Mark Knopfler – Romeo and Juliet

This Shakespearian song is about a couple who are in love, but can’t find a way to stay together. The guy in the song is particularly heartbroken, trying to make sense of how it all went wrong. His conclusion: It’s just that the time was wrong. He knows he’ll always love her.

“Romeo and Juliet” is a rock song by the British rock band Dire Straits, written by frontman Mark Knopfler. It first appeared on the 1980 album Making Movies and was released as a single in 1981. The song subsequently appeared on the Dire Straits live albums Alchemy and On the Night, and later on Knopfler’s live duet album with Emmylou Harris, Real Live Roadrunning (though Harris does not perform on the track). The track was also featured on the greatest hits albums Money for Nothing, Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits, and The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations.

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.

The live concert “A Night In London” was recorded in the BBC building in April 1996 and includes songs from Mark’s first solo album Golden Heart as well as several Dire Straits hits and classic film themes.

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Mark Knopfler - Romeo and Juliet

Mark Knopfler - Romeo and Juliet (Radio 2 Piano Room)03:33

“Romeo and Juliet” – Single by Dire Straits from the album Making Movies, released on January 9th 1981.

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