In Praise Of..."Romeo And Juliet" by Dire Straits

You know those songs that seem to sneak up on you from out of nowhere, thwack you over the head, pummel your heart and leave you wondering where they've been all your life?

Dire Straits' "Romeo And Juliet" is the stand-out musical mugger for me.

The album that contains this meisterwerk, Making Movies, is one of my all-time favorite discs, due in no small part to the aforementioned track.  I'm talking pre-"Money For Nothing" Dire Straits.  You know, before they turned a bit shit.  (Sorry, Dire Straits, but the tunes on Making Movies wail all over almost everything that came after and you fucking KNOW it.)

This is a GREAT record, people.

Trying to articulate exactly why "Romeo And Juliet" gets me every time is what I'm going to do.

Firstly, the music is beautifully played.  Mark Knopfler is one of the most underrated guitar players around.  There's no one else like him.  He's not the greatest singer, but he's a marvelously expressive vocalist and a damn good songwriter to boot.

But I'm a Lyrics Man, and although every word of this song contributes to its perfection, there are a couple of lines that really grab me by the throat and choke me up whenever I hear them.

At its heart, "Romeo And Juliet" is the tale of two kids who are madly in love.  In the end, though, we find out that Romeo had a lot more invested in the relationship.  At this point I was going to quote the lines that hurt my heart every time, but quickly realized that every line is necessary, the way each line is sung - vital.

If you haven't heard this song before, please treat yourself.  No words could do it justice.  I will warn you though:  DO NOT seek out the official music video for this song, for it is almost enough to ruin the whole damn thing.  ALMOST, I said.

Try this, instead.  I apologize that it's a cheesy lyric video (and I'm not even going to get started on how some of the words shown are wrong), but every live version I could find has Knopfler singing like he's bored to tears and THAT IS NOT THE WAY TO SING IT, KNOPFLER.  It's fun to say "Knopfler".  Yeah.  Knopfler.  Plus, there's NO way I'm subjecting anyone to that freakish "official" video.  Uh-uh.  Not gonna happen.

And here's that abominable piece of crap, because I know you were going to seek it out in spite of my warnings: