The events of the Falklands war were what inspired the lyrics of this tune, which sees the singer singing from the point of view of a severely injured soldier who is about to die on the battlefield. His comrades stay by his side as he prepares to depart the earth. In bidding his fellow soldiers farewell, he tells them not to worry, for “every man has to die”. In his final words, he tells them how foolish “we” are “to make war on our brothers in arms”. By this, he means they should never have fought the opposing soldiers, who he considers their “brothers”. In his eyes, the war was pointless.
Hauntingly beautiful. One of my favorites of theirs. I believe it’s a gravestone that has Home Free on it as this is a cemetery in the desert so definitely haunting and quiet. I also thought there are only windows with some sun streaming through but my screen is very small so not sure. I think the boys look like ghosts. Tim and Chance nailed this. Loved the echoes. Great reaction!
Your reaction kinda reminds me of mine the first time I saw this - this was like a vocal ballet the way they made their voices just dance with one another was truly astounding to me - this is one of my favorite if not my favorite home free video- perfection
Great analysis. I have always been a fan of Dire Straits, but think Home Free did an excellent version of this song. Tim's natural breathy bass was awesome along with Chance's smooth baritone & loved it when all the guys were doing 5 part harmonies. Who would believe humming could sound so good. They gave it a very solemn feeling. I love that they don't overproduce their songs. These guys are my favorite a cappella group out there.
While I do like Home Free a lot, and this is perfectly good... there is just so much about the original which makes it superior... this isn't to take away from HF... I love acapella, but the instrumentation in the original was just so great. As for "anti-war" - Yeah it is, but with respect for the military itself... this is summed up in the line "We are fools to make war on our brothers in arms." This means that even the opponents are "brothers in arms." To put the song in some context beyond the "Falklands (Malvinas) War" that others will have already referenced. Mark Knopfler's father was a Hungarian Jew who escaped the Nazis to Britain in 1939. Mark also had an uncle who was a piper in the Black Watch who was killed holding off German forces during WW2 during the Dunkirk evacuation. (He did a song called Piper to the End, inspired by his Uncle, which has some very similar themes to Brothers in Arms, it is worth a listen). Mark was inspired by the term "Brothers in Arms" when his father used it. In 2007 on the 25th anniversary of the Falkland Island War a new version was recorded by Knopfler to raise funds for British Veterans who are still suffering from the effects of the conflict. I don't know if this is so much the case in the US, but the song is frequently used as at military funerals in the UK. So having read this you can probably tell I am a Dire Straits/Mark Knopfler fan, so I readily admit that people may view me as biased, and they may be right. But regardless the message of the song is what is important, and so whichever version people enjoy, as long as the understand and appreciate the message, that is what is really important.
Yes it is like a prayer....the ending is the best clue....no one has ever mentioned it in a reaction I have heard....is like A-MEN....go back and listen again if need be
I've always loved the original, but Home Free's rendition gives me chills and brings me to tears every time I hear it and believe me, I've listened to it more than fifty times. Thank you for another wonderful reaction.
Always enjoy your analyses, David. Love the HF version of this song, plus, it was a reason to go listen to the DS original. Never a bad thing to listen to a little DS. 😉 As already mentioned, CFF was gracious enough to allow HF to use their wonderful arrangement of this song. Thanks also for the shout out. I had forgotten about requesting this. I did appreciate your adding to the HF inclusion message. We need to somehow get past the idea that an inclusive, purely humanistic message, is political in any way. Hope your trip was an enjoyable one. All the best from across the border. It is important that we all remember that borders are simply IMAGINARY lines.
This is so hauntingly beautiful. I highly recommend that you watch the video by Club for Five. They are a Finnish group composed of both male and female voices, with an instrumental accompaniment. Tim had heard it and asked if HF could use it. Fortunately, they said yes. I had not heard the Dire Straits original until after I heard HF. When it started I thought I had opened the wrong video, as you might imagine. Thanks for the interesting commentary. And scratches to the beauteous Timmy.
One of Home Free's constant comments is that we all have more in common than different. They repeat it often and Tim says it at the end of Everybody Walking This Land, too. And they covered Undivided, too, which has a similar theme of unity. I often find myself wondering who does their location scouting, both indoors (Mayday, End of the Road, Great Day to be Alive for example) as well as their outdoor ones. Quite a few of their outdoor ones are filmed at or near Abe Sword's farm near Brownsville, OR., but far from all of them. I do enjoy your analyses. You help put words to what I am hearing/seeing/feeling.
