Laying everybody low with a love song that he made
Finds a streetlight, steps out of the shade
Says something like, "You and me babe—how 'bout it?"
Juliet says, "Hey it's Romeo. You nearly gave me a heart attack"
He's underneath the window; she's singing, "Hey, la, my boyfriend's back.
You shouldn't come around here singing up at people like that.
Anyway what you gonna do about it?"
Juliet, the dice was loaded from the start
And I bet, then you exploded into my heart
And I forget, I forget the movie song
When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?
Come up on different streets, they both were streets of shame
Both dirty, both mean, yes, and the dream was just the same
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?
When you can fall for chains of silver you can fall for chains of gold
You can fall for pretty strangers and the promises they hold
You promised me everything, you promised me thick and thin, yeah.
Now you just say, "Oh Romeo, yeah. you know, I used to have a scene with him."
Juliet, when we made love you used to cry
You said, "I love you like the stars above, I'll love you 'til I die."
There's a place for us, you know the movie song
When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?
I can't do the talks like they talk on the TV
And I can't do a love song like the way it's meant to be
I can't do everything but I'll do anything for you
I can't do anything except be in love with you
And all I do is miss you, and the way we used to be
All I do is keep the beat, the bad company
All I do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme
Julie, I'd do the stars with you any time
Juliet, when we made love you used to cry
You said, "I love you like the stars above, I'll love you 'til I die."
There's a place for us, you know the movie song
When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong, Juliet?
And a lovestruck Romeo sings a street suss serenade
Laying everybody low with a love song that he made
Find a convenient streetlight, steps out of the shade
And says something like, "You and me babe—how 'bout it?"
"You and me babe—how about it?"
Mark Knopfler, Dire Straits
♥♥♥♥♥♥
A few trivial, useless but nevertheless fun facts - you may or may not care to know. . .
♥It's always been a favourite of mine
♥Yes, I'm a (shameless) eighties child
♥I don't care what anyone says - the video clip IS cool - enough random to be . . . well . . . random.
♥I always loved that she chewed bubblegum
♥I also loved that the "chick seemed cooler than the guy" - with so many horribly sexist video clips flying around in that era I'm not surprised I was drawn to the imagery in this one. Then again I also liked "Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse Of The Heart" so there goes my credibility.
♥The song contains (arguably) one of the greatest lines ever written . . .
"All I do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme, Julie, I'd do the stars with you any time"
(I'm a sucker for romance and an even bigger sucker for romantic lyrics)
and last but definitely not least . . .
I found out today that one of MY ALL TIME FAVES covered this very song, QUITE A LONG TIME AGO! How did this escape my knowledge? I do not know.
Here are both versions for your listening pleasure . . .
I'm thinking of having a regular series of posts that play host to great songs with dubious video clips.
I have visited this space so many times with the sincere intention of sharing.
I log in and start typing and then save as draft - often after only two lines.
I've done this sixteen times. SIXTEEN.
Then I decided that this ride on my carousel of misery had to end. stop. finish.
(it always comes down to a decision doesn't it?)
With viking determination I drafted "my last post" and as I wrote I started laughing.
Such drama - a title that implies going off to war, defending my country, dying.
A martyr.
Then that old best bud called self doubt dropped round with a cup of critique.
It sounded a lot exactly like this:
"ridiculous. a quitter. a quitter with only a handful of followers.
for heavens sake it's not like Joanna Goddard has decided to pull up stumps
get a grip. get a grip. just say goodbye. just. give. up."
Two hours and three cups of tea later.
More self doubt
More self doubt
More self doubt
That's when I realised something truly, truly life changing.
NO ONE GIVES A SH*T
Unless I do.
How utterly perfect and just and fair.
How brilliantly poetic and how sublimely non bulldust.
All that indecisive crap and no one in the world knew what I was thinking - or cared - or had their life altered in anyway by my petty self doubt.
It's only taken me 41 years to fully digest this nugget. fully.
To comprehend the quantum leap that can be made when you stop thinking anyone else's thoughts and only think your own.
Miraculous change occurred immediately.
I felt physically lighter.
I had new ideas.
I decided not to stop writing caring
I decided that this space was like ANY OTHER space in my world.
My bedroom, my car, my favourite park, my marriage, my favourite beach.
All that mattered was that it matters to me
In fact whether it was ONLINE or OFFLINE or HANDWRITTEN or even just DAYDREAMED INTO THE ETHER... If it's mine - then I should love it.
If I'm here then I should BE HERE.
If I want to write (about any darn thing under the sun) then I SHOULD WRITE.
