Music
Brothers In Arms
Album Credits
Mark Knopfler: guitars and vocals
Allan Clark: keyboards
Guy Fletcher: keyboards and vocals
John Illsley: bass and vocals
Omar Hakim/Terry Williams: drums
Songs written by Mark Knopfler, except 'Money For Nothing' written by Mark Knopfler/Sting
Produced by Mark Knopfler and Neil Dorfsman
Engineered by Neil Dorfsman, assisted by Steve Jackson, Air Montserrat and Bruce Lampcov/David Greenberg, Power Station
Recorded at Air Studios, Montserrat, W.I.
Mixed at Power Station, New York
Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Masterdisk, New York
Original Design by Sutton Cooper and Andrew Prewett
Photography by Deborah Feingold
Painting by Thomas Steyer
Our special thanks to the following for helping to make the record:
Michael Brecker
Randy Brecker
Malcom Duncan
Neil Jason
Tony Levin
Jimmy Maelen
Mike Mainieri
Dave Plews
Jack Sonni
Sting
Released: Vertigo/Warner Bros. (1985)
Brothers In Arms
-
1.
So Far Away
Here I am again in this mean old town
And you’re so far away from me
And where are you when the sun goes down
You’re so far away from me
So far away from me
So far I just can’t see
So far away from me
You’re so far away from me
I’m tired of being in love and being all alone
When you’re so far away from me
I’m tired of making out on the telephone
And you’re so far away from me
So far away from me
So far I just can’t see
So far away from me
You’re so far away from me
I get so tired when I have to explain
When you’re so far away from me
See you been in the sun and I’ve been in the rain
And you’re so far away from me
So far away from me
So far I just can’t see
So far away from me
You’re so far away from me -
2.
Money For Nothing
Now look at them yo-yo’s that’s the way you do it
You play the guitar on the MTV
That ain’t workin’ that’s the way you do it
Money for nothin’ and chicks for free
Now that ain’t workin’ that’s the way you do it
Lemme tell ya them guys ain’t dumb
Maybe get a blister on your little finger
Maybe get a blister on your thumb
We gotta install microwave ovens
Custom kitchen deliveries
We gotta move these refrigerators
We gotta move these colour TV’s
See the little faggot with the earring and the makeup
Yeah buddy that’s his own hair
That little faggot got his own jet airplane
That little faggot he’s a millionaire
We gotta install microwave ovens
Custom kitchens deliveries
We gotta move these refrigerators
We gotta move these colour TV’s
I shoulda learned to play the guitar
I shoulda learned to play them drums
Look at that mama, she got it stickin’ in the camera
Man we could have some fun
And he’s up there, what’s that? Hawaiian noises?
Bangin’ on the bongoes like a chimpanzee
That ain’t workin’ that’s the way you do it
Get your money for nothin’ get your chicks for free
We gotta install microwave ovens
Custom kitchen deliveries
We gotta move these refrigerators
We gotta move these colour TV’s
Lord, now that ain’t workin’ that’s the way you do it
You play the guitar on the MTV
That ain’t workin’ that’s the way you do it
Money for nothin’ and your chicks for free
Money for nothin’ and chicks for free
ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS
Sting: vocals -
3.
Walk Of Life
Here comes Johnny singing oldies, goldies
Be-Bop-A-Lula, Baby What I Say
Here comes Johnny singing I Gotta Woman
Down in the tunnels, trying to make it pay
He got the action, he got the motion
Yeah, the boy can play
Dedication devotion
Turning all the night time into the day
He do the song about the sweet lovin’ woman
He do the song about the knife
He do the walk, he do the walk of life
Here comes Johnny and he’ll tell you the story
Hand me down my walkin’ shoes
Here come Johnny with the power and the glory
Backbeat the talkin’ blues
He got the action, he got the motion
Yeah, the boy can play
Dedication devotion
Turning all the night time into the day
He do the song about the sweet lovin’ woman
He do the song about the knife
He do the walk, he do the walk of life
Here comes Johnny singing oldies, goldies
Be-Bop-A-Lula, Baby What I Say
Here comes Johnny singing I Gotta Woman
Down in the tunnels, trying to make it pay
He got the action, he got the motion
Yeah the boy can play
Dedication devotion
Turning all the night time into the day
And after all the violence and double talk
There’s just a song in all the trouble and the strife
You do the walk, you do the walk of life -
4.
