{"id":725373,"date":"2026-06-09T15:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T15:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/725373\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T15:09:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T15:09:13","slug":"i-said-youve-got-to-be-joking-you-cant-put-out-a-record-about-a-trad-band-playing-in-a-pub-and-expect-it-to-sell-the-story-of-the-classic-dire-straits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/725373\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI said, \u2018You\u2019ve got to be joking! You can\u2019t put out a record about a trad band playing in a pub and expect it to sell!\u2019”: the story of the classic Dire Straits song that’s often imitated, but rarely mastered"},"content":{"rendered":"

By the summer of 1977, Mark Knopfler<\/a> had jacked in his job as an English lecturer in Essex and moved in with his guitarist brother, David. They lived with bassist John Illsley<\/a> in a flat in Deptford, way down south, London town. <\/p>\n

One cold, rainy evening they stepped into a local pub where a group of old boys were playing Dixieland jazz music in the corner to the complete indifference of the patrons. Their set closed, and they signed themselves off as the Sultans Of Swing. The exotic majesty of their name clashed beautifully with the drab reality of their surroundings, and Mark Knopfler was inspired.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Back at the flat the lyrics came quickly, and the music was composed on his trusty National steel guitar. It was when he plugged his 1961 Strat<\/a> into Illsley\u2019s Fender Vibrolux<\/a> amp that he knew he had something.<\/p>\n

Latest Videos From\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Dire Straits en concert au Th\u00e9\u00e2tre de l’Empire \u00e0 Paris (1978) | Archive INA – YouTube
\n\"Dire<\/p>\n

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Honed over months of gigging at small venues from Deptford to Covent Garden, Sultans Of Swing was one of five songs Dire Straits<\/a> recorded on their first demo. When that was picked up by legendary Radio London DJ Charlie Gillett, the phone began to ring.<\/p>\n

I loved them and wanted to sign them, but I was too late \u2013 they\u2019d already shaken hands on a deal with Phonogram for their Vertigo imprint<\/p>\n

Manager Ed Bicknell recalls that A&R men were \u201cleaping out of their baths\u201d to sign them, and Muff Winwood was one of them. Formerly a member of The Spencer Davis Group with his brother Steve, he had become a talent scout and occasional producer for Island Records. \u201cSomeone tipped me off about this great band,\u201d he recalled, \u201cso I went to see them in Aylesbury. I loved them and wanted to sign them, but I was too late \u2013 they\u2019d already shaken hands on a deal with Phonogram for their Vertigo imprint.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Winwood was unaware that he happened to be top of the band\u2019s list to produce their debut album. Island head Chris Blackwell consented, and so the band entered Island\u2019s London studios in Basing Street in February 1978. \u201cMy first thought,\u201d remembers Winwood, \u201cwas that I don\u2019t have to change a lot or fiddle about.<\/p>\n

They\u2019d been playing Sultans live for a year or so, so they knew it inside out. Like all good bands they\u2019d made all the mistakes, knew the good bits and chucked out the bad. John and Pick [Withers, Straits\u2019 drummer], were a great rhythm section, so I concentrated on getting the bass guitar and bass drum locked in tight together. Mark took care of himself; you just had to say go and off he went.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want all the hottest music and gear news, reviews, deals, features and more, direct to your inbox? Sign up here. <\/p>\n

Through constant rehearsal and live performance, the left-handed Knopfler had built up what he called his \u201clittle store of licks\u201d. Some had become part of the furniture of the song, such as the fleet-fingered arpeggios outlining the Dm, Bb and C in the outro. Despite the complexity of his technique, he has often claimed he didn\u2019t really know what he was doing. He was just \u201cdoing his thing\u201d. His parts on Sultans were played on his Strat, and while there\u2019s no clear record of the amp, at the time he was gigging with a Music Man HD-130.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery guitarist has his own sound,\u201d says Winwood. \u201cYou start off with that, call him into the control booth and say, \u2018We can do this to improve it\u2019, then twiddle a knob and ask if that\u2019s better. We got the guitar hire company to bring a pile of different amps and effects boxes in and dump them in the studio, and said, \u2018Plug into that and see how that sounds\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dire Straits – Sultans Of Swing (Official Music Video) – YouTube
\n\"Dire<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

I said, \u2018You\u2019ve got to be joking! You can\u2019t put out a record about a trad band playing in a pub and expect it to sell!’<\/p>\n

Preferring a sparse sound, Knopfler\u2019s guitar was treated with just compression and reverb. Winwood contends that the sound comes from the man. \u201cAt the end of the day, what makes a piece of music get to your heart is the touch of the player. It\u2019s human. If there weren\u2019t any effects on there Mark would\u2019ve made it sound brilliant. It\u2019s not to do with gear, it\u2019s all to do with the way the brain sends signals to his fingers. That\u2019s what makes him so special.\u201d<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/p>\n

When the record company opted for Sultans as the lead single, Muff, for one, was incredulous. \u201cI said, \u2018You\u2019ve got to be joking! You can\u2019t put out a record about a trad band playing in a pub and expect it to sell!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Dire Straits – Sultans Of Swing (Live Aid 1985) – YouTube
\n\"Dire<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

But they did, that May. Radio 1 deemed it too wordy and declined to add it to their playlist \u2013 a crushing blow in those days. Although it faltered at home the song travelled well, becoming a hit first in Holland, then across the rest of Europe and as far as New Zealand.<\/p>\n

With the album recorded, Winwood himself had moved on to CBS Records, to head up their A&R department. \u201cBut occasionally I\u2019d meet Phonogram people who said, \u2018You\u2019d never guess, that Sultans Of Swing is getting played all over Holland, all over Germany\u2019. Strangest of all, the Americans liked it, which I couldn\u2019t believe! It was such an un-American song.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark Knopfler – Sultans Of Swing (An Evening With Mark Knopfler, 2009) – YouTube
\n\"Mark<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

Nevertheless, US radio did latch onto the song. Bicknell negotiated a deal with Warner Records, and Sultans Of Swing landed at No 4 on the Billboard Chart in early 1979. In a delicious twist, Radio 1\u2019s Paul Gambaccini then played it on his weekly round-up of US Top 40 hits: the \u2018over-wordy\u2019 single finally made the UK\u2019s biggest radio station. Re-released, it went Top 10, and Dire Straits became the best-selling UK debut album since Led Zeppelin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sultans would become Dire Straits\u2019 signature anthem, making Mark Knopfler\u2019s reputation as a world-class guitarist and pointing the way to the band\u2019s incredible future success. \u201cThere was very little interest in them at first,\u201d smiles Winwood, 33 years on. \u201cThen all of a sudden it just went bang.\u201d<\/p>\n

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