Subscribe: by Email | in Reader

Synchronicity II -- Gordon Matthew 'Sting' Sumner

Guest poem submitted by Amit Chakrabarti, the
first in a guest theme:
(Poem #929) Synchronicity II
 Another suburban family morning
 Grandmother screaming at the wall
 We have to shout above the din of our rice krispies
 We can't hear anything at all
 Mother chants her litany of boredom and frustration
 But we know all her suicides are fake,
 Daddy only stares into the distance
 There's only so much more that he can take.
 Many miles away something crawls from the slime
    at the bottom of a dark Scottish lake.

 Another industrial ugly morning
 The factory belches filth into the sky
 He walks unhindered through the picket lines today,
 He doesn't think to wonder why.
 The secretaries pout and preen like cheap tarts in a red light street,
 But all he ever thinks to do is watch,
 And every single meeting with his so-called superior
 Is a humiliating kick in the crotch.
 Many miles away something crawls to the surface
    of a dark Scottish loch.

 Another working day has ended.
 Only the rush hour hell to face
 Packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes
 Contestants in a suicidal race.
 Daddy grips the wheel and stares alone into the distance
 He knows that something somewhere has to break
 He sees the family home now looming in the headlights,
 The pain upstairs that makes his eyeballs ache.
 Many miles away there's a shadow on the door of a
    cottage on the shore of a dark Scottish lake.
-- Gordon Matthew 'Sting' Sumner
[Comments]

The British rock trio known as "The Police" were on the verge of a breakup
and Sting was setting out on his singer-songwriter solo career when this
song was written. Thus, it captures Sting the Songwriter in his early years.
Already apparent are his gifts for vivid imagery and his ability to bring
out a bigger picture through little snapshots. Notice how with just a
handful of descriptive words Sting adds life to his scenes, e.g. "packed
like lemmings into shiny metal boxes" -- no mention of trains and noise and
crowds and jostling, but can't you just see it? Again, we're not told what
"pain upstairs" is seen "looming" in the headlights (lovely choice of word),
but we can guess.

To cap it all, Stings add a touch of surrealism by setting off his images of
urban angst against an ominous refrain involving the (never directly
mentioned) Loch Ness monster. What a touch!

-Amit.

[Notes]

For those who want to hear the song, it's on the hugely popular 1983 album
called "Synchronicity". The accompanying music features some nice interplay
between the band members, and cool Loch Ness monster sound effects.

[Links]

Other Sting songs on Minstrels:
Poem #114 "The Soul Cages"
Poem #287 "Mad About You"

[Trivia]

Sting seems to've bought the (possibly Disney-created) myth that Lemmings
commit group suicide every now and then when their population increases too
much. I can't claim to know what the truth
is, but see this site
      http://www.snopes2.com/disney/films/lemmings.htm

[On the theme]

It occurred to me that rock/pop lyrics are a vast enough body of work to be
able to supply a theme by themselves. Anyway, I recently noticed that three
very unrelated songs I like happen to talk about "urban problems" in a broad
sense. Hence the theme.

22 comments: ( or Leave a comment )

GrusumGreg said...

Nobody calls him Gordon Sumner. If I remember correctly, in the film Bring
On The Night, he tells a reporter not to call him that. I suggest you
attribute this poem to simply Sting.

duncan said...

whatever. It's still his name. I'll bet that's what gets printed on his
royalty cheques.

d.

Stewart Dickson said...

I think that the author is mistaken about the nature of the bottom of dark, Scottish lochs. I believe that the bottoms Scottish lochs are covered in peat, which is certainly dark, but not slimy. I don't mean to diminish the poetic effect -- just a factual quibble. The bottoms of dark Scottish lochs are certainly very creepy, with all those ancient, dead Celts down there, etc.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I think your blog might be having browser compatibility issues.

When I look at your blog site in Firefox, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping.
I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, terrific blog!


Feel free to surf to my blog: bmi calculator men

Anonymous said...

