In this song, Mark Knopfler sings about a soldier who is dying on the battlefield, surrounded by his comrades who remain by his side as he slips away. It’s a look at the folly of war and the plight of those who fight them. We’ve got just one world, but we live in different ones, he told the BBC. It’s just stupid, it really is. We’re just foolish to take part in anybody’s war. The title is something Knopfler’s dad said in discussing the Falklands War. He described the Brits and Argies as brothers in arms, meaning they had similar ideologies. That phrase ended up being used as the title for the album. Brothers in arms was released as a single in Europe, but not in America, where the upbeat walk of life was the second single. By this time, Dire Straits European fan base was huge and willing to listen to their more nuanced songs, but the US audience mostly wanted to hear the hits song.