Top 10 Sting Songs

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The Top 10 Essential Sting Songs were taken from the start of Sting’s solo career after he stepped away from The Police. It almost seems wrong to use the term “solo career” because The Police represented a relatively brief period of Sting’s decades-long recording career. The music Sting composed for the band The Police should be regarded as some of the finest popular songs written between 1979 and 1984. However, the music Sting composed after stepping away from The Police presented his audience with songs that fused elements of jazz harmony, voicings and improvisation, Celtic melodic ideas, and groove patterns from rhythm and blues and rock and roll.

Sting not only began composing music of a far deeper substance than his Police work, he also hired some of the best jazz musicians of the period to record and perform his music. The sound of Sting’s music, beginning with The Dream of the Blue Turtles album in 1985, was truly unique. Frank Zappa was another rock artist who featured brilliant jazz musicians fusing so many different musical elements.

Sting once said in an iTunes interview that he could not pick out his best song. Sting said his music should be a single song that represents his entire body of work. So, to honor Sting’s personal judgments of his music, we have decided to create an essential list rather than a list of the top 10 best. Since Sting has done so many interviews over the past four decades, we have written this list with an ear to Sting’s thoughts about his music. We have chosen the songs and compiled the list, but we will let Sting indirectly explain why we chose these works.

# 10 – It’s Probably Me

If we wanted to pick a song that represented Sting’s flirtation with the silver screen and the cinematic quality that defined some of Sting’s most fabulous arrangements, “It’s Probably Me” would be the best choice. The song was released as a single in 1992 before the Ten Summoner’s Tales album came out.

The cinematic quality of Sting’s Songs, especially “It’s Probably Me,” was easily justified by its inclusion in the opening credits of the motion picture Lethal Weapon 3. The single also featured Eric Clapton on guitar, but not on the album version.

# 9 – I Was Brought to My Senses

The Mercury Falling album was, at least in this writer’s opinion, Sting’s greatest record. It was an album filled with hope and acceptance. In a 1996 Boston Globe interview, Sting described Mercury Falling as an album that defined his acceptance of things he couldn’t change.

The song’s deep harmonic structure, in which the chorus featured ninths and elevenths, stands as one of Sting’s most exciting and beautiful arrangements. The song’s introduction, verses, and chorus differ completely in melodic ideas, chord changes, and rhythm. Yet, no matter how radical the differences are between the song’s various sections, Sting makes it work.

The song “I Was Brought to My Senses” is a true testament to a master songwriter at the top of his game. It should serve as an example of great songwriting, based on an understanding of musical harmony and theory. It’s all about practice and dedication to being the best. “I Was Brought to My Senses” is easily one of the most essential Sting Songs and also one of the best-written pieces of popular music over the past fifty years.

# 8 – If You Love Somebody Set Them Free

In a 1985 interview with the newspaper magazine “The Record,” Sting explained that he was unsure how his new music would be accepted because it was not jazz or mainstream pop. However, Sting knew his music would be accepted because he wrote great music regardless of the arrangements or production. The fact that Sting hired Branford Marsalis and Kenny Kirkland away from Wynton Marsalis’s band only elevated the music to a level not previously heard on the popular music scene.

“If You Love Somebody Set Them Free” was the single that proved Sting’s success with the band The Police would continue as a solo artist for many more years to come. All the Sting Songs released from that time would defy classification yet still celebrate tremendous commercial success.

# 7 – All This Time

The first single from his 1991 album The Soul Cages is No. 7 on the Top 10 Essential Sting Songs list. The song “All This Time” reached No. 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. However, it hit No. 1 on Billboard Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts.

The song was composed by Sting after breaking a writer’s block that had plagued him for close to three years. Sting confessed that it was the death of his father that had probably caused the writer’s block. Sting had even spoken to Bruce Springsteen for advice on handling the writer’s block, even asking Springsteen if he had any bad songs he could spare. However, Sting eventually emerged from his writer’s block and presented his fans with his career’s most heartfelt and deeply emotional album.

The song “All This Time” was one of the many standout tracks on the LP. Its lyrical content inspired and healed the issues of life and death. The song’s deep lyrical concepts, set afloat in a rhythmic river of soul, became one of the most essential songs of Sting’s career.

# 6 – If I Ever Lose My Faith in You

As time passed, the artist’s maturity led concepts of faith and trust to seep deeper into the lyrical content of Sting’s compositions. At No. 6 on the Top 10 Essential Sting Songs list is a song that resonated with ideas of faith, love, and trust.

The first single, “If I Ever Lose My Faith in You,” from the Ten Summoner’s Tales album, won Sting the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 1994 Grammy Awards. The album itself has been regarded as Sting’s most upbeat work, especially after the previously released The Soul Cages LP, which dealt with the death of Sting’s father.

Sting compared his work to the legendary The Canterbury Tales in talking about Ten Summoner’s Tales. Sting has said that both works were a series of stories and songs that stood on their own, yet were connected by the journey of completing them. On an album containing some of the best Sting Songs of the legendary artist’s career, “If I Ever Lose My Faith in You” would become the heaviest and most upbeat of the singles released. It featured Sting’s soaring trademark vocal sound over one of the composer’s most memorable choruses of his career.

# 5 – Fragile

One of the most beautiful Sting songs of the artist’s career was released on his second solo album, …Nothing Like the Sun. Sting’s composition, “Fragile,” was an ode to the works of Antonio Carlos Jobim. While the music of “Fragile” clearly was inspired by the Brazilian styles of Jobim, the lyrical content of the song was a homage to the American engineer Benjamin Linder, who had been killed by the contras in Nicaragua in 1987.