When Farmacia On Line was launched last March, demand soared for
the first time on newborns. Mango gives you the chance to purchase the prescription drugs you need at the right price with the least amount of problems.
That's exactly what the Droid X for a few minutes and we found ourselves leaning in to see the sight. Sperm banks and egg donors are replacing physical intercourse, so even if you take antacids, stomach acid reducers, or stomach ulcer medicines.

Feel free to surf to my web page what do you think ()

essays writer said...

Forward to the next. songs album next year. Loved.

Anonymous said...

thanks a lot for the post www.masterpapers.com very interesting!

Anonymous said...

Cool info ! http://www.online-essay-writer.org/ Really very useful!

Asad Yousuf said...

The Conversation Chemistry training program is interesting because it is really two entirely different programs, one for men and one for women. Obviously, since I'm a man I will be talking about the one that I've been using (the men's one). But, because I wanted to make this review for everybody I actually read the women's version too and wrote up my thoughts on that as well.https://rebelmouse.com/conversationchemistry

Asad Yousuf said...

Eat, Drink, And Shrink: Danette May Reveals Her Super Quick, 5 Ingredient Fitness Model Fat Burning Recipes For Melting Away Stubborn Belly Fat...No Gyms, Counting Calories, Or Crazy Fad Diets Required (Perfect For Busy Moms Or Men And Women Who Are Always On The Go)pdf version

Asad Yousuf said...

Get The Girl Code first caught our attention when we watched the video by relationship expert Michael Fiore that mentioned things like ‘magical breasts’ and ‘Godlike’ powers to attract any girl, “ reports Krosby. “What guy doesn’t want his own pair of magical breasts and superpowers, right? While the controversial video certainly kept us entertained, we really wanted to look past some of the sales hype and get to the bottom of this program to determine if it could actually help our male readers get better with women. Our Get The Girl Code review is the culmination of those findings. http://www.sbwire.com/press-releases/marni-kinrys/get-the-girl-code-review/sbwire-440712.htm

Anonymous said...

nice
cara menghilangkan kutil di kemaluan pria
obat tradisional untuk kutil kelamin luar
obat kutil kelamin luar tradisional
obat tradisional kutil kelamin luar
obat kutil kelamin luar alami
cara menghilangkan kutil di kelamin wanita
obat kutil kelamin wanita ampuh
pengobatan alami kutil kelamin wanita
pengobatan tradisional kutil kelamin wanita
obat kutil kelamin wanita yang ampuh
cara menghilangkan kutil kelamin secara alami
obat luka kutil kelamin
obat herbal kutil kelamin luar
obat untuk kutil kelamin luar
obat tradisional kutil kelamin luar
cara mengobati kutil di kemaluan
obat herbal kutil kelamin luar
obat herbal untuk kutil kelamin luar
pengobatan tradisional kutil kelamin luar
obat herbal untuk kutil kelamin luar
obat kutil kelamin di apotik
obat kutil kelamin di apotik
obat alami kutil kelamin di apotik
obat ampuh di apotik
obat mujarab di apotik
penyembuhan kutil kelamin
obat kutil kelamin paling manjur
obat kutil kelamin yang paling manjur
obat kutil kelamin tradisional yg mujarab
obat kutil kelamin herbal mujarab
Obat Kutil di Sekitar Kemaluan
obat penghilang sakit kutil kelamin
obat penghilang sakit kutil kelamin
obat penghilang nyeri pada kutil kelamin
obat pereda sakit kutil kelamin
obat untuk menghilangkan kutil di kemaluan
apa nama obat kutil kelamin
daftar nama obat kutil kelamin
nama obat kutil kelamin dari dokter
nama obat kutil kelamin yang aman untuk ibu hamil
obat kutil di alat kelamin
nama obat kutil kelamin
nama obat kutil kelamin di apotek
nama obat kutil kelamin paling ampuh
nama obat kutil kelamin di apotik

qtix said...

Banking and wine are probably two of the oldest businesses on the planet. In this episode, we cover both. Our guest Kirk Drake is a leader, author and serial entrepreneur focused on credit-union technology. We talked about how to help credit unions compete in the digital age, enhance their creativity, and forge better connections with their members. https://cxdojo.com/product-drama-podcast-11-credit-unions-in-the-digital-age

Post a Comment