Mark Knopfler Shares The Backstory Of Dire Straits’ Song ‘Sultans Of Swing’

Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler spoke in a recent interview with ‘Brian Johnson’s Life on the Road’ and talked about their iconic song, Sultans Of Swing.

Sultans Of Swing is considered the best song of Dire Straits, and it released back in 1977 from the self-titled album of the band. After one year, the song was re-recorded following its huge success.

In the conversation, Mark explained how he came up with the name of ‘Sultans Of Swing’ and the lyrics of the song, and he mentioned the time when he was chilling in a pub in London.

Mark stated that the pub was empty and there was a jazz band playing inside it. After their performance ended, the singer of the band called their name ‘Sultans Of Swing,’ and that’s the backstory of the legendary song.

Here is what Mark Knopfler said:

“’Sultans of Swing’ was actually in a little pub – there was a dusty little jazz, Dixieland jazz band playing down in the Deptford or Greenwich, and almost nobody in but some young lads over at the end of the pub, playing pool, in their baggies and their platforms.

I was just there to have a couple of pints. And at the end of the night, the trumpet player or whoever does the announcement says, ‘Well, um, right… That’s it, it’s time to go home.’

And he says, ‘We are the Sultans of Swing.’ And you couldn’t be less a sultan of anything, you know, if you were in that band, on that night, in that pub.”

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