Brothers in arms

Words and music by MARK KNOPFLER
From the DIRE STRAITS album BROTHERS IN ARMS (1985)

The sense of dislocation in the first verse morphs into a vision of Hell as the song progresses, but ends on a note of hope as the man of war into whose mouth the words have been put hopes for a future without war.

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
Your valleys and your farms
And you'll no longer burn
To be brothers in arms

Through these fields of destruction
Baptism of fire
I've watched all your suffering
As the battles 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 has 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