How Shakespeare, (Probably) Bob Dylan, and an Ex-Girlfriend Inspired This Underappreciated Dire Straits Track

Dire Straits are best known (in the States, anyway) for their two mega hits, “Money for Nothing” and “Sultans of Swing”. These classic tracks grace virtually every Dad Rock playlist on the internet, including mine. But I’d argue that a different song from an album in between these two hits deserves just as much love. To be fair, the track was never released as a single in the U.S. So, there’s no chart position to reference against its peak in the U.K. at No. 8 and No. 5 in Ireland.

But of these three Dire Straits songs, only the first two continue to dominate the classic rock zeitgeist today. You’re far less likely to hear “Romeo and Juliet”, the second track on the British rock band’s third album, Making Movies. This album came out in 1980, two years after “Sultans of Swing” and five years before “Money for Nothing”.

The Making Movies track is far more contemplative, and the softer arrangement reflects that. Still, rock ‘n’ roll power abounds. That’s especially true as Mark Knopfler spits out the lines about Juliet and Romeo’s dice being “loaded from the start.” The song is as much a testament to Knopfler’s maturing songwriting as it is to the breadth of his influences.

The Star-Crossed Story Behind Dire Straits’ “Romeo and Juliet”

Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler followed a familiar formula when building the framework for “Romeo and Juliet”. These two Shakespearean characters are tragic lovers, destined never to be together, and largely because of their own shortcomings. The same goes for the Romeo and Juliet of the song, with a very much alive Romeo sounding very much not over his feelings for his ex-lover. As a breakup song alone, it’s pretty devastating. Listeners ought not indulge when lamenting over lost love.

“You promised me everything / You promised me thick and thin,” Knopfler sings. “Now, you just say, ‘Oh, Romeo, yeah, you know I used to have a scene with him.’” Oof. According to SongFacts, the song is believed to be loosely based on Knopfler’s relationship with Holly Vincent, frontwoman of Holly and The Italians. Vincent was reportedly quoted as saying, “What happened was that I had a scene with Mark Knopfler. It got to the point where he couldn’t handle it, and we split up.”

In addition to Shakespeare and painful life experiences, Knopfler references the 1963 hit by The Angels, “My Boyfriend’s Back”. “He’s underneath the window, she’s singing, ‘Hey, la, my boyfriend’s back.’” And, whether consciously or not, Knopfler certainly seems to embody a “Bob Dylan circa Blood on the Tracks” vibe in his vocal delivery. “Romeo and Juliet” could just as easily be “Tangled Up in Blue” with the almost clumsy way the narrator rehashes cumbersome emotions.

The Killers breathed new life into Dire Straits’ “Romeo and Juliet” with their late 2000s cover. The Las Vegas alt-rock band’s rendition is great in its own right. Frontman Brandon Flowers calls the original “one of the finest songs ever.”

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