Half a box of tissues gone here. This is one that pulls at your heartstrings everytime I hear it. "We're forced to make war on our Brothers-in-arms." All humans are the same people. TPTB can only retain power if they divide us and keep us from coming together. We are all brothers and sisters under the skin.
Brothers in Arms that is so ghostly and haunting. Tim and Chance did a beautiful job on this song. Tim's low bass voice. The harmonies are beautiful. 😢😢. I like your reactions to this song.
I love that they let the music & the message of the song speak for itself. Luke Pierce is the band's manager. I've seen reactors who are veterans cry listening to this. If you haven't seen their video "Everybody Walkin' This Land" - it expounds upon the theme of unity.. By the way, Tim, Austin & friends to fund raising for at-risk veterans (some excerpts are available on y/t).
Hauntingly beautiful but sends a powerful message. 5 voices + close harmonies = shivers up the spine. No beatboxing. They remind me of a pipe organ at the c!imax.
Another Dire Straits fan here! Sultans of Swing was certainly the first song that got them noticed but I think Money For Nothing was the song that brought them into the limelight. Brothers in Arms is the title track of their 1985 album and Money For Nothing was the first video ever to be played on MTV. Another of my favourites was Romeo and Juliet from the Making Movies album. I absolutely adore this cover by Home Free - so powerful!
The song will have been written in 1982, in response to the war of the Malvinas. You probably aren't old enough to remember it, but Mark Knopfler was not only sickened by the slaughter of so many young men for the sake of a bunch of rocks,, but also the triumphalism of the Thatcher government and the media. Inevitably some have tried to interpret "We're fools to make war on our brothers in arms" as an appeal for countries to pull together in time of war, but why Mark would have written such a song to deliver a jingoistic message is never explained. In fact the song is more generous than many of us were at the time of the war, saying "we're fools" rather than "wars are just political gambits and opportunities for big companies to make money". My brother was in the army at the time, so we heard a lot more about what had gone on than most people were allowed to hear. Most of the Argentinian troops were teenage draftees, whereas the structure of the British army meant that there were a lot of mature men in the troops, who felt pretty sick at killing boys not much older than their own children. There was also a lot of resentment at going through this for no good reason. I love the "instrumental" section of this. The band sound like warrior angels lamenting the loss of life.
The first time I heard this, as an album track before the video came out, I had to stop the album there, and process for a while - it's just such a powerful song and performance. As others have said, a great Club for Five version, that they adapted to work for the five male voices. This is one of Chance's favourite songs, and he pushed for them to record it. Thank you for another great reaction, you always make me stop and think about the music, and what I'm seeing, and few songs deserve it more than this one does. And I finished watching at 11.53pm - pretty close...
Thank you so much, David. Always love to hear from you.Never fear we will wait till you have time for us. You always give us such a great anlysis your worth waiting for.
Check out the Club for Five version. Since they are a mixed group and both their bass and baritone singers sound very differnt it gives me a slightly different feel
Such a hauntingly beautiful version of this song. I liked Dire Straits version but Home Free brings and emotional tone to the song. I’m going off topic Austin has left the group and Adam Bastien has taken his place. Bastien used to sub for one of the tenors when Home Free first started and also was a member of Chris Rupp's group 7th Ave and he has another group with his husband Jerome called OneUpDuo Bastien did his first concert with Home Free at the Country Rumble Fest in Lima,Ohio June 21 and The Grand Ol Opry June 22 and he did amazing They now have 3 Adam’s in the group. They filmed a video in Nashville with Bastien now we wait for it to be released. Home also released a welcome video it on TH-cam now called Adam Bastien’s First Weekend. Your Man it is 1of 3 of the last videos with Austin they are releasing number 2 today called Champagne Taste (On A Beer Budget )and the last one should be releasing soon after that
David, I really love your video analysis! The fact that you're pretty much the only one who does this is one of the major reasons why you're my favourite reactor. I never noticed how much there is to be seen in this seemingly simple video. As for the "not much politics", please, no, go ahead! Another thing I like about you so much is that you show some degree of social awareness in your content. As a queer person myself, I've come to really dread those audiences who scream for creators to "ignore politics". Because in their mind, my very existence as a queer person is seen as a political statement/decision. Therefore, when they say "no politics", they actually mean that they don't want to be confronted with my existence. In other words, it's just marginalization and erasure all over again. Which is particularly egregious if the comment is being made in the context of a song/video like this. If patriotism and a pro-military-worldview isn't political, then I don't know what is. Apparently, this is fine to those people, though, but being queer is "unneccessarily political" to them. This is actually the only song from Home Free's "Land of the free" album that I like. I'm German and our relationship with patriotism and military is... complicated, to put it mildly. US Americans, on the other hand, are on the very opposite end of that spectrum. I don't know how to interact with that in a productive way, as it bewilders me and I can't relate to it, so I mostly just ignore that album's existence. This one song here, on the other hand, actually ended up being one of my super top favourite Home Free songs. I admittedly had a bit of an identity crisis over this, and I'm very grateful for what you just said about how to interpret the song's meaning! That actually helps me make my peace with that and enjoy the song even more!
