Brother Where You Bound (song)

"Brother Where You Bound" is the epic length title track to Supertramp's 1985 album of the same name.  Written and sung by keyboardist Rick Davies, it is the longest song Supertramp ever recorded clocking in at 16 and a half minutes (surpassing "Try Again" from their 1970 self titled debut album by more than three minutes).

The introduction to the track features a reading from George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, fragments of spoken news reports, and the final lines from the nursery rhyme Oranges and Lemons. An excerpt from "The Internationale" can also be heard from minute 1:10. The introduction is followed by lyrics that speak about the Cold War that was happening at the time of the recording in 1984. A music video was also produced for the song, which was filmed in the derelict Pan-Pacific Auditorium, starring actor Chris Mulkey. The video was directed by Rene Daalder and aroused controversy due to its graphic violence.

This track features drummer Bob Siebenberg's then brother-in-law Scott Gorham of Thin Lizzy on rhythm guitar. The guitar solos throughout the track were performed by Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour who used his own mixing system where he controlled every sound that went from his guitar onto the album.  

In a 2002 radio interview on Rockline, Davies explained how Gilmour got involved on the title cut: "I remember saying to the guys, 'We need to find somebody that can play a bit like Gilmour' for the guitar stuff, and I think it was someone at A&M - it might have been Jordan Harris or somebody, one of those guys - and he said, 'Well, I know David - maybe he would like to come over and do it,' and he sent him a demo and he decided he'd like to do it and he was very reasonable. Came over, brought all his gear and straight to the studio. It was a home studio, my studio, and we did it."

Personnel
Rick Davies: piano, keyboards, vocals
John Helliwell: saxophones
Bob Siebenberg: drums, percussion
Dougie Thomson: bass
Marty Walsh: lead guitar
David Gilmour: electric guitar solos
Scott Gorham: rhythm guitar
Scott Page: flute

References

Category:Supertramp songs
Category:1985 songs
Category:Songs written by Rick Davies