Dire Straits: Brothers in Arms Meaning

Song Released: 1985

Brothers in Arms 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...

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   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Sep 11th 2009 !⃝

   This is about a man dying in battle. His last thoughts are about the foolishness of war.

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   May 17th 2011 !⃝

   This song and most of the album is about the Falkland war in 1982. Mark Knopfler also did a recording of this song for charity to the Falkland veterans. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvE97zz5loc

3. 3TOP RATED

   #3 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Jan 21st 2013 !⃝

   Obviously ther's many versions but mine is from the album "Brothers in arms", of which I like the most.
   
   It's af very sad song with it's own pathos allthough it's not written i moll, which is interesting.
   
   Primarily it's af song against war, - any war in fact, though many like to link it to a specific war.
   
   Taken the verses and word, it could address many wars in recent time, the Falklands and the Vietnam wars of which I think is the two most likely candidates for this song.
   Perhaps not the war in Vietnam, but what became for many of the homecomings.
   
   
   The 1st vers. (two person are present).
   The one who's living it, and the one(the storyteller) who tells about the future dreams(as a comfort) of returning home putting the brotherhood of war all aside.
   
   The 2.nd vers. (a view to or of the past)
   Tells about the horrible things in the war they have experienced together and stood beside all the way supporting each other.
   
   The 3.rd vers.
   Thinking about life of which "we" just have once and should cherish more than war.
   
   The 4th vers.
   Her comes the death"scene" the sun is gone and the moon is high, it's the parting.
   It wil be remenbered your took your hard part(every line in your palm)
   The sad recognition even to the adversery part, - wars i foolish.
   
   
   What is essentiel for determining which war in the song, is the word "home"?
   Then comes the "dream" of returning but when, and how far is this away.
   
   Then comes, how past is the past in vers 2?
   
   It could mean both the time with the Falklands war for British soldiers.
   
   But it could allso mean the returning US soldiers from Vietnam, there now live i the american forrest and never came home to live "the american dream".
4. anonymous

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   Aug 31st 2020 !⃝

   All fighting is pointless. We are all in this together; whatever, war/ difficulty we share. Hauntingly beautiful song of peace Hauntingly our brothers. Robin Roth
5. anonymous

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   Nov 21st 2017 !⃝

   I have seen the first video clip of the song at was showing Israelis with arms turns into guitars.
   
   There no doubt that Mark Knopfler considers the Israelis as his brothers but in arms which should be changed to peaceful machines hopefully
6. anonymous

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   Aug 9th 2017 !⃝

   Could also be about a modern day version of what has been sadly happening to ''Brothers in Arms''. In places like the Middle East and the Balkans of Europe and other parts of the world that have been demonically influenced and manipulated to declare war on eachother ''For Mad Men Only'' who were trained by a westernized Left Wing Jesuit-Zionist ideology for obtaining greed and power for their masters that haven't learned the meaning to kneel young, but have been dividing and still trying to divide more of the Muslim, Christian and even the Jewish Brothers now that are dividing each other. All because of and for this Radical Left Wing Jesuit-Zionist-Islamo-Nazi ''holi cat-fish'' agenda that wants a one world order.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
7. anonymous

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   May 11th 2017 !⃝

   I believe, although ORIGINALLY written about the Falklands conflict, it applies to every war that was -and ever will be- fought. The Pendulum and the Ocean: the passage of time, or of history. The Crosses: those who have -and will- pay the price of war. The Sunrise: the everlasting hope for a lasting peace. The lyrics also apply: he is dying on the battlefield. "Let me bid you farewell, every man has to die." But he warns his comrades of the futility of war: "but it's written in the starlight, and every line in your palm, we are fools to make war..." It is a song for every fallen soldier, of every war and of every nation.
8. anonymous

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   Mar 26th 2017 !⃝

   I don't know for sure but I think the song was carefully and cleverly written about war, but with no war in particular; so therefore it could applied to any soldier in any war, therefore making it a timeless song. The video suggests that the performer had WW1 in mind. It is a beautiful and sad song. Makes me think of my dad each time its played.
9. anonymous

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   Dec 14th 2015 !⃝

   I always thought it was about soldiers coming back from War.
10. mark273

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    May 5th 2015 !⃝

    I acknowledge that the writer has said the song refers to the Falklands War, but as an American I always heard as referring to Vietnam. In my interpretation, the person singing in the first person is a dead soldier. He is saying that he would rather have lived long in his home in the States, but having been killed, he will forever rest in this land where the war was. It is a home now for me refers to the fact that he has already died and so his destiny is final. He speaks to the other soldiers and says that they will return to their homes, and is thankful that they will remember him. Obviously dead people don't talk or sing. This is all poetic. Well, my interpretation is no better than anyone else's. It is just how I hear it. It is emotionally very powerful to listen to.
11. marcel.debeer.3

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    Jul 7th 2014 !⃝

    yep,
    
    http://youtu.be/oxpsOXW4B-0
    
    nope, about israel,
12. anonymous

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    Mar 3rd 2013 !⃝

    The storyteller is a wounded soldier of World War, laid dying in the mud, and witnessing the carnage around him as his life slips away.He knows that this will be his final resting place - "these mist-covered mountains are home now for me".
    The vast majority of British troops were volunteers, and hoped to return to their previous lives when the fighting stopped, hence the narrator's belief that "some day you'll return to your valleys and your farms".
    The WW1 battlefields were mostly areas of farmland -"through these fields of destruction"
    Of course, the biggest clue to the song's meaning is it's accompanying,and beautifully animated, video , which clearly depicts the futile slaughter of the Western front.
13. anonymous

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    May 2nd 2011 !⃝

    No its about a man in a white nationalist group who was murdered by the federal government that the lead singer of dire straits knew.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
14. anonymous

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    Feb 4th 2010 !⃝

    This is about the british occupation in Northern Ireland. Where young boys from the North East, Newcastle (where Knopler is from) and other poor communities in England were sent to fight the Irish Republican Army. The opening lines are the thoughts of the young soldier leaving and the middle parts are the fighing, bombs etc. The last verse is the soldier hoping that the conflict will end without any more deaths. Fact.

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