Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DLXXXV--Sting: All This Time

 Of a thousand rainy days since we first met, it's a big enough umbrella but it's always me...that's (JFC--lucky--thirteen days!) late again....

A few years back I was cooking dinner and listening to my favorites playlist on my Ipod when this week's artist came on, and I thought, "Why do I have this guy on here?  I don't even like him that much."  Fast forward a couple of years when I, on a whim, threw his greatest hits into the CD player in the car...and promptly listened to it with joy for the next three months.  Who knows?  I've also wondered a time or two how the hell I missed this week's tune since it was released at a time when I was still very much in the music business, but one supposes it's because the world is just full of so many wonders....

As I was doing my half-assed research on Sting, it dawned on me how much musically he was like his fellow countryman Elvis Costello--the man has literally done everything.  From his time with the Police (wrote about in Vol. CCXLIII) to his lengthy solo career, Sting has played numerous genres of music, collaborated with numerous artists from numerous genres, worked on numerous soundtracks and even had a musical (The Last Ship) based on his work for which he wrote the music and lyrics.  He's won seventeen Grammys, three Brit Awards, an Emmy, and been nominated for four Academy Awards and a Tony Award. He's also been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of the Police) and the Songwriters Hall of Fame (kind of surprised that he hasn't been inducted as a solo artist in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame....).  He's also acted in numerous movies and had twenty-one world tours.  For his solo career, Sting has released fifteen solo albums (with ten top ten albums in the U.S., and seven in his native U.K.), six live albums, seven compilations, and fifty-one singles (five top ten's in American, two in Great Britain).  And for the cherry on top, he's been involved in too many causes and charities to name, is a devotee of chess, and actually was a teacher for two years before rock and roll stardom beckoned.  All of which begs the question:  JFC, what the hell have I done with my life?

Fun Fact:  Sting uses so much imagery in this week's tune that many people have asked if he got them from of a dream.  Nope--they're just recollections from his childhood in Wallsend, England.

"All This Time" was the first single from his 1991 album, the rather philosophically entitled The Soul Cages.  The song would hit #5 (with a bullet!) in the United States (and #1 in Canada--so many cool kids North of the Border!).  The album would reach #2 here in the States while striking gold in the U.K. and hitting the #1 spot.

It's been within the last five years that I discovered this song, and I really couldn't name too many songs I've heard in the last few years that I enjoyed as much as I enjoyed this one.  While doing my half-assed research, I discovered that Sting likes to pair upbeat lyrics with sad songs, and such is the case with "All This Time" (the song is actually about the death of his father from cancer--sadly, he lost both of his parents to cancer within a couple of years of each other).  Musically, it's catchy as all hell, with the chorus being a sweet piece of pop pie.  Sting's lyrics are phenomenal--one supposes one of the many benefits of his college education.  And thematically?  Every father should be so lucky to have such a wondrous song written about him.  Lest I forget, the oh--ee--yo's that close out the song are downright dynamite, too.  I'm not sure I have enough superlatives for this week's tune--just a wonderful, wonderful song (one of my favorite lyrics, too--see below).

Lyric Sheet:  "All this time the river flowed/Endlessly like a silent tear/All this time the river flowed/Father, if Jesus exists then how come he never lives here?"

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCXLIII--The Police: Invisible Sun

In which the Police channel their inner U2...and it only took 252 songs to get to a band that was a huge part of my musical palate from the late 70's through the mid 80's....

The Police formed in London, England in 1977, and like many a featured artist here on Friday Night Jukebox have a history that's a bit big for summarizing in a paragraph.  So without further ado...they had a relatively short career as a band, releasing five studio albums over the course of seven years.  They took a short break and went into the studio in 1986 to make their sixth album which never was completed...and that was that.  They did reunite in 2007 for a year long reunion tour (the third highest grossing tour in history), but have pretty much returned to focusing on their solo careers as before--Sting as a mega-selling (though not particularly very good) pop star, Andy Summers through guitar collaborations, and Stewart Copeland via the soundtrack route.  One can't underestimate how successful the Police were--arguably at one point the biggest band in the world, four of their five albums hit #1 in the U.K. (the fifth was #6), and even in the U.S., which wasn't as quick to catch on, their last three albums were top five and their first two were top 25.  Add to that their hugely successful world tours, that four of their five studio LPs made Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time, six Grammy Awards, and two Brit Awards, and it's not surprising that they entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility.  And just for good measure, they were also on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All-Time.

