Romeo and Juliet/Dire Straits

In honor of #Shakespeare400, here's our post from June 17, 2009 about songs inspired by Romeo and Juliet.

Romeo And Juliet, from Dire Straits' 1980 album Making Movies, translates the balcony scene from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet into a modern setting and idiom (Juliet says hey its romeo you nearly give me a heart attack/he's underneath the window she's singing hey lay my boyfriend's back/you shouldn't come around here singing up at people like that/Anyway what you gonna do about it?). The song also includes a subtle allusion to another adaptation of Shakespeare's play with the line: there's a place for us you know the movie song--a reference to the song Somewhere from West Side Story, which was itself an updated version of the Romeo and Juliet story. The two lovers pop up in many other songs too--e.g., (Just Like) Romeo & Julietby the Reflections--and of course Blue Oyster Cult's (Don't Fear) The Reaper is always there to remind us that Romeo and Juliet are together in eternity.

Dire Straits submitted by Bob McLeod
The Reflections and Blue Oyster Cult submitted by Carrie Jennott