Song 496: This week the playlist showcases Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits, written by Mark Knopfler, and you can find a YouTube video of it by clicking on the title. This hit started coming across the airwaves shortly after I arrived in Oakland, CA, in the fall of 1978, and I clearly remember a transistor radio playing it while I hung out with a couple of friends just outside the front door of the house where I lived. In addition, I remember hearing it coming out of a car radio on a ride I had gotten while hitching through the southern part of Sonoma County in the years before I owned a car, and at the time, I strongly agreed with the woman giving me the lift when she said that Dire Straits was one of the best-sounding ensembles of the era. On this particular cut, lead singer/songwriter Knopfler demonstrates a Dylan fascination/obsession that I had experienced myself a few years earlier, but that I had worked hard to overcome, and I felt I had gotten beyond it by the time this track came along, so I thought I might have some lessons to teach Mark, but I also understood and could identify with his Dylan fixation. Setting all that aside, MK's guitar work on this record amazed me the first time around, and it still does - he can make it cry or sing, and if you're like me, you feel all right when you hear that music ring.
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