(Not So) Fun Fact:  I had the good fortune to see the Police on two of their world tours, and for the record, both times they were beyond awful.  Easily two of the worst concert performances I've seen over the years.  C'est la vie!

"Invisible Sun" debuted in 1981 on the Police's third album, Ghosts in the Machine.  While it was the first single released from the album in Europe, it was never released as a single here in the States ("Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" was the song of choice here in America).  It would go on to
reach #2 in the U.K. and # 5 in Ireland--so many cool kids in the British Isles!

"Invisible Sun" was written by Sting in response to the hunger strikes of 1981 which occurred during The Troubles in Northern Ireland--he said he was trying to understand what made people continue on despite the misery they faced in their daily lives.  Despite the song's ominous overtones, it's actually quite uplifting--the idea of their being an "invisible sun" that shines on people when life is at its worst.  And it's perfect fodder for folks like me who like their music with a political bent every now and again (or more).  The song itself is a marvelous representation of what each member brought to the band instrumentally--Stewart Copeland's drumming echoes with a sinister foreboding, Andy Summers guitar work at the end of each chorus is like a catharsis, and Sting's bass playing adds force to the song's whole.  There's some nice harmonizing on the chorus as well--and the minute and a half or so of "Oh oh oh oh oh oh"s that close the song are reminiscent of a benedictine chant and are as hopeful as a soothing prayer.  All in all, "Invisible Sun" was a tour de force for the Police...and a stunning piece of political pop for the rest of us.

Lyric Sheet:  "It's dark all day and it glows all night/Factory smoke and acetylene light/I face the day with my head caved in/Looking like something that the cat brought in..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CXXII--Men at Work: Overkill

When you think about the subjects of hit singles, it's unlikely that you'd imagine one with worrying (and with it, insomnia) as its theme.  But that's just what this week's tune delves into, and in so doing created a mini masterpiece about the overwhelming nature of angst.

Men at Work are an abject lesson in Musical Success Cometh And Musical Success Goeth.  Formed in 1978 in Melbourne, they released their first album (Business as Usual) at the end of 1981 and it went on to become an international success, reaching #1 on several countries' pop charts, spawning two #1 singles "Who Can It Be Now?" and "Down Under"--perhaps the best song written about a nation, ever), and winning them a Grammy for Best New Artist.  Their second album was another international success garnering two more top ten singles.  And then their third album...was a stiff and for all intents and purposes, other than the obligatory We Need Money Reunion Tours, Men at Work were finished.  Still, they sold over thirty million records, Business as Usual was voted one of the 100 best Australian albums of all-time, "Down Under" is #4 on a list of Australia's greatest hits, and they made the American music industry take notice of bands coming out of Australia.  Plenty of bands have done worse....

Released on their Cargo album, "Overkill" would reach #3 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100 which is really kind of impressive considering its subject matter isn't the stuff hit singles are made of.  The song does, though, capture well the way the worried mind races at night, especially when suffering the misery that is imsomnia:  the walking around in the dark, the desperation of seeking some sort of relief, the exasperation when nothing works.  Lead singer Colin Hay's (who is the one remaining constant in Men at Work--and can be called, without any negative connotations, a poor man's Sting) vocals perfectly embody the anguish of the fretful (especially after the instrumental break), and with a sinister sax, a heartbeat drum rhythm and matching guitar, "Overkill" becomes an ode to despair without sinking into despair itself.  I have to admit that this is a song that grew on me over time (and even more so after a years long bout of insomnia)--it is a song of some intelligence and self-awareness and while not a ticket into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, certainly puts what could have been a One Hit Wonder band into the Could Have Been A Contender annals of Rock and Roll.

Lyric Sheet:  "Day after day it reappears/Night after night my heartbeat shows the fear/Ghosts appear and fade away/Come back another day...."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee