2004 – Dire Straits – Romeo and Juliet (1980)

 

Escrita por Mark Knopfler, foi gravada entre 20 de junho e 25 de agosto de 1980, no Power Station Studio, em New York City e lançada em 15 de outubro de 1980, no disco Making movies, o terceiro disco da banda. Sairia também em compacto, em 9 de janeiro de 1981, com Solid rock como Lado B. Foi produzida por Mark Knopfler e Jimmy Iovine. A letra fala da história dos dois amantes do título, deixando entender que Julieta abandonou Romeu por outro cara, depois que ficou famosa e saiu do bairro pobre onde morava. Além de fazer referencia à peça de Shakespeare Romeu e Julieta, também faz referencia às peças West Side Story e My boyfriend's back. A canção começa com um arpégio no violão, tocado por Knopfler em um violão National Style O, a mesma que está na capa do LP Brothers in Arms, de 1985. O lick de piano foi feito por Roy Bittan e ele pegou emprestado um pouco do lick que ele mesmo fez pra canção Jungleland, do disco Born to run, de Bruce Springsteen. Roy Bittan fazia parte da E-Street Band, banda de Bruce. A canção foi inspirada no romance que Knopfler teve com Holly Vincent. Ela era cantora de uma banda chamada Holly and The Italians. Na canção, Knopfler fala de um Romeu (ele mesmo) que ama sua Julieta mas ela o trata como “just another one of her deals”, ou seja, apenas como mais um. Mark Knopfler já disse que pensa que ela o usou pra ganhar promoção na carreira dela. Tem uma frase que diz: “Now you just say oh Romeo, yeah, you know I used to have a scene with him”, referente à uma entrevista que ela deu na época onde ela diz: “What happened was that I had a scene with Mark Knopfler and it got to the point where he couldn't handle it and we split up”. Chegou ao número 8 no Reino Unido e número 5 na Irlanda. Mark Knopfler tocou volão, cantou e tocou guitarra. John Illsley tocou baixo. Pick Withers tocou bateria e percussão e Roy Bittan tocou piano e orgão Hammond.

A letra:

A lovestruck Romeo sang the streets a serenade
Laying everybody low with a love song that he made
Finds a streetlight, steps out of the shade
Says something like, "You and me, babe, how about it?"

Juliet says, "Hey, it's Romeo, you nearly gave me a heart attack"
He's underneath the window, she's singing, "Hey, la, my boyfriend's back
You shouldn't come around here singing up at people like that
Anyway, what you gonna do about it?"

"Juliet, the dice was loaded from the start
And I bet, and you exploded into my heart
And I forget, I forget the movie song
When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?"

Come up on different streets, they both were streets of shame
Both dirty, both mean, yes, and the dream was just the same
And I dreamed your dream for you and now your dream is real
How can you look at me as if I was just another one of your deals?

When you can fall for chains of silver you can fall for chains of gold
You can fall for pretty strangers and the promises they hold
You promised me everything, you promised me thick and thin, yeah
Now you just say "Oh, Romeo, yeah, you know I used to have a scene with him"

"Juliet, when we made love, you used to cry
You said 'I love you like the stars above, I'll love you 'til I die'
There's a place for us, you know the movie song
When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?"

I can't do the talks like they talk on the TV
And I can't do a love song like the way it's meant to be
I can't do everything but I'll do anything for you
I can't do anything except be in love with you

And all I do is miss you and the way we used to be
All I do is keep the beat, the bad company
All I do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme
Julie, I'd do the stars with you any time

"Juliet, when we made love you used to cry
You said 'I love you like the stars above, I'll love you 'til I die'
There's a place for us you know the movie song
When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?"

And a lovestruck Romeo, he sang the streets a serenade
Laying everybody low with a love song that he made
Find a convenient streetlight, steps out of the shade
He says something like, "You and me, babe, how about it?"

"You and me, babe, how about it?"

A versão do Dire Straits:

A versão de Lukas Nelson and POTR:

A versão de Yoni Schlesinger: