About The Song
“Brothers in Arms” is a song by British rock band Dire Straits, the closing track on their fifth studio album of the same name, released in May 1985. It was written in 1982, the year of Britain’s involvement in the Falklands War.
In 2007, the 25th anniversary of the war, Mark Knopfler recorded a new version of the song at Abbey Road Studios to raise funds for British veterans who he said “are still suffering from the effects of that conflict.” “Brothers in Arms” has become a favourite at military funerals.
This song was written during the Falklands War and is described by some as an anti-war song.
“Brothers in Arms” was first released as a single on 18 October 1985. The song is reported to be the first CD single ever released;[better source needed] it was released in the United Kingdom in 1986.
The song’s lyrics, influence, and impact were discussed from a variety of musical and personal perspectives in the BBC radio programme and podcast Soul Music first broadcast in September 2012.
The music video, directed and animated by Bill Mather, produced by Simon Fields through Limelight Films and cinematographed by Francis Kenny, uses rotoscoping and shows the band performing, overlaid with images of the First World War. In contrast with the at-that-time very modern clip in “Money for Nothing”, the video clip has a very classic appearance in noisy black and white images.
“Brothers in Arms” won Grammy Award for Best Music Video at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards on 24 February 1987.
Video
Lyrics
These mist covered mountains
Are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be
Someday you’ll return to
Your valleys and your farms
And you’ll no longer burn to be
Brothers in arms
Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
I’ve witnessed your suffering
As the battle raged high
And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms
There’s so many different worlds
So many different suns
And we have just one world
But we live in different ones
Now the sun’s gone to hell and
The moon’s riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die
But it’s written in the starlight
And every line in your palm
We’re fools to make war
On our brothers in arms