Much appreciation to Home Free for this beautiful rendition. ❤
This one makes me cry. It's sad and beautiful the way HomeFree performs it . Thanks for the Home Free reactions.
HF's cover of this never fails to bring tears to my eyes.
The events of the Falklands war were what inspired the lyrics of this tune, which sees the singer singing from the point of view of a severely injured soldier who is about to die on the battlefield. His comrades stay by his side as he prepares to depart the earth. In bidding his fellow soldiers farewell, he tells them not to worry, for “every man has to die”. In his final words, he tells them how foolish “we” are “to make war on our brothers in arms”. By this, he means they should never have fought the opposing soldiers, who he considers their “brothers”. In his eyes, the war was pointless.
Someone else pointed out that the "transparent" effect on the boys with the windows "showing through them" implies that they are ghosts.
Hauntingly beautiful. One of my favorites of theirs. I believe it’s a gravestone that has Home Free on it as this is a cemetery in the desert so definitely haunting and quiet. I also thought there are only windows with some sun streaming through but my screen is very small so not sure. I think the boys look like ghosts. Tim and Chance nailed this. Loved the echoes. Great reaction!
Your reaction kinda reminds me of mine the first time I saw this - this was like a vocal ballet the way they made their voices just dance with one another was truly astounding to me - this is one of my favorite if not my favorite home free video- perfection
Yes, an anti war song that also portrays the positive military bonding experience. 💜💜💜
As with Pink Floyd's Us and Them, it is against the war, but sympathizes with the soldier.
Serious, sincere, sensitive ... so many more adjectives and a wonderful arrangement for these five spectacular voices! Enjoyed your analysis.
These guys are simply amazing ... such stunning harmony ! #HOMEFREE
Great analysis. I have always been a fan of Dire Straits, but think Home Free did an excellent version of this song. Tim's natural breathy bass was awesome along with Chance's smooth baritone & loved it when all the guys were doing 5 part harmonies. Who would believe humming could sound so good. They gave it a very solemn feeling. I love that they don't overproduce their songs. These guys are my favorite a cappella group out there.
Masterpiece from the boys!!
Thank you for your insights and for appreciating this song as it was rendered.
Those last two notes always feel like an "Amen" to me.
This arrangement is amazing, and this song grabs my heart every time I hear it.
While I do like Home Free a lot, and this is perfectly good... there is just so much about the original which makes it superior... this isn't to take away from HF... I love acapella, but the instrumentation in the original was just so great.
As for "anti-war" - Yeah it is, but with respect for the military itself... this is summed up in the line "We are fools to make war on our brothers in arms." This means that even the opponents are "brothers in arms."
To put the song in some context beyond the "Falklands (Malvinas) War" that others will have already referenced. Mark Knopfler's father was a Hungarian Jew who escaped the Nazis to Britain in 1939. Mark also had an uncle who was a piper in the Black Watch who was killed holding off German forces during WW2 during the Dunkirk evacuation. (He did a song called Piper to the End, inspired by his Uncle, which has some very similar themes to Brothers in Arms, it is worth a listen). Mark was inspired by the term "Brothers in Arms" when his father used it.
