Brothers in Arms (song)

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“Brothers in Arms”
Single by Dire Straits
from the album Brothers in Arms
Released 1985
Recorded December 1984
Genre Rock
Length 06:58 / 6:05 / 4:55
Label Vertigo
Writer(s) Mark Knopfler
Dire Straits singles chronology
"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 last track on the album of the same name. It is in G# minor.

There are actually two studio recorded versions of this song: the album version which is 6:58 seconds, and the shorter version which is 6:05 seconds 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, The Very Best of Dire Straits, is 4:55.

Mark Knopfler usually played the song on a Gibson Les Paul guitar, rather than his usual Schecter "Stratocaster", and a 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.

[edit] Usage of song in television and films

"Brothers in Arms" has been extensively used as background music in television and films.

  • The 25th episode of Miami Vice, called "Out Where the Buses Don't Run"; virtually the entire song was used.
  • The war drama McBain, about Colombia, begins with the song.
  • The Season 3 episode "I Coulda Been a Defendant" of the Canadian comedy-drama Due South, playing at the end during a thunderstorm.
  • The season finale of the second (2000-2001) season of the American political drama The West Wing (episode title: "Two Cathedrals"). The song played through the final few minutes of the episode as President Bartlet was about to reveal to the public whether he would seek re-election. A thunderstorm was again in the background.
  • The 2001 movie Spy Game, starring Brad Pitt and Robert Redford. The song is played during the scene in which Pitt's character gets off a train in Germany and meets Redford's character and his wife. The weather in the scene is wet and melancholy, true to the feelings the song generates.
  • During the Croatian War of Independence, one of the most famous pieces of video footage of the war was Banijska ratna praskozorja (Banija war dawns), featuring the "Brothers in Arms" melody in the background. The footage was made by a famous TV journalist, Gordan Lederer, and shows a dawn patrol of Croatian soldiers in the morning mist. At the end of the footage, which is very melancholic and largely shown in slow motion, Gordan Lederer was shot and killed by a Serb sniper.[1]
  • In an Australian TV show commemorating Shane Warne the introduction used the first part of the song.
  • On 30th May 2007 the song was re-released for download from online music stores in memory of those who died and in tribute to those who fought during the 1982 Falklands War, during the 25th Anniversary year of the conflict. All the royalties are ringfenced for funding pilgrimages to the Falklands.
  • The song has been used on New Zealand television to promote the work of The Salvation Army.
  • The soundtrack to a video made by the Israeli Defense Force.

[edit] Covers

[edit] References

  1. ^ Brothers In Arms - Dire Straits Retrieved July 17, 2007.
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