A lovestruck romeo sings a streetsus serenade
Laying everybody low with me a lovesong that he made
Finds a convenient streetlight steps out of the shade
Says something like you and me babe how about it ?

Juliet says hey it's romeo you nearly gimme 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 were loaded from the start
And I bet and you exploded in my heart
And I forget the movie song
When you wanna realise it was just that the time was wrong juliet ?

Come up on differents 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 your dream is real
How can you look at me as if I was just another one of your deals ?

Where 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 think and thin
Now you just says 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 till I die
There's a place for us you know the movie song
When you gonna realise it was just that the time was wrong juliet ?

I can't do the talk like they talk on tv
And I can't do a love song like the way it's meant to be
I can't do everything but I'd 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 do is keep the beat and 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 till I die
There's a place for us you know the movie song
When you gonna realise it was just that the time was wrong juliet ?

A lovestruck romeo sings a streetsus serenade
Laying everybody low with me a lovesong that he made
Finds a convenient streetlight steps out of the shade
Says something like you and me babe how about it ?



Lyrics submitted by anieloo

Track duration: 06:00

"Romeo and Juliet [DVD]" as written by Mark Knopfler

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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Romeo And Juliet song meanings
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123 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:I once won a woman over by playing this on the guitar on an early date ... and then we were together a long time. It was always sort of "our song" -- and after we broke up, these lines meant something new to me as I spent night after night drinking with the regulars at a neighborhood bar:

    And all I do is miss you and the way we used to be
    All do is keep the beat and bad company

    The latter line, to me, means the narrator keeps going through the motions of life (perhaps as a musician, literally keeping the beat, or maybe it's just metaphorical) while using drugs, alcohol, one-night stands, you name it, to try and hide the pain. "Bad company" usually means people who are trouble, bad news, lacking character; but it can also be seen as a way of saying Juliet was good company. I don't think "band company" makes as much sense, although maybe the band is itself bad company.
    Flag 8lincoln30on February 08, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This is one of my favorite songs ever. It's so sweet and romantic. Also "I can't to anything but I'll do anything to you. I can't do anything except be in love with you" Has to be the sweeties line in the world and i can really relate to it.
    Flag thrashgrunge4lifeon December 17, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:The first time I heard this song 'All I can do is kiss you, through the bars of a rhyme'~ That blew me away. The picture of the discarded lover, left with only words to try and change her mind is stunning. 'I dreamed your dream for you, and now your dream is real' and her attitude is 'oh, Romeo, I used to have a scene with him- a 'scene' as from a play. It's a play, old as time, playing out either by lamplight or streetlight. Yet, he knows that it was folly~ 'just that the time was wrong'.
    Flag caitriona4on November 24, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:The first time I heard this song 'All I can do is kiss you, through the bars of a rhyme'~ That blew me away. The picture of the discarded lover, left with only words to try and change her mind is stunning. 'I dreamed your dream for you, and now your dream is real' and her attitude is 'oh, Romeo, I used to have a scene with him- a 'scene' as from a play. It's a play, old as time, playing out either by lamplight or streetlight. Yet, he knows that it was folly~ 'just that the time was wrong'.
    Flag caitriona4on November 24, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Where the above lyrics say 'All I do is keep the beat' it should then say '& the BAND company'

    That whole verse is built on metaphors that portray his music as being the only avenue he has to survive, to reach out with, to mourn through & the prison cell imagery portrays feelings of being locked out of her life.

    'And all I do is miss you and the way we used to be;
    All do is keep the beat and the BAND company
    All I do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme
    Julie I'd do the stars with you any time'

    The lyrics are sooo touching the bring a tear to my eye at times, I adore this song. Beautifully written, sung & performed, an absolute classic.
    Flag Lindalouon November 03, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:to the contributor that said neither makes sense....I agree with the bars of Orion...Ridiculous,
    but...Bars are the segmants that music is divided into...add a rhyme and you have a song.
    Thus...the bars of a Rhyme...ie"(a song)
    Again...I own the original album and it contained the words in the liner notes.
    By the wat Streetsus is ridiculous. There is actually a version of this that Mark performed with Chet Atkins where he makes a distinct break...thus
    A lovestruck Romeo sings the streets....a serenade....Very clea rand distinct.
    Flagged Garyhessonon October 30, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:According to the liner notes on the original LP
    A lovestruck Romeo, sings the streets a serenade
    Also...Through the bars of a Rhyme
    Mark Knopler was a great lyricist but was not known for making up words
    Flagged Garyhessonon October 30, 2012   Link
  • 0
    My Interpretation:Like most everybody here, I have loved this song since I was a teenager. I find the lyrics to be deeply poetic and I think that this is one of the best songs of my generation. I have noticed a lot of discussion over the "All I do is kiss you through the bars of a rhyme" and whether or not it is 'Orion or Rhyme'. I think that it is definitely 'Rhyme' and here is my interpretation of what the meaning is. I think that MK is talking figuratively of the 'musical staff' that actually looks like bars on a jail cell. So the double meaning is that she has discarded him and the closest he can get to kissing her is through his song - so she has locked him-out and jailed him behind his yearning and regret. She has rejected him and so he can't actually kiss her, only through the bars of his rhyme.

    Cheers!
    Flag rmdeanon October 07, 2012   Link
  • 0
    My Opinion:Isn't this song really about West Side Story rather than Shakespeare? I thought I read somewhere in an interview that Mark Knopfler confirmed that. West Side Story was written as sort of a modern-day Romeo and Juliet . The musical theme from West Side Story was "A Time for Us." Thus the lyric "....it was just that the time was wrong...."
    Flag Jgilberton July 17, 2012   Link
  • +3
    Memory:I can't say how much this song means to me. It's the song of the best friend I ever had and me, my Juliet and me. In every second I miss her I hear this song in my head.
    Flag ramblingponyon June 09, 2012   Link

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