In 2007 on the 25th anniversary of the Falkland Island War a new version was recorded by Knopfler to raise funds for British Veterans who are still suffering from the effects of the conflict. I don't know if this is so much the case in the US, but the song is frequently used as at military funerals in the UK.
So having read this you can probably tell I am a Dire Straits/Mark Knopfler fan, so I readily admit that people may view me as biased, and they may be right. But regardless the message of the song is what is important, and so whichever version people enjoy, as long as the understand and appreciate the message, that is what is really important.
Agreed about the bit about enemy soldiers also being brothers in arms. I think this is the main point of the song.
I like both versions-I think HF is more like a prayer. It is a military cemetery in the high desert (the photos)
Yes it is like a prayer....the ending is the best clue....no one has ever mentioned it in a reaction I have heard....is like A-MEN....go back and listen again if need be
I've always loved the original, but Home Free's rendition gives me chills and brings me to tears every time I hear it and believe me, I've listened to it more than fifty times. Thank you for another wonderful reaction.
Always enjoy your analyses, David. Love the HF version of this song, plus, it was a reason to go listen to the DS original. Never a bad thing to listen to a little DS. 😉
As already mentioned, CFF was gracious enough to allow HF to use their wonderful arrangement of this song.
Thanks also for the shout out. I had forgotten about requesting this. I did appreciate your adding to the HF inclusion message. We need to somehow get past the idea that an inclusive, purely humanistic message, is political in any way.
Hope your trip was an enjoyable one. All the best from across the border. It is important that we all remember that borders are simply IMAGINARY lines.
This is so hauntingly beautiful. I highly recommend that you watch the video by Club for Five. They are a Finnish group composed of both male and female voices, with an instrumental accompaniment. Tim had heard it and asked if HF could use it. Fortunately, they said yes. I had not heard the Dire Straits original until after I heard HF. When it started I thought I had opened the wrong video, as you might imagine. Thanks for the interesting commentary. And scratches to the beauteous Timmy.
I don’t think I’ve heard instrumental accompaniment with Club for Five. Seen them in concerts too.
One of Home Free's constant comments is that we all have more in common than different. They repeat it often and Tim says it at the end of Everybody Walking This Land, too. And they covered Undivided, too, which has a similar theme of unity.
I often find myself wondering who does their location scouting, both indoors (Mayday, End of the Road, Great Day to be Alive for example) as well as their outdoor ones. Quite a few of their outdoor ones are filmed at or near Abe Sword's farm near Brownsville, OR., but far from all of them.
I do enjoy your analyses. You help put words to what I am hearing/seeing/feeling.
Half a box of tissues gone here.
This is one that pulls at your heartstrings everytime I hear it. "We're forced to make war on our Brothers-in-arms." All humans are the same people. TPTB can only retain power if they divide us and keep us from coming together. We are all brothers and sisters under the skin.
Brothers in Arms that is so ghostly and haunting. Tim and Chance did a beautiful job on this song. Tim's low bass voice. The harmonies are beautiful. 😢😢. I like your reactions to this song.
I love that they let the music & the message of the song speak for itself. Luke Pierce is the band's manager. I've seen reactors who are veterans cry listening to this. If you haven't seen their video "Everybody Walkin' This Land" - it expounds upon the theme of unity.. By the way, Tim, Austin & friends to fund raising for at-risk veterans (some excerpts are available on y/t).
Hauntingly beautiful but sends a powerful message. 5 voices + close harmonies = shivers up the spine. No beatboxing. They remind me of a pipe organ at the c!imax.
Great job
Your charming ending makes me smile, your analysis spot on and as a huge Dire Straits fan I approve this version😉
Another Dire Straits fan here! Sultans of Swing was certainly the first song that got them noticed but I think Money For Nothing was the song that brought them into the limelight. Brothers in Arms is the title track of their 1985 album and Money For Nothing was the first video ever to be played on MTV. Another of my favourites was Romeo and Juliet from the Making Movies album. I absolutely adore this cover by Home Free - so powerful!
I love this version....
The song will have been written in 1982, in response to the war of the Malvinas. You probably aren't old enough to remember it, but Mark Knopfler was not only sickened by the slaughter of so many young men for the sake of a bunch of rocks,, but also the triumphalism of the Thatcher government and the media.
