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MusicRadar
MusicRadar
Entertainment
Amit Sharma

“Playing with your fingers has something to do with immediacy and soul. You’re absolutely in touch with what’s going on”: How Mark Knopfler combined sublime fingerpicking and Shakespearean tragedy in a Dire Straits classic

Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits.

A top 10 hit in the UK in 1981, Romeo And Juliet is one of Dire Straits’ greatest songs, in which the writer, guitarist/vocalist Mark Knopfler, reimagined the Shakespearean tragedy and put a new twist on how the story unfolds.

The lyrics were inspired by Knopfler’s split from American musician Holly Beth Vincent, who moved over to London to focus on her new group Holly And The Italians. Their relationship came to an end when Vincent broke up with him on the phone and the lyrics to Knopfler’s song are based on a failing romance that’s ultimately doomed.

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