The track peaked at number 7 in the US charts and was their biggest commercial hit in the UK, peaking at number 2. The track also appeared on three compilation albums: 1988's Money for Nothing, 1998's Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits, and 2005's The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations.
Mark Knopfler wrote this song to celebrate the street buskers of London, hence the references to "Be-Bop-a-Lula" and "What'd I Say," two standards that might be part of a singer's repertoire in the mid-'80s.
