As has become a habit in recent months, I woke early and lay in bed listening to music. I have found Spotify’s AI DJ to be a useful way to while away the early hours. It produces a mix of songs based on my listening. It can be a bit repetitive, but it’s easy.
As I was listening, up came Dire Straits, Romeo and Juliet, a Mark Knopfler song that apparently draws on his failed romance with Holly Vincent. I have always thought it was a captivating and emotional ballad, and while it may not be the critics’ choice, it is head and shoulders above my number one Dire Straits song.
The song’s Shakespearean title sets the scene. To Romeo, it is a tragic tale of unfulfilled love, and although it has gone sour, Juliet is the true love of his life; it is ‘just that the time was wrong’.
He, ‘A love struck Romeo sings the street a serenade’, ‘He’s underneath the window’ and is hit with Juliet’s cutting retort ‘Hey, la, my boyfriend’s back’ showing her love has moved on. She passes him off with ‘Oh, Romeo, yeah, you know I used to have a scene with him’ and he’s ’just one of her deals’. The latter is such a put-down. It is a callous rejection.
