By the summer of 1977, Mark Knopfler had jacked in his job as an English lecturer in Essex and moved in with his guitarist brother, David. They lived with bassist John Illsley in a flat in Deptford, way down south, London town. One cold, rainy evening they stepped into a local pub where a group of old boys were playing Dixieland jazz music in the corner to the complete indifference of the patrons. Their set closed, and they signed themselves off as the Sultans Of Swing. The exotic majesty of their name clashed beautifully with the drab reality of their surroundings, and Mark Knopfler was inspired.
Back at the flat the lyrics came quickly, and the music was composed on his trusty National steel guitar. It was when he plugged his 1961 Strat into Illsley’s Fender Vibrolux amp that he knew he had something.
