Mark Knopfler has experienced numerous memorable moments with Dire Straits. Although the band’s style may not appeal to everyone, their song ‘Money for Nothing’ has become a sonic symbol of 1980s yuppiedom. However, many of their other releases have had a more profound impact on listeners.

One of these is ‘Romeo and Juliet’, the 1981’s third and final single from the previous year’s Making Movies. While not as ubiquitous as hits the group would enjoy later in the decade, it was still a global success, with its tender nature and reworking of the tale of Shakespeare’s classic star-crossed lovers of the same names a potent coupling.

A rootsy composition that also contained flecks of the era’s new wave, the track is noted for opening with Knopfler’s wistful arpeggio on the resonator. Furthermore, his simple, delay-inflected lead line as the song closes is about as potent as anything in his expansive back catalogue.

The song was aptly Shakespearian, following a couple who are in love but can’t stay together, as it was inspired by the frontman’s very real heartbreak at the time of writing. In the track, which we can take as at least semi-autobiographical, Knopfler, or the ‘narrator’, attempts to make sense of his failed romance.

The Dire Straits leader was compelled to write the song after his complicated romance with Holly Vincent, the mastermind of shortlived new wavesad  outfit Holly and The Italians. Some have taken the lyrics as implying that the songwriter felt she might have used him to boost her career: “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?”

Vincent has also said: “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.”

Aside from the immediate theme of heartbreak that the song represents, there was a different form of regret coursing through it and the broader Making Movies. While Knopfler might have been struggling to get his head around breaking up with Vincent, something much more significant was also happening during this era: the artistic and personal schism between him and his younger brother, David, Dire Straits’ rhythm guitarist.

David Knopfler appeared on the first two Dire Straits albums, their self-titled 1978 debut and the following year’s Communiqué. However, the stress of recording two albums in a short time and touring them would take its toll on the brothers. David left the band in August 1980 following heated arguments with his older brother. His guitar tracks were almost complete for the record, too, but were re-recorded by Mark, who left him uncredited.

David later explained: “I left because it was no longer possible for Mark and I to work in the same band. We’d be walking around in the studio with eyes averted to the floor. We no longer had a communicating relationship.”

Listen to ‘Romeo and Juliet’ below.