up a guitar and play, because I play them so often. Like Roxanne, Lick It Up, Rebel Rebel, China Girl, Turn It on Again and Message in a Bottle.

Always loved this song for the great guitar work.... clean and sharp.

One of their best is Telegraph Road. Another of his songs that tells a true story: the lyrics are so pertinent and the main solo is one of the best ever IMHO>

It’s amazing the love Sultans Of Swing has accumulated over the years. When I first first heard it in 1979 I wasn’t so sure about it. But my brother Doug immediately bought the single and I fell in love with it. I thought the B-Side titled Southbound Again was incredible as well. I fell in love with their first three albums: Dire Straits; Communique; and Making Movies. Mark’s album from 2009 titled Get Lucky is also a big favorite. I think it holds up with his best work. In fact, I’d say as a songwriter maybe it’s his best.

Just adding that there is some stuff deeper in Dire Straits' catalog that is profoundly unique and brilliant.

Doug!!! Thank you for critiquing this song, it was one of my Dad's favorite and in high school when it came out, he was asking me who they were, how many records do they have, "Just one, dad!" "Okay when do they come out w/another one??" It was so funny, but cool w/him liking this music. I was more into hard rock/metal, but these are great tunes. He loved playing Dire on his sailboat on a cassette player, back then. Keep up the great work, Doug!

I really appreciate that you list all the band mates at the beginning. It's nice to see the musicians being given credit.

One of my top 5 all time favorites! Right on!

First single off of debut album becomes international show-stopper - Dire Straits was a band that didn't need a couple of albums to suss out who they were. They had their sound nailed from the get-go.

I have just completed listening to Dire Straits' complete discography, and had a blast. Telegraph Road is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. Sultans of Swings is also very impressive! Doug, please react to the song "Sapphire" by a Swiss gothic metal band Lacrimosa

That drum fill at 6.45... Absolutely magical...

That was fun, thanks Doug ! I always think about a pub on the old bridge in Hereford when I hear this. I wonder why :)

Its amazing how you know the notes so well

Thanks for your reaction to this classic Dire Straits song, with your touch of musical references along with just pure enjoyment.

The musicality of the guitar is really amazing

Loved this song since my youth. So much fun to watch Dire Straits play this live.

I really dug this video Doug! My favorite song by this band is "Brothers in arm" I'd love to see you going through this tune. Thanks for bringing this content to us Doug

Knopfler is a guitarists guitarist. So clean, such elegant lines. A true expert who makes it sound effortless. My favorite Knopfler story is one day after several hours of band practice, the rest of the band went to the pub, Knopfler stayed behind to practice some more. His mates came back hours later to find Mark passed out on the couch, guitar still in hand. He had literally played until he dropped. And that's a significant part of why he's a legendary guitarist. The more I learned about guitar, the more I loved MK.

I have always loved the perfectly clean Strat sound of this track.

I honestly prefer the live version from what is in my humble opinion the best live album of the 1980s: Alchemy

One of those records that, on first hearing blew my mind! Anyone else?

Should have done the live version Alchemy absolute brilliance.

Thanks Doug, one my favourites, enjoy the rest of your day 😀

His finger picking rather than flat picking gives him such a unique sound

Just found you, your a tripper , love it your makimg the Melbourne winter very entertaining., Thanks Sean.

I would STRONGLY recommend listening to the Alchemy Live version. It is F'n incredible

One of those songs i can remember where i was when heard it first time.. I was just a little kid..

A Masterpiece of peaceful grooving🍷

This song is still a classic. It still amazes me that this became a hit.

IMO the live version from Alchemy live is even better. The crescendo gives me chills every time I watch it and the solos have even more impact for me

Dire Straits deserves an entire playlist, I swear

Sultans came out my senior year in HS/1st year in college. Love this tune!!!

When this came out in ‘78, damned the guitar solos were like a bolt of lightning…but what elevated this song from a really terrific single to the stratospheric level of rock songs, was when Allan Clark joined Dire Straits and they added all the dynamics between Knopfler’s guitar and Clark’s piano, and then, in Knopfler’s solo career, Jimmy Cox on piano. Alan Clark deserves a ton of credit for his work with Dire Straits.

Doug here's some interesting recommendations I started hearing some time ago: -No quarter by Led Zeppelin. -Equinoxe by Jean Michael Jarre -La carrozza di Hans by Premiata Forneria Marconi. -Viatge a Íaca by Lluis Llach. -Abre la puerta by Triana. -La poderosa muerte by Los Jaivas. -ElDorado: album by ELO. -Days of future passed: album by The Moody Blues. -The snow goose: album by Camel.

one of my all time favorites

Love the song and the dialogue & analysis

this song is a solo from start to end incredible song

Such a great tempo kept by David on Rhythm guitar. Mark plays with such a clean sound you can hear every note

One of the greatest guitar songs of all time ... absolutely brilliant

I first heard SoS on the John Peel radio show, when it was first released a long time before it was a hit. I was blown away and bought a copy from my local, specialist record store. In 1978 I got to see them in concert, playinng support to Talking Heads. That was one hell of a gig

I remember as a student I dreamed I was playing this outro solo and then I woke up and realised it was on the radio. I have loved this track ever since.

Saw Dire straits twice here in Australia (in the 80's), love this song of course, at one point during the show he broke a finger nail, he tried to fix it by biting it, then he asked if anyone had nail clippers or a file. He got about 10 thrown up on the stage and I expect lots of the audience were guitarists. It was a great show.

The entire album is phenomenal. So enjoyable all the way through. Such finesse. Superb, stylish guitar picking. Yeah, I love this album :)

Telegraph road is music art

The clean tone means everything to me!

love your stuff!

I remember seeing Dire Straits playing this on Top of the Pops in the UK when I was 16 and I was like "What's this??? Nobody told me about this! This is amazing!" Considering most of the rest of the chart was mostly disco with a smidgeon of punk, it's not surprising. (Though Kate Bush had her first single that year too...)

Mark's guitar style is amazing. He's a finger picker on an electric, which is where that distinct sound comes from. It means that he's able to pull off double and triple-notes very quickly and easily, arpeggio triplets are nothing, sudden stops, and playing chords by raking his fingers across the strings.. very versatile. He rehearsed the band so hard in the early days, and it showed because they were the tightest act out there at the time, and they cut through the UK charts like butter.

I loved this song from the very first note. I got to meet Mark as well after winning a contest in Toronto from Q107 many years ago.