Why Sting chose to stage the songs
The ex-Police man tells James Croot why he wrote a musical from scratch rather than ‘trying to shoehorn my songs into some sort of bulls… fairytale’.
IT might have worked for Elton and Queen, but Sting has no plans to lend his name – and songs – to a lavish jukebox musical biopic of his life.
‘‘It’s something I’ve avoided like the plague because I think it’s lazy,’’ the now 71-year-old legendary British singersongwriter and bass guitarist tells Sunday News via Zoom from a sunny Perth park last weekend, as he began the Australasian leg of his global My Songs tour.
‘‘I wrote a musical from scratch called The Last Ship [which premiered in Chicago and on Broadway in 2014], about my hometown in the north of England, I thought it was a much better way of using my time than just trying to shoehorn my songs into some sort of bulls… fairytale. I haven’t succumbed to that yet – I may do, but I’m resisting it.’’
That resistance is greatly assisted by the focus of this tour, which began in Paris way back in May 2019 and heads to Christchurch Arena on March 1 and, at the time of going to press and dependant on the cyclone cleanup, Hawke’s Bay’s Mission Estate on March 4.
Billed as a compendium of the 17-time Grammy winner’s most beloved songs, the set features tracks he believes ‘‘tell the story of my life probably better than any others’’.
Was it a challenge working those out from 20 albums across 45 years with The Police and as a solo artist? ‘‘There are a couple of hundred songs – and I’m proud of all of them – but I think the ones that have had a commercial life, the most recognisable ones, the most successful ones best fitted what is basically a night of selfbiography. I recognise bits of me in all of these songs.’’
For at least one generation of Kiwis, it’s an appealing prospect. From the exuberance and passion of early Police hits like Walking on the Moon and Roxanne, thought-provoking early solo tracks If You Love Somebody Set Them Free and We Work the Black Seam and addictive, timeless earworms such as 1987’s Englishman in New York or 1993’s Fields of Gold.
Sting’s lyrics demand investigation – from ‘‘that famous book by Nabokov’’ mentioned in Don’t Stand So Close to Me, to the Cold War politics described in Russians and the Every Breath You Take riffs at the end of the jaunty Love is the Seventh Wave. So did he hope listeners would listen that deeply?
‘‘I always assume that people are listening to the lyrics, not just passing over them like warm water. I do spend a lot of time with the words – that’s my job – I’m a wordsmith, if you like.
‘‘They should contain surprises and puns and witticisms, but also be a touchstone to my emotional life – or what’s going on in the world. If you uncover layers, there are more underneath... I don’t know how many, but the intention is there to make a layered piece of work.’’
He says what he’s found heartening about the audiences on the My Songs tour so far are the wide demographics of those attending. ‘‘I think that’s testament to the popularity of the music. It feels like a community, rather than a kind of cult. I find it very lovely, sweet.’’
Sting though is acutely aware of their expectations. ‘‘There are some songs I know I’m not going to get off the stage without
singing, because I’ll be at risk of being lynched. I have to do the big hits. But I’m also doing some new songs [from his most recent album – 2021’s The Bridge]. I think it’s important, as difficult as it is to sing a new song. I think the audience is patient enough to sit there and give it a chance at least… they might be hits one day – you never know.’’
When it comes to songwriting, Sting admits he still can’t really predict where – or when – the inspiration will strike, but while previous trips to our shores can’t be directly connected to any tunes, he has a few abiding memories. ‘‘The first time we
[The Police] came, I believe it was
1980, I was very fond of seeing old cars from the 40s and 50s. I was like ‘wow, an old Ford Anglia’.’’
Legend – and the band’s fan sites – recall that trip as a fourconcert tour where they only managed one performance, before Sting lost his voice and the trio retreated to mountains for a few days instead.
Then there was his last visit in 2015 when he was ‘‘paparazzied’’ while revelling in a visit to ‘‘a little town called Sumner’’ (actually a seaside suburb of Christchurch) that just happens to share his surname. With eldest son Joe his special guest and opening act on this tour, he’s looking forward to creating some