I want to tell you about a singer who is committed in his songs: Sting.
Sting was born in 1961, he’s an English musician and singer, and he was the composer and bassist of The Police.
I want to talk about two songs he composed to say what he thinks. It’s the case of the song « Englishman in New York ». This song is about the writer and actor Quentin Crisp, an English arrived in New York. (hence the title of the song)
in fact, Quentin Crisp was gay and it was a problem. Sting wrote this song for him, with his famous sentence « Be yourself, no matter what they say« .
I want to talk about two songs he composed to say what he thinks. It’s the case of the song « Englishman in New York ». This song is about the writer and actor Quentin Crisp, an English arrived in New York. (hence the title of the song)
in fact, Quentin Crisp was gay and it was a problem. Sting wrote this song for him, with his famous sentence « Be yourself, no matter what they say« .
In this song all sentences are about differences: for example, the first sentence says « I don’t drink coffee I take tea my dear » and then we listen « See me walking down Fifth Avenue / A walking cane here at my side /I take it everywhere I walk«
« Russians » can also be associated to a committed song:Sting denounces the impact of the Cold War (« there’s no such thing as a winnable war « ). « Russians » takes the theme Lieutenant Kijé, composed by Sergei Prokofiev.
I like these 2 songs, and you, do you like Sting? do you know other songs which denounce something?
I really like Sting, particularly the song called « Shape of my heart » which was realised for the movie « Leon » with Nathalie Portman
I like Sting too and I noticed that many of his songs are autobiographical. In the album « The soul cages » for example, Sting tells his childhood and his reactions about the death of his father. In « Island of Souls » for example, he says :
« He dreamed of a ship on the sea
It would carry his father and he
To a place they could never be found
To a place far away from this town
A Newcastle ship with no coals
They would sail to the island of souls »
I like Sting in his band The Police but I don’t really enjoy his music when he is alone… but the two songs you mentionned are good
I enjoy this singer, it is a brillant personality.