Finish the lyric from Dire Straits' 'Sultans of Swing': 'Guitar George, he knows...'

The lyric from Dire Straits’ “Sultans of Swing” is “all the chords.” It describes Guitar George as a musician who understands the harmonic structure of what he plays, even while remaining a low-key figure in the song’s club scene.

Mark Knopfler wrote “Sultans of Swing” after seeing a jazz band perform in a nearly empty pub. The band’s grand name contrasted humorously with the modest venue, inspiring the song’s portrait of musicians playing for whoever happens to be listening.

Knopfler first composed the song on a National Steel guitar in open tuning, but it came alive for him after he played it on a 1961 Fender Stratocaster. That guitar became central to the recording’s fluid, highly recognisable sound. The song uses a D-minor setting and a distinctive descending chord movement.

The track was first released in 1978 and became a larger hit after its 1979 reissue. “Every guitar” and “every old song” fit the musical subject, but the canonical lyric is “all the chords.”