Inevitably some have tried to interpret "We're fools to make war on our brothers in arms" as an appeal for countries to pull together in time of war, but why Mark would have written such a song to deliver a jingoistic message is never explained. In fact the song is more generous than many of us were at the time of the war, saying "we're fools" rather than "wars are just political gambits and opportunities for big companies to make money".
My brother was in the army at the time, so we heard a lot more about what had gone on than most people were allowed to hear. Most of the Argentinian troops were teenage draftees, whereas the structure of the British army meant that there were a lot of mature men in the troops, who felt pretty sick at killing boys not much older than their own children. There was also a lot of resentment at going through this for no good reason.
I love the "instrumental" section of this. The band sound like warrior angels lamenting the loss of life.
I would love to hear what you have to say about Adam Chance's Leave Her Johnny/Lowlands. There are some interesting sound and visual effects.
Thanks David, a track that always makes me stop, pause and think
The first time I heard this, as an album track before the video came out, I had to stop the album there, and process for a while - it's just such a powerful song and performance. As others have said, a great Club for Five version, that they adapted to work for the five male voices. This is one of Chance's favourite songs, and he pushed for them to record it.
Thank you for another great reaction, you always make me stop and think about the music, and what I'm seeing, and few songs deserve it more than this one does.
And I finished watching at 11.53pm - pretty close...
They gave it " reverence " at times, which sounded like a Georgian chant.
Thank you so much, David. Always love to hear from you.Never fear we will wait till you have time for us. You always give us such a great anlysis your worth waiting for.
IMHO, one of Home Free's best, if not THE best, performances. However, 'Helplessly Hoping' gives it a good run for the money.
excellent job David
Check out the Club for Five version. Since they are a mixed group and both their bass and baritone singers sound very differnt it gives me a slightly different feel
Such a hauntingly beautiful version of this song. I liked Dire Straits version but Home Free brings and emotional tone to the song.
I’m going off topic
Austin has left the group and Adam Bastien has taken his place.
Bastien used to sub for one of the tenors when Home Free first started and also was a member of Chris Rupp's group 7th Ave and he has another group with his husband Jerome called OneUpDuo
Bastien did his first concert with Home Free at the Country Rumble Fest in Lima,Ohio June 21 and The Grand Ol Opry June 22 and he did amazing
They now have 3 Adam’s in the group.
They filmed a video in Nashville with Bastien now we wait for it to be released.
Home also released a welcome video it on TH-cam now called Adam Bastien’s First Weekend.
Your Man it is 1of 3 of the last videos with Austin they are releasing number 2 today called Champagne Taste (On A Beer Budget )and the last one should be releasing soon after that
David, I really love your video analysis! The fact that you're pretty much the only one who does this is one of the major reasons why you're my favourite reactor. I never noticed how much there is to be seen in this seemingly simple video.
As for the "not much politics", please, no, go ahead! Another thing I like about you so much is that you show some degree of social awareness in your content. As a queer person myself, I've come to really dread those audiences who scream for creators to "ignore politics". Because in their mind, my very existence as a queer person is seen as a political statement/decision. Therefore, when they say "no politics", they actually mean that they don't want to be confronted with my existence. In other words, it's just marginalization and erasure all over again. Which is particularly egregious if the comment is being made in the context of a song/video like this. If patriotism and a pro-military-worldview isn't political, then I don't know what is. Apparently, this is fine to those people, though, but being queer is "unneccessarily political" to them.
This is actually the only song from Home Free's "Land of the free" album that I like. I'm German and our relationship with patriotism and military is... complicated, to put it mildly. US Americans, on the other hand, are on the very opposite end of that spectrum. I don't know how to interact with that in a productive way, as it bewilders me and I can't relate to it, so I mostly just ignore that album's existence. This one song here, on the other hand, actually ended up being one of my super top favourite Home Free songs. I admittedly had a bit of an identity crisis over this, and I'm very grateful for what you just said about how to interpret the song's meaning! That actually helps me make my peace with that and enjoy the song even more!
One of my favorites. So sad that this perfect 5 part harmony is now over for good for this group that I loved so much.
The lyric is " we're fools to make war"...... not forced to make war with our brothers in arms.