James Blunt’s “No Bravery” Lyrics Meaning

To put the song “No Bravery” into its proper context, it should be noted that James Blunt has a military background. More specifically he served as a solider in the British Army during the war in Kosovo in the late 20^th century.  In fact as the story goes he carried his guitar with him, and he actually wrote this song while concurrently on the field.

And in “No Bravery” you will hear him continually refer to an individual by a male-gender pronoun, “he”. And getting right to the point, this character is actually the personification of war. So basically what the lyrics of this song consist of are what can be considered eyewitness accounts of what was going on in Kosovo from a soldier who was actually stationed there. And the story presented is harrowing indeed. For instance, ladies are assaulted and raped; houses “burnt beyond repair”, and people are being buried and lost, amongst many other disturbing details.

Who has “no bravery” in their eyes?

So the general insinuation is that the singer is ascribing the titular attribute onto the victims of the war. That is the “bravery” which they once had has now been replaced with “only sadness”. And again, this would be the direct result of the many afflictions they suffer as mentioned throughout.

But as illustrated by the song’s music video he is also sympathizing with his fellow British soldiers. So it can also be theorized that it is rather their “bravery” which he is referring to as being sapped away due to the many atrocities they saw, which according to the song were so profound that they had a mass, generational effect.

Conclusion

So conclusively, this is the case of a talented musician who also happened to be a soldier in one of the most-intense war theaters of 1999. And as such he was able to lyrically and vividly capture what was transpiring. In addition to this, he was able to articulately empathize with what others involved were going through.

Facts about “No Bravery”

Custard Records, Atlantic Records and RCA Records released this tune as part of Blunt’s maiden album, “Back to Bedlam”. It was released on the 17th of April 2007. 

“No Bravery” was written by James Blunt in conjunction with songwriter Sacha Skarbek. And the track was produced by the duo of T. Rothrock and J. Hogarth.

James Blunt actually had a six-year long, diverse military career. He began his successful music career shortly after retiring from the military.

Did James Blunt release this song as a single?

Yes. “No Bravery” actually came out as the seventh single from his maiden album. This album, which sold over 3 million copies globally, also produced the following hits:

• “You’re Beautiful“
• “Goodbye My Lover”
• “High”
• “Wisemen“