I still cannot hear the opening lines of “King of Pain” without thinking of a little boy with a bowl cut and a jean jacket, I want to say his name was Dennis, running around the schoolyard when I was in the first grade singing, at the top of his lungs, “There’s a little brown spot in my underwear…!!!!”
And I sincerely hope that sharing that memory does not do that to the song for you moving forward. The song deserves much better than that.
That was my first, unofficial, introduction to The Police.
The official introduction would come the next weekend when I repeated the lyric at home and my dad made me sit down and listen to the actual song.
I loved The Police and I loved Sting’s voice, a trait shared by most 30-something mothers in the 80’s, I’m sure, because Sting was on constant rotation in our house. While my mother ultimately preferred the rasp of Rod Stewart, the punk and reggae styles made The Police the much cooler option.
And when “All For One” came out in 1993, well, let me just say, heads exploded in my house.
But I’m getting ahead of myself and feeling slightly ashamed that “All For One“ is the first video link in a post about Sting.
(Of course I can absolutely edit and change this, but what does it say about me that I haven’t?)
First, at age six, I thought there was no cooler band name than The Police, because even at that age I could tell there was a bit of irony to the name, even though I didn’t yet know what irony was. These were not the uniformed good guys. These guys were rebellious.
I was eight when Band-Aid released “Do They Know It’s Christmas” and this was a big deal in our house. My dad was from the Isle of Wight and a proud Briton and I remember him telling me about each of the artists in the song. We watched Live Aid on our little 13 inch TV set in the living room of our small apartment and I get goose bumps on my arms now just thinking about how incredible that was. The most amazing thing I had ever seen on television.
When Sting’s first lyric comes up in the song, I still emphasize the fact that he sings his own name when I sing along to the song today.
Okay, just for kicks and saves you a search, 1:25 into the video below:
Fast forward to age 14 and I had my own money from my own job and there was a flyer in the TV Guide for a music-buying club called Columbia House. After reading through all of the fine print with my parents, I took the plunge and put in my first order.
Eight cassettes for a penny each, then of course you had to buy X many more at $X in X amount of time, but those first eight cassettes… to date one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever had to make in my life.
The first pick was easy though: The Police – Every Breath You Take: The Singles.
I filled in the little circle next to that title so fast that I actually had to catch myself, because I now only had seven choices left.
The prevailing argument was to go for collections. If you were going to get eight cassettes for a penny, the bang for the buck was to make sure each one was full of gold.
I still have them all (I took this picture this morning) and, for general interest, here were the first eight tapes I chose:
But back to The Police.
I had them now, literally in my pocket. “Message In A Bottle”, “Roxanne” and “Every Breath You Take” were easy adds to the mix tapes I would make for Mother’s Day every year. I’m shocked the tape still works, given how many times I played it.
Whenever I would hear Sting speak in an interview, or read something about him, I would always come to the same conclusion: he is effortlessly the coolest man alive.
Not a very deep conclusion, I admit, but that’s what I come away with.
Which is why, in writing this, it surprised me to discover that so many people hate him. I’d never read this side of Sting before.
Is he pretentious and cocky, or just introverted and misunderstood?
My need for a good does of confirmation bias led me to this article and I’m happy I did.
In person, Sting seems to take himself much less seriously than the public image of him would have us believe. Given all the flak he has attracted over the years in the press, does he care what people think of him?
“In some ways I consider it an advantage to know how other people view you. You’re under no illusions about how you’re thought of. You have to strike a balance: there’s people who can’t stand the sight of you, there’s people who really love you and obviously the truth is somewhere in the middle. That’s the passage I’m navigating… I don’t get unduly hurt. I might get a bit crazy…”
What – you might punch someone (the Police were well known for their impromptu back-stage fist-fights)? He gives a lazy smile. “No, I wouldn’t do that. I might rehearse it in my mind, but I wouldn’t do it.”
All is right in the world again now and we are back in the place where BMI has named “Every Breath You Take” the most performed song in its entire catalogue.
I haven’t listened to Sting or The Police in years. I mean, sure, every Christmas his rendition of “I Saw Three Ships” from A Very Special Christmas 3 ranks right up there in our house as one of the best, but I haven’t really sought out what he’s been up to.
Until a couple of months ago.
One of the best YouTube rabbit holes I’ve discovered during the pandemic is the Tiny Desk concert series from NPR. So many great artists, so many new music finds, and such a small desk… I can spend hours watching these.
And one of the best by far is Sting and… wait for it…
Shaggy.
Seriously, do yourself a small favour and take the time to watch this entire 14 minute set.
This whole set had me smiling the entire time and reaffirmed that I STILL want to be Sting when I grow up.
His newest album, My Songs, has been downloaded and while on it’s front it could appear as though he is cashing in on re-recording some of his best work, as the people in that first article linked to might have you believe, I have an incredible respect for the nostalgic take and thoughtfulness that went into his choosing which songs told his own story.
Maybe it’s pretentious; more likely, Sting is doing his own thing in his own way knowing that his work will find its audience.
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Further Reading: My Songs
For a track by track walk-through of all the songs selected and re-recorded on My Songs, click here.