Brothers in Arms (song)

"Brothers in Arms"
Single by Dire Straits
from the album Brothers in Arms
B-side	"Going Home: Theme of the Local Hero (Live)" & "Why Worry (Instrumental segment)"
Released	1985
Format	7" vinyl , CD
Recorded	1984
Genre	Roots rock blues rock soft rock
Length	6:58 (Album version) 6:05 (Edited version) 4:55 (Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits version)
Label	Vertigo Records/Warner Bros. Records
Songwriter(s)	Mark Knopfler
Producer(s)	Neil Dorfsman, Mark Knopfler
Dire Straits singles chronology
"Money for Nothing" (1985) "Brothers in Arms" (1985) "Walk of Life" (1985)
"Money for Nothing" (1985) "Brothers in Arms" (1985) "Walk of Life" (1985)

"Brothers in Arms" is a 1985 song by Dire Straits, appearing as the closing track on the album of the same name. It was written in 1982, the year of the Falklands War. It was re-released in 2007 as a special edition to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the conflict and raise funds for veterans of it with posttraumatic stress disorder.^[1]

History

There are two studio recorded versions of this song: the album version which is 6:55 minutes, and the shorter version which is 6:05 minutes and features slightly different (and shorter) solos at the beginning and end of the song. The version that appears on Dire Straits' greatest hits album, Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits, is 4:55. The version included on the live album On the Night contains an extra pedal steel guitar solo and is 8:55. The full-length, studio album version (6:55) was also included on the 2005 compilation Private Investigations.

Mark Knopfler recorded and usually played the song on a Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar, rather than his usual Schecter "Stratocaster",^[2] and the sunburst Les Paul appears in the distinctive promo video, which is in the style of a charcoal drawing, interspersing scenes of the band playing with scenes of war. During Dire Straits' 1992 "On Every Street" tour, Knopfler used his Pensa-Suhr MK1 for this song, like most of the others.

The song is reported to be the first CD single ever released;^[3] it was released in the United Kingdom in 1985.

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.^[4]

The song appeared in the second season episode "Out Where the Buses Don't Run" of Miami Vice, the third season episode "I Coulda Been a Defendant" of Due South, and the second season finale of The West Wing, "Two Cathedrals".^[5] In each instance, it is used over the climactic scenes of the episode. It was also featured in the 2001 movie Spy Game and most recently in the series finale, "START", of The Americans.

Music video

The music video uses rotoscoping and shows the band performing, overlaid with images of the First World War.^[6] 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.^[7]

"Brothers in Arms" won Grammy Award for Best Music Video at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards in 24 February 1987.

Track listings

7" Single

1. "Brothers In Arms" - 6:04
2. "Going Home (Theme of the Local Hero)" (Live) - 4:45

Charts

Cover versions

• Gregorian covered the song for their album Masters of Chant, Chapter 1-3
• Vienna Symphonic Orchestra Project did an instrumental cover for their 1986 VSOP, Vol. 1 album
• Folk singer Joan Baez covered the song for her 1987 album, Recently^[9] and also included it at the start and end of her 1991 compilation album Brothers in Arms.^[10]
• Serbian rock band Galija covered the song, with lyrics in their native language, entitled "Kad me pogledaš" on their 1989 album Korak do slobode
• Ann Corfield performed this as the opening theme to the 1991 film McBain^[11]
• Metallica covered the song at the 2007 Bridge School Benefit fundraiser^[12]
• The Finnish Symphonic power metal band Northern Kings covered the song on their 2007 album Reborn
• Ryan Kelly covered this song as part of the 2007 Celtic Thunder DVD and during the 2008 tour
• The Finnish a cappella band Club for Five covered the song on their 2009 album You're the Voice
• Nina Persson and Georg Wadenius performed a version on Wadenius' 2009 album Reconnection
• Alex Cornish performed a cover of the song on The Dermot O'Leary Show on BBC Radio 2 in May 2010: the recording was included on the Dermot O'Leary Saturday Sessions CD^[13]
• A remixed version of the instrumental was used by Ghetts for his track "Brothers In Arms"^[14]
• An a capella version by The Sons of Pitches, winners of BBC2 show The Naked Choir.

See also

• List of anti-war songs

References

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics