Video hit Dire Straits

Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms (live)

Brothers in Arms is a 1985 song by Dire Straits, appearing as the closing track on the album of the same name.

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, The Very Best of Dire Straits, is 4:55. The version featured 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 The Best of Dire Straits & Mark Knopfler: Private Investigations.

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. 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, it was released in the United Kingdom in 1985.

In popular culture

The song was first used in the Miami Vice episode, "Out Where the Buses Don't Run".

Notably, it was used as the theme tune to Civvies, a British TV series from 1992.

The song was notably used in The West Wing episode, Two Cathedrals.

The song was prominently used in the Due South episode, "I Coulda Been a Defendant".

The song was featured on the soundtrack of the 2008 Barry Levinson film What Just Happened.

The song was also featured in the 2001 film "Spy Game."

It was used as the theme tune to the 1992 Jason Isaacs TV series Civies.

It was also used prominently in Vince's death scene in A Mexican Fairytale

The title of Andrzej Sapkowski's fantasy novel Baptism of Fire was apparently taken from the song's lyrics. The second stanza of "Brothers in Arms" is also the book's motto.

Cover versions

Gregorian covered the song for their album, Masters of Chant, Chapter 1-3 (Jubiläumsedition)

Folk singer Joan Baez covered the song for her 1987 album, Recently.

Serbian rock band Galija covered the song, with lyrics in Serbian language, entitled "Kad me pogledaš" on their 1989 album Korak do slobode.

Metallica covered the song on Bridge School Benefit 2007 (27 and 28 October).

The Finnish Symphonic power metal band Northern Kings covered the song on their album Reborn in 2007.

Celtic Thunder: Ryan Kelly covered this song as part of their 2007 DVD and during the 2008 tour.

Romanian rock band The Edge has covered this song live.

The Finnish a cappella band Club for Five covered the song on their album You're the Voice in 2009.

Nina Persson (of The Cardigans) and Georg Wadenius on his album "Reconnection" in 2009.

The lyrics:

These mist covered mountains

Are a home now for me

But my home is the lowlands

And always will be

Some day you'll return to me

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 all your suffering

As the battle raged higher

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 on your palm

We're fools to make war

On our brothers in arms