Sultans of Swing
Sultans of Swing is a song by British rock band Dire Straits from 1978, which appeared on their debut album Dire Straits and was written by the band frontman Mark Knopfler .
The demo of the song was recorded in July 1977 at Pathway Studios in North London , and again for the band's debut album in February 1978 at Basing Street Studios. Because the record company wanted a less polished rock sound for the radio, an alternate version and single was released in April 1978 in some countries such as the UK and Germany .
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Someone is out on the street in London when it rains at night and hears Dixie from a bar . Since he likes the interpretation, he enters the shop. Even though the band plays really well, there are only a few guests. He takes a closer look at the band members: George on guitar is very experienced musically and plays very rhythmically; yet he can only afford an old guitar. Harry doesn't mind that the band isn't too successful, after all, he has a normal job during the day. On Friday evenings, however, he's in his element. In one corner, drunk boys are fooling around and not interested in the jazz band - after all, in their eyes it's not rock 'n' roll . At the end the band says goodbye with the words: "We are the Sultans of Swing".
The event was based on an experience Knopfler had in a small pub in Deptford , where most of the band lived at the time:
“When the boys said, 'Thank you very much , we're the Sultans of Swing ,' there was something really funny about it, because they weren't sultans at all. They were pretty tired little guys in sweaters. "
Cover versions
There is a cover version of Sultans of Swing by Frank Zander with a new German text and the title Das war'n Zeiten . This was first released in 1990 on the album Kurt - Quo vadis , then in 2005 on the album Rabenschwarz 2 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Birth of the legend: Sultans Of Swing (English), accessed on May 19, 2020
- ^ Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits | Song Stories | Rolling Stone. May 2, 2014, accessed May 16, 2020 .