Some of the most enduring songs are the ones that completely buck tradition and convention, that is, they’re songs that a publisher would laugh you out of his office over if you were pitching. It’s ...

Released as the first single from Dire Straits‘ eponymous 1978 debut, “Sultans of Swing” hit No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has remained a staple song within the British rockers’ classic catalog.

‘Sultans of Swing’ was both the first single from Dire Straits’ debut album and a revealing first-person account of the average working band’s hardscrabble, often thankless existence playing British ...