Tag Archives: Peter Sarsdedt

Reflections on Dire Strait’s Romeo and Juliet. Was it time and place or is it the greatest love song ever written?

 

Romeo and Juliet / Solid Rock by Dire Straits (Single; Vertigo; 6059 364): Reviews, Ratings, Credits, Song list - Rate Your Music

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. 

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Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)

I was listening to one of my playlists and up came Peter Sarsdedt’s Where Do You Go To (My Lovely) released in 1969. I bought it when it was released as a 45 and have been captivated by the song ever since. Infact it haunts me!

If you can’t remember go to Spotify and listen to it.

The song is apparent,y fictional which I find so hard to believe, as it seems so personal and full of scorn. Read the lyrics and see if you agree with me?

You talk like Marlene Dietrich
And you dance like Zizi Jeanmaire
Your clothes are all made by Balmain
And there’s diamonds and pearls in your hair, yes there are

You live in a fancy apartment
Off the Boulevard Saint-Michel
Where you keep your Rolling Stones records
And a friend of Sacha Distel, yes you do

But where do you go to my lovely
When you’re alone in your bed
Tell me the thoughts that surround you
I want to look inside your head, yes I do

I’ve seen all your qualifications
You got from the Sorbonne
And the painting you stole from Picasso
Your loveliness goes on and on, yes it does

When you go on your summer vacation
You go to Juan-les-Pins
With your carefully designed topless swimsuit
You get an even suntan on your back and on your legs

And when the snow falls you’re found in Saint Moritz
With the others of the jet-set
And you sip your Napoleon brandy
But you never get your lips wet, no you don’t

But where do you go to my lovely
When you’re alone in your bed
Won’t you tell me the thoughts that surround you
I want to look inside your head, yes I do

Your name, it is heard in high places
You know the Aga Khan
He sent you a racehorse for Christmas
And you keep it just for fun, for a laugh, a-ha-ha-ha

They say that when you get married
It’ll be to a millionaire
But they don’t realize where you came from
And I wonder if they really care, or give a damn

Where do you go to my lovely
When you’re alone in your bed
Tell me the thoughts that surround you
I want to look inside your head, yes I do

I remember the back streets of Naples
Two children begging in rags
Both touched with a burning ambition
To shake off their lowly-born tags, so they try

So look into my face Marie-Claire
And remember just who you are
Then go and forget me forever
But I know you still bear the scar, deep inside, yes you do

I know where you go to my lovely
When you’re alone in your bed
I know the thoughts that surround you
‘Cause I can look inside your head

(na na-na-na na na-na-na na-na na na na na)
(na na-na-na na na-na-na na-na na na na na
)

The words seems so personal, of someone looking so scornfully at a person who they must have once loved and has been cast aside.