Twisting by the Pool

"Twisting by the Pool"
Single by Dire Straits
from the album ExtendedancEPlay
B-side
  • "Two Young Lovers"
  • "If I Had You"
Released14 January 1983[1]
GenreRock and roll
Length3:28
LabelVertigo
Songwriter(s)Mark Knopfler
Producer(s)Mark Knopfler
Dire Straits singles chronology
"Private Investigations"
(1982) 		"Twisting by the Pool"
(1983) 		"Love over Gold (Live Version)"
(1984)

Twisting by the Pool is a 1983 song by British rock band Dire Straits which appears on ExtendedancEPlay. It was released as a single in 1983, peaking at No. 1 in New Zealand, No. 14 on the UK Singles Chart[2] and at No. 12 on the US Billboard Top Tracks chart.[3]

The song was performed live as early as 1979 and is featured on the Live at the Rainbow concert recorded in London, December 1979 and released in 2024 as part of the Dire Straits Live 1978-1992 box set.

According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Universal Music Publishing Group, the song is set in the time signature of common time, with a tempo of 182 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of A major with Knopfler's vocal range spanning from A2 to E4. The song has a basic sequence of A–D–E as its chord progression.[4]

William Ruhlmann of AllMusic retrospectively praised the song, calling it "the closest thing to exuberant rock & roll this seemingly humorless band had ever attempted."[5]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference NL was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Rock was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Twisting By the Pool By Dire Straits – Digital Guitar Tab". Universal Music Publishing Group. 22 November 2010. Retrieved 18 June 2014 – via Musicnotes.com.
  5. ^ Ruhlmann, William. "Dire Straits – Twisting by the Pool". AllMusic. Retrieved 17 April 2014.