Robbie Robertson: Once Were Brothers

Written and performed by Robbie Robertson
Album: Sinematic, 2019

Listen:

"There'll be no revival/there'll be no encore," sings Robbie Robertson in a raspy voice — a voice rarely heard in the Band — on "Once Were Brothers." It's a sing-speaking voice here, like latter-day Leonard Cohen with less gravitas, or Robertson's old boss Dylan with less insouciance. A narrator's voice, in a sense, which is its basic role on Sinematic, Robertson's first LP since his guest-packed 2011 How to Become Clairvoyant, and first since the 2012 death of estranged Band-mate Levon Helm, an album of story-songs set to the sort of diaphanous blues-rock that characterizes Robertson's expansive film music.

The story told in "Once Were Brothers," which shares its name with the new documentary based on Robertson's memoir, is about a guy missing his bros, a group of men who grew apart, and are now gone. It conjures the Civil War alongside an allusion to "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," the Band signature, which Robertson wrote. "Once Were Brothers" is a moving song that puts end-game spin on the narrative of a famously fractious band, by the near-last man standing. "Can't even remember what we were fighting for," Robertson sings, though one imagines not everyone felt that way.
–from the Rolling Stone album review

Lyrics

When the light goes out
And you can't go on
You'll miss your brothers
But now they're gone, mmm
When the light goes out
We'll go our own way
Nothing here but darkness
No reason to stay

Oh, once were brothers
Brothers no more
We lost our connection
After the war
There'll be no revival
There'll be no one cold
Once were brothers
Brothers no more

When that curtain comes down
We'll let go of the past
Tomorrow's another day
Some things weren't meant to last
When that curtain comes down
On the final act
And you know, you know deep inside
There's no goin' back

Once were brothers
Brothers no more
We lost our way
After the war
Can't even remember
What we're fighting for
When once were brothers
Brothers no more

We already had it out
Between the north and south
When we heard all the laughs
Comin' out of your mouth
But we stood together
Like we were next of kin
And when the band played dixie (dixie, dixie, dixie)
They came marchin' in

Once were brothers
Brothers no more
We lost our connection
After the war
There'll be no revival
There'll be no encore
Once were brothers
Brothers no more