Dire Straits was a hard band not to like when I was a kid. I first remember hearing them when Money for Nothing hit the screens. The song was great but it was the video that had me amazed. The 3D animation was groundbreaking.
The rest of the album was pretty solid too. Brothers in Arms is a particular favourite of mine. The evocative final track of the album is paced as a prayer and Mark Knopfler’s exquisite phrasing on the guitar is a masterclass.
Sultans of Swing is not on that album. Released in 1978 it’s based on Knopfler’s experience of seeing a band of that name playing to an empty pub.
OK, we’ve established the musical side of what’s going on with today’s post. What’s that got to do with the us side?
Fi and I for a long while were accompanied by my friend Gerard in leading the music ministry at our church. Fi on keyboard and vocals, Gerard on guitar and I was on bass.
At the end of each Mass, after a small amount of time Gerard would play his favourite song, Sultans of Swing. Once he’d started up I’d join in on the bass, syncing in with his rhythm. Some bars in Fi would laughingly round on us and remind us that we were in a church (even a church temporarily set up in a school hall, as St Benedict’s still is) and should not be launching into a jam session.
Gerard and I would quickly cut it out, and that would never stop us starting up again after the next mass we played at.
Anyhow, it’s a nice song.
Fifty for Fifi 
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