Do You Like It Strong?

Song 257: This week seems like a good time for the playlist to feature a taste of Expresso Love by Dire Straits, written by Mark Knopfler. Dire Straits had already become one of the few bright spots in the late '70s (see Song 132: Down to the Waterline) during an era when rock and roll didn't appear to have that many, and when the band's 3rd LP Making Movies came along in the fall of 1980, they seemed to shine quite a bit brighter. A few friends picked up the album right away, so that by the time I bought my own copy I had heard the whole set a few times through, but still, for the first spin on my turntable, this track, which opened side 2 back in the vinyl days, sounded so good that I felt like it might jump off the record and spin up through the ceiling of my room. I don't drink coffee, but I've got several good friends who do, such as Jeff Larson (who wrote a song called Coffee at Midnight that will probably appear on this list at some point), so I well understand the lyrical reference to a lover who makes the singer feel a very strong, edgy spark similar to what a cup of expresso might inspire. My Oakland ex-roommate Doug and I had at least one conversation where we laughed about the line Boys don't know anything and about how true it is that guys like us would so often be clueless about women and relationships. About 9 years after the record's release, I met a woman who reminded me of the character in this song, to the point that, even though she never said the line contained near the end of it, I felt like I wanted to say to her, "No, I'm not just another one just like the other one." We actually didn't have that conversation, but during the few months that we interacted, I listened to this cut over and over. If you're wondering who the keyboard player was who added all those tasty riffs to this mix, that would be Roy Bittan, who is best known as a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, and who just happens to have a birthday coming up on Thursday of this week (7/2).