The riff actually came from a song Knopfler wrote after his break up from girlfriend Holly Vincent. He was staying with his manager, Ed Bicknell, in Bicknell's flat in the Barbican, and he wrote a song, 'Suicide Towers': 'Sitting up here in Suicide Towers, Days and days, hours and hours. I'm getting out of here, I'm going out of the door, Ain't going out of no window.' He must have decided not to use that, but turned it into Expresso Love. He once heard someone say the words 'Hey, maestro' - he was passing a bus stop in America, and a kid got onto a bus and said "Hey, Maestro!" to the driver, and Knopfler thought it was a great phrase and decided to use it in a song.
The riff actually came from a song Knopfler wrote after his break up from girlfriend Holly Vincent. He was staying with his manager, Ed Bicknell, in Bicknell's flat in the Barbican, and he wrote a song, 'Suicide Towers': 'Sitting up here in Suicide Towers, Days and days, hours and hours. I'm getting out of here, I'm going out of the door, Ain't going out of no window.' He must have decided not to use that, but turned it into Expresso Love. He once heard someone say the words 'Hey, maestro' - he was passing a bus stop in America, and a kid got onto a bus and said "Hey, Maestro!" to the driver, and Knopfler thought it was a great phrase and decided to use it in a song.