Sting performed the guitar and bass work on the song, which depicted Sting’s extraordinary level of musicianship. The tender lyrics and beautiful melody gave rise to a song that would become a new standard. Sting has performed the song “Fragile” as an encore in many of his concerts. I saw Sting perform the song “Fragile” in 1995 at New York’s Academy concert hall. It was one of the most spell-binding performances I have ever witnessed. It was an encore performance, and it blew the house away.

# 4 – I Hung My Head

Sting has always been a great interview subject for journalists because he just loves to talk. At the heart of his passion for talking and performing lay the simple concept of storytelling, which Sting thrived at in many circumstances. One of Sting’s greatest stories was about the foolishness of a young man playing with his rifle and carelessly aiming it at an innocent man on horseback.

With a strong Celtic vibe and a brilliantly written verse and chorus, Sting’s “I Hung My Head” stands as one of the composer’s most significant achievements and one of the most essential Sting Songs. The song was released on Sting’s excellent 1996 album Mercury Falling.

# 3 – Englishman in New York

The Sting song “Englishman in New York” stands as one of the three most essential Sting songs. The song’s brilliance stems from the dynamics of its lyrical ideas, early-twentieth-century rhythmic structures, and Branford Marsalis’s glorious musicianship. Sting may have been an exceptionally strong bandleader. Still, the best bandleaders know how to use talent, and it was clear that Sting recognized Branford Marsalis as a legend in the making.

It would have been interesting to be in those studios, watching the dynamics between Sting and the fabulous, talented jazz players he had hired to perform his music. We have all seen the documentary of the early recording sessions. However, documentaries never depict the real scenarios that develop in the recording process. Nonetheless, the recordings Sting created with those jazz musicians are of such depth and brilliance that it leaves no doubt that Sting’s first two albums were the result of a collective effort of some of the most brilliant talent in the music business during the 1980s.

# 2 – Fields of Gold

As much effort has gone into crediting the musicians on the first two Sting albums, it can be argued that the end product of these fabulous albums began with Sting’s brilliant compositional skills as a songwriter. Many people will argue that the true test of a song is how well it sounds performed on a solo instrument like a piano or guitar.

Production values based on arrangements and performances can greatly enhance the beauty of a well-written song, but none of that will matter if there is little to work with at the start. Sting has always been an exceptional musician and performer. However, this writer believes that regardless of his musical talent, Sting’s greatest contribution to pop culture will be as a songwriter.

Great songs should be able to stand on their own, apart from the original performer’s production. Sting’s song “Fields of Gold” is one of his most essential compositions because it has become one of the few new standards written in the past several decades. The song has been covered many times by artists across a wide range of musical genres and is one of the most covered of Sting’s solo songs.

From the soft folk sounds of Eva Cassidy to the Celtic interpretations of Mary Black and onward to the smooth jazz styles of the band Fourplay, the beauty of the song “Fields of Gold” defies boundaries. If this list had been a top 10 best Sting Songs list, then “Fields of Gold” would have landed at the number one spot. However, since this list was written to determine the top 10 essential Sting songs, there is one more song that ultimately defined Sting’s sound and his attempt to merge genres within a framework that produced some of the most enjoyable music of the past four decades.

# 1 – Shadows in the Rain

Of all the essential Sting songs in the artist’s catalog, no one song defined the fusion of jazz, rock, and pop styles like Sting’s “Shadows in the Rain.” Furthermore, the song “Shadows in the Rain” blended Sting’s distinctive songwriting with the band’s superior musicianship. The music’s improvisational nature reflects one of jazz’s defining traditions. The feel of this recording comes from the musicians feeding off each other in a live situation. The spirit of the music fuels the improvisations that occur in that setting.

When listening to Sting’s “Shadows in the Rain,” it is easy to see that the live element makes the recording so special. Instantly, you could hear it in Sting’s voice as the strain of live singing on top of a band of dynamic musicians took its toll on Sting’s vocal cords. Yet, Sting’s vocal performance in “Shadows in the Rain” is as organic as it gets. The recording captures the essence of Sting’s soulfulness and bears his commitment to the art form of real music. While Sting’s vocal performance stands as one of his best on record, the song’s improvisational sections are what carried the song to the top of the essential Sting songs list.

The Yamaha DX-7 was one of the most popular FM synthesizers of the 1980s. FM synthesizer technology was used on thousands of recordings. However, Kenny Kirkland’s keyboard solo on the DX7 halfway through “Shadows in the Rain” stands as the most outstanding improvisational solo utilizing the DX7 in the instrument’s history. It should also be recognized as one of the best solos on any of Sting’s recordings. The Branford Marsalis solo that responded to Kirkland’s brilliant run even further elevated the song. As the solos end, Sting returns to the top of his game and takes the song home.

The song “Shadows in the Rain” was released on Sting’s 1985 album The Dream of the Blue Turtles. In a 1985 interview with International Musician magazine, Sting said he was not aiming to record a Jazz or pure rock album, but rather a hybrid of both. Sting also explained that jazz musicians improvised not only based on chord changes and melodies, but also on lyrical content. Sting noted that Branford Marsalis was very much in tune with the subject matter of the material, which was defined by the saxophone player’s improvisational sensitivity to the compositions.

In Sting’s song “Shadows in the Rain,” all of the composer’s ideas about creating a new sound came to fruition. It is challenging to choose Sting’s best work. Over the past forty-plus years, Sting has delivered a substantial body of songs that represent some of the best moments in popular music. However, based on the substance and performance of the song “Shadows in the Rain,” the song has been chosen to serve as the best representation of Sting’s unique sound and closes this list at the No. 1 spot on the Top 10 Essential Sting Songs list.