Mark Knopfler wrote “Romeo and Juliet”, Dire Straits’ first release of the ‘80s, after his breakup with Holly Vincent, lead singer of Holly and the Italians. The song’s narrator, “Romeo”, goes to visit his Juliet and calls out her name from a street light. Juliet responds by telling him that her boyfriend is there and not to come by unannounced. Romeo laments that he is still in love with Juliet and, in spite of how he has been treated, he’d still “Do the stars” with her anytime.
Romeo claims that he and his star crossed lover couldn’t get it together because “the timing was wrong,” although Juliet’s cold remarks about her Romeo tend to suggest otherwise. She tends to regard him as a small footnote in the book of her love life with the line “Romeo, yeah I used to have a scene with him.” (This is a reference to an interview Vincent gave, stating that she had a scene with Knopfler, and he couldn’t handle it.) The song has been covered by The Indigo Girls and The Killers since.
I honestly had no intention of writing about this song on this blog, as I have plans for it down the road. However, I did a 180 when I heard Matt Nathanson’s cover version of it on Pandora last week. I also realized what time of year it was. As much as I wanted to save this song for a long form essay to be featured in the future Anthology book, I feel that the time is right to post this now.
In an earlier post (“Good Luck, Goodbye”) I wrote about my short time with “The First Bobby Jean”. I had also made mention that she was one of only two women to make a mix CD for me. The live version of “Romeo and Juliet” from On The Night was one of the first tracks on the second side. She said that she put it on the tape because it was one of her favorites. The song, however, was a thinly veiled hint that our time together was not going to be a long lasting one. She said goodbye, and left Bloomington 13 years ago this week. I always find myself listening to this song a lot in the first part of May.
Was it that the timing was wrong? At first, I believed that it was. However, over time I’ve come to realize that the timing was right. Had we met at any other time with different circumstances, things may have turned ugly; making it difficult for us to remain friends over the years. We got the most out of that time, and frankly I wouldn’t change a thing. I still think very fondly of her, and I am happy that she has found the right man for her, as I have found the perfect woman for me.
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Romeo claims that he and his star crossed lover couldn’t get it together because “the timing was wrong,” although Juliet’s cold remarks about her Romeo tend to suggest otherwise. She tends to regard him as a small footnote in the book of her love life with the line “Romeo, yeah I used to have a scene with him.” (This is a reference to an interview Vincent gave, stating that she had a scene with Knopfler, and he couldn’t handle it.) The song has been covered by The Indigo Girls and The Killers since.
I honestly had no intention of writing about this song on this blog, as I have plans for it down the road. However, I did a 180 when I heard Matt Nathanson’s cover version of it on Pandora last week. I also realized what time of year it was. As much as I wanted to save this song for a long form essay to be featured in the future Anthology book, I feel that the time is right to post this now.
In an earlier post (“Good Luck, Goodbye”) I wrote about my short time with “The First Bobby Jean”. I had also made mention that she was one of only two women to make a mix CD for me. The live version of “Romeo and Juliet” from On The Night was one of the first tracks on the second side. She said that she put it on the tape because it was one of her favorites. The song, however, was a thinly veiled hint that our time together was not going to be a long lasting one. She said goodbye, and left Bloomington 13 years ago this week. I always find myself listening to this song a lot in the first part of May.
Was it that the timing was wrong? At first, I believed that it was. However, over time I’ve come to realize that the timing was right. Had we met at any other time with different circumstances, things may have turned ugly; making it difficult for us to remain friends over the years. We got the most out of that time, and frankly I wouldn’t change a thing. I still think very fondly of her, and I am happy that she has found the right man for her, as I have found the perfect woman for me.
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