1625 Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing

1625 Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing

From: Dire Straits, Year: 1978
Genre: Rock

I felt like listening to some Dire Straits this morning; I thought for sure that I'd picked this song in particular before, but apparently I didn't. I can't believe that I've only twice picked a song from Dire Straits; this was due to Warner Brothers getting pissy and taking down all of their songs off of YouTube a few years back. In fact any band that was on the Warner label was really difficult to find on there not too long ago; only now can you find some of it on YouTube. Because of this I wouldn't have been unable to post a YouTube link with the song, which is something I don't like doing. To say the least I'm glad that in the end Warner calmed back down and accepted YouTube's money.
Anyway, without a doubt this is the Dire Straits song I've heard the most over the years. My dad absolutely loves it; he bought the record for this song alone and would play it over and over again; I can only think of a few times that he let it go to another song before re-cuing the needle. Even with how much I've heard it I never grew to dislike the song because of my overexposure to it, which normally happens even with songs I like a lot.
This one is probably most memorable for Mark Knopfler's guitar playing and his extended solo. What always stuck me most about his playing style was how clean he keeps his sound and the precision at which he plays the instrument. Combine that with how technical his lines can be and the fact that he's the lead singer as well; you can see why he is considered by most, especially guitar players, as one of the greats.

Hear Sultans of Swing on YouTube.
Here is an excellent 11 minute live version on YouTube.



My song pick a year ago today: Rammstein - Der Meister

My song pick two years ago today: Jethro Tull - Nothing to Say

My song pick three years ago today: Bad Company - Seagull

My song pick four years ago today: Diana Ross - Do You Know Where You're Going To? (The theme from 'Mahogany')

+