Done With Bonaparte (1996) – Mark Knopfler

Mark Knopfler’s Done With Bonaparte comes from his 1996 debut solo album Golden Heart, released shortly after the second and final break-up of Dire Straits in 1995. He supported the release of the album with the Golden Heart Tour of Europe. One of the early shows was recorded and released as a DVD titled A Night in London which features Done With Bonaparte at the end of this post. The tour marked a clear turning point for Knopfler. He stepped away from the role of arena-rock bandleader and into something more personal and understated. The performances leaned toward intimacy and nuance rather than spectacle.

Done With Bonaparte is arguably one of the album’s strongest tracks (along with Darling Pretty), largely because Knopfler’s distinctive guitar work blends so naturally with the traditional and folk instruments that underpin the song.

When I first heard Done With Bonaparte, I assumed Knopfler had adapted an old nineteenth-century folk ballad and given it a Celtic flavour. In fact, the song is entirely his own composition. Knopfler is rightly celebrated as one of the great guitarists, but his gift for lyrical storytelling is often overlooked. This song is a good reminder of that strength.The lyrics are told from the perspective of a war-weary soldier who has survived the brutal realities of Napoleon’s Russian campaign. The language and imagery deliberately echo the era and feel as though the song could have been written at the time.

The song is especially timely for me, as I have been listening recently to accounts of the Wehrmacht’s defeat at Stalingrad during World War II. While Done With Bonaparte is rooted firmly in the Napoleonic wars, its emotional core feels universal. It even brings to mind the story of General Heinz Guderian visiting Hitler after the failure before Moscow and noticing Hitler’s extensive reading on Napoleon’s Russian campaign – lessons that clearly went unlearned. Knopfler’s song could just as easily speak for the countless German soldiers lost on the Eastern Front, or for soldiers in any war where history repeats itself and ordinary men pay the price.

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Golden Heart reached the top -10 position on charts in Austria, Belgium, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The album peaked at 105 on the Billboard in the United States.

[Verse 1]
We’ve paid in hell since Moscow burned
As Cossacks tear us piece by piece
Our dead are strewn a hundred leagues
Though death would be a sweet release
And our grande armée is dressed in rags
A frozen, starving, beggar band
Like rats we steal each other’s scraps
Fall to fighting hand to hand

[Chorus]
Save my soul from evil, Lord
And heal this soldier’s heart
I’ll trust in thee to keep me, Lord
I’m done with Bonaparte

[Verse 2]
What dreams he made for us to dream
Spanish skies, Egyptian sands
The world was ours, we marched upon
Our little Corporal’s command
And I lost an eye at Austerlitz
The sabre slash yet gives me pain
My one true love awaits me still
The flower of the Aquitaine

[Verse 3]
I pray for her who prays for me
A safe return to my belle France
We prayed these wars would end all wars
In war, we know, is no romance
And I pray our child will never see
A little Corporal again
Point toward a foreign shore
Captivate the hearts of men

References:
1. Golden Heart – Wikipedia