Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum

He Was A Friend of Mine..

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Kajunite:
I am sure this has been done but I can't stop singing this haltingly perfect lamentation for Ennis.  Bob Dylan wrote this song some time ago but it is perfectly worded for poor Ennis at the end of the movie.

He Was A Friend of Mine.


He was a friend of mine,
He was a friend of mine,
Everytime I think of him, I just
  can't keep from crying.
Cause he was a friend of mine.


He died all alone,
He died all alone,
Just kept on moving, never
  reaped what he could sow.
And he was a friend of mine.


I stole away and cried,
I stole away and cried,
Never had much money; I've
  never been quite satisfied.
And he was a friend of mine.


He was a friend of mine,
He was a friend of mine,
Every time I hear his name Lord
  I just can't keep from crying
Cause he was a friend of mine.

I just getting to where I can sing or hum it without crying but when I think of the last scene of Ennis I start singing this song.  Perfectly worded.

moremojo:
Hey there, Kajunite--

I love this song too, and find it fits the story's tragic conclusion perfectly. I had never heard of it, or heard any rendition of it, before seeing Brokeback Mountain. I tried looking it up some months ago in a book of Bob Dylan's lyrics I encountered in the bookstore, but was puzzled by not finding any mention of it there. According to Front-Ranger, another of our members, Dylan did not actually write this song, but heard it during his early folk days and wrote it down (I assume he also made a recording of it). Its authorship seems to be anonymous.

Rufus Wainwright's "Maker Makes", which immediately follows "He Was a Friend of Mine" during the closing credits, is another very poignant and apposite song for the film.

Scott

bbm_stitchbuffyfan:
I love both "He Was a Friend of Mine" and "The Maker Makes" but, like the majority of songs on the Brokeback soundtrack, I cannot often listen to them because they make me really, really depressed and so hurt.

Heartbreaking, perfectly-fitting, and incredible come to mind as apt descriptions for these songs...

Kajunite:
Hey friends...  I had heard this song before this but it was Willie Nelson singing it.  I have never heard Bob Dylan's rendition and that's just as well because Bob is not (in IMO) a very good singer.  The credits shown for the song said this was a Bob Dylan's song.  The print is so small in the song credits (at the very end of the credits) that it could be saying that Bob Dylan arranged this version, and that does not mean that he wrote it.  It fits the occassion very well.

tamarack:

--- Quote from: Kajunite on July 13, 2006, 11:16:02 pm ---... Bob is not (in IMO) a very good singer. 
--- End quote ---

With Dylan, it's not the singing, it's the writing. (It's definitely not the singing...although some times are better than others.)  ;)

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