Your Latest Trick
All the late night bargains have been struck
Between the satin beaus and their belles
And prehistoric garbage trucks
Have the city to themselves
Echoes roars dinosaurs
They’re all doing the monster mash
And most of the taxis and the whores
Are only taking calls for cash
I don’t know how it happened
It all took place so quick
But all I can do is hand it to you
And your latest trick
My door was standing open
Security was laid back and lax
But it was only my heart got broken
You must have had a pass key made out of wax
You played robbery with insolence
And I played the blues in twelve bars down Lover’s Lane
And you never did have the intelligence to use
The twelve keys hanging off my chain
I don’t know how it happened
It all took place so quick
But all I can do is hand it to you
And your latest trick
Now it’s past last call for alcohol
Past recall has been here and gone
The landlord finally paid us all
The satin jazzmen have put away their horns
And we’re standing outside of this wonderland
Looking so bereaved and so bereft
Like a Bowery bum when he finally understands
The bottle’s empty and there’s nothing left
I don’t know how it happened
It was faster than the eye could flick
But now all I can do is hand it to you
And your latest trick -
5.
Why Worry
Baby I see this world has made you sad
Some people can be bad
The things they do, the things they say
But baby I’ll wipe away those bitter tears
I’ll chase away those restless fears
That turn your blue skies into grey
Why worry, there should be laughter after pain
There should be sunshine after rain
These things have always been the same
So why worry now
Baby when I get down I turn to you
And you make sense of what I do
I know it isn’t hard to say
But baby just when this world seems mean and cold
Our love comes shining red and gold
And all the rest is by the way
Why worry, there should be laughter after pain
There should be sunshine after rain
These things have always been the same
So why worry now -
6.
Ride Across The River
I’m a soldier of freedom in the army of man
We are the chosen, we’re the partisan
The cause it is noble and the cause it is just
We are ready to pay with our lives if we must
Gonna ride across the river deep and wide
Ride across the river to the other side
I’m a soldier of fortune, I’m a dog of war
And we don’t give a damn who the killing is for
It’s the same old story with a different name
Death or glory, it’s the killing game
Gonna ride across the river deep and wide
Ride across the river to the other side
Nothing gonna stop them as the day follows the night
Right becomes wrong, the left becomes the right
And they sing as they march with their flags unfurled
Today in the mountains, tomorrow the world
Gonna ride across the river deep and wide
Ride across the river to the other side -
7.
The Man’s Too Strong
I’m just an ageing drummer boy
And in the wars I used to play
And I’ve called the tune
To many a torture session
Now they say I am a war criminal
And I’m fading away
Father please hear my confession
I have legalised robbery
Called it a belief I have run with the money
And hid like a thief
I have re-written history
With my armies and my crooks
Invented memories
I did burn all the books
And I can still hear his laughter
And I can still hear his song
The man’s too big
The man’s too strong
Well I have tried to be meek
And I have tried to be mild
But I spat like a woman
And sulked like a child
I have lived behind walls
That have made me alone
Striven for peace
Which I have never known
And I can still hear his laughter
And I can still hear his song
The man’s too big
The man’s too strong
Well the sun rose on the courtyard
And they all did hear him say
‘You always were a Judas
But I got you anyway
You may have got your silver
But I swear upon my life
Your sister gave me diamonds
And I gave them to your wife’
Oh Father please help me
For I have done wrong
The man’s too big
The man’s too strong -
8.
One World
Can’t find no sleeves for my records
Can’t get no laces for my shoes
Can’t get no fancy notes
On my blue guitar
Can’t get no antidote for blues
Can’t find the reasons for your actions
Or I don’t much like the reasoning you use
Somehow your motives are impure
Or somehow I can’t find the cure
Can’t find no antidote for blues
They say it’s mostly vanity
That writes the plays we act
They tell me that’s what everybody knows
There’s no such thing as sanity
And that’s the sanest fact
That’s the way the story goes
Can’t get no remedy on my TV
There’s nothing but the same old news
They can’t find a way to be
One world in harmony
Can’t get no antidote for blues -
9.
Brothers In Arms
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
Baptisms 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’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