The song itself, written by Knopfler, was inspired by his failed romance with Holly Vincent, lead singer of the short-lived band Holly and the Italians. The song speaks of a Romeo who is still very much in love with his Juliet, but she now treats him like "just another one of [her] deals". Knopfler has both stated and implied that he believes Vincent was using him to boost her career. The song's line, "Now you just say, oh Romeo, yeah, you know I used to have a scene with him," refers to an interview with 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
I wonder what Holly thought about this song, seeing as she would have immediately known it was about her .. She should at least be pleased to know she inspired a masterpiece ! .. BTW, I absolutely love her album "The Right To Be Italian" with Holly and The Italians .. It is a bona fide post punk / new wave classic .. Cheers, Wayne
I think she was crazy to leave a man like Mark Knopfler. Such a talented and charming man, not at all exalted by him success, rather shy and quite reserved, and who certainly was very much in love with her, so much so as to inspire a wonderful song like Romeo & Juliet
Sultans of Swing, Money for Nothing, Brothers in Arms, Romeo and Juliet. Such a wide variety of styles, very different songs, but all brilliant. Dire Straits were a really great group.
Tremendous song. Absolutely love it. My favourite part is the reference to "Somewhere" ("There's a place for us" - lyrics from that song), A song from "West side story" - which is basically a modern adaptation of "Romeo and Juliet" and hence the following lyrics - "You know the Movie song". Brilliant.
Lucy and I partying many years ago in college. Every day with her was unimaginably enjoyable. She was beautiful, so damn fun, and so genuine. She passed away not long ago. Lucy you will always be my Juliette
My favourite DS song, so beautiful, the guitar, the melody, the poetry, all comes together in a way that makes you feel every bit of the hurt. Thanks Harri, ❤
The "movie song" of which he sings is certainly :There's a Place for Us" from West Side Story which, as we all know is a retelling of Shakespear's Roneo and Juliet set in New York City in the early 1960's.
Heard this live at the Nelson Mandela 70th birthday tribute at Wembley. Think it was 1988. Eric Clapton played with them that night too. Absolutely wonderful.
'Brothers in Arms' is a beautiful song from Dire Straits that is well worth a listen. Mark Knopfler, the lead singer as well as brilliant guitarist and songwriter of Dire Straits has had his own solo career since 1988. He has explored music away from the big stadiums of Dire Straits. I love his ' Hill Farmer's Blues', Done With Bonaparte' and 'Song for Sonny Liston'. I highly recommend listening to Mark Knopflers solo work for more of his guitar work and great lyrics.
Tale of Romeo and Juliet was never expressed better or cooler than with this Dire Straits tune. SO GOOD!. Like the line at the beginning "Juliet, the dice were loaded from the start"
I've always love this song not only for the guitar playing but the way MK turned Shakespearian olde English and put it into modern slang English very clever. I think you would like all the song on his " golden heart " album he released after the break up of Dire Straits. A wonderful album.
The emotions that Mr Knopfler brings with his playing on this song (and on Tunnel of Love & Hand in Hand from the same album) are truly amazing. Few guitarists can make a listener respond in the way he does.
I feel and have felt EXACTLY the same about the guitar in the end. Someone once said to me, their songs or at least some of them could go on and on endlessly - and this song is the perfect example for this. I can´t really describe it - the end is so relaxed and open, not finished. Neither in words, story nor music. Maybe the guy gets lucky the next time and he´s obviously trying to. Another example for this is "Love over gold". And the few echoed guitar notes at the end evoked this picture in me of our Romeo roaming around grey, rainy streets in worker´s settlement, still in hope of finding love. For me Mark could go on like this for another five minutes, it was too short.
I love the way you do the analysis. It is very interesting and indirectly gives upliftment t our spirits indirectly to those who are intellectually inclined.
As is usual with Dire Straits songs, the live version has an extended guitar outro that is amazing. Definitely check it out, even if it's not for a reaction, just for yourself
The dice was loaded from the start; and i bet, and you exploded into my heart I think that's the real lyric and they got the subtitle wrong in the best part lol Edit- sorry i should also say that you did a great job here cheers my irish side even thinks your English half is cool
Harri, I highly recommend Franco Zefferilli's movie version of Romeo and Juliet. It's probably the best version and follows Shakespeare's version word for word. Some may find it hard to follow, however, having read it in high school it was a pleasant surprise for me. Cheers 🍻
Nice reaction to a lovely song. Now... for your own amusement and not necessarily to react to, you may want to check out the "official video" for the song. It will give you a different perspective, and it's quite funny and also rather sad. It's kind of an ode to the inept, wanna-be Romeo's of the world, those who could never quite pull it off. I relate to that quite a lot from my youthful days, now long gone. It's here if you're interested in checking it out. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-rC95MEenIxA.html
