As a solo musician and a member of The Police, Sting has received 17 Grammy Awards: he won Song of the Year for "Every Breath You Take", three Brit Awards, including Best British Male Artist in 1994 and Outstanding Contribution in 2002, a Golden Globe, an Emmy, and four nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. In 2019, he received a BMI Award for "Every Breath You Take" becoming the most-played song in radio history. In 2002, Sting received the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors and was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Police in 2003. In 2000, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for recording. In 2003, Sting received a CBE from Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace for services to music. He was made a Kennedy Center Honoree at the White House in 2014 and was awarded the Polar Music Prize in 2017.
With The Police, Sting became one of the world's best-selling music artists. Solo and with the Police combined, he has sold over 100 million records. In 2006, Paste ranked him 62nd of the 100 best living songwriters. He was 63rd of VH1's 100 greatest artists of rock, and 80th of Q magazine's 100 greatest musical stars of the 20th century. He has collaborated with other musicians on songs such as "Money for Nothing" with Dire Straits, "Rise & Fall" with Craig David, "All for Love" with Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart, "You Will Be My Ain True Love" with Alison Krauss, and introduced the North African music genre raï to Western audiences through the hit song "Desert Rose" with Cheb Mami. In 2018, he released the album 44/876, a collaboration with Jamaican musician Shaggy, which won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 2019.
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sting_(musician)
Studio albums
The Dream of the Blue Turtles (1985)
...Nothing Like the Sun (1987)
The Soul Cages (1991)
Ten Summoner's Tales (1993)
Mercury Falling (1996)
Brand New Day (1999)
Sacred Love (2003)
Songs from the Labyrinth (2006)
If on a Winter's Night... (2009)
Symphonicities (2010)
The Last Ship (2013)
57th & 9th (2016)
44/876 (2018) (with Shaggy)
My Songs (2019)
The Bridge (2021)
The Wind Cries Mary
Sting Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And the clowns have all gone to bed
You can hear happiness
Staggering on down street
Footprints dressed in red
And the wind whispers Mary
A broom is drearily sweeping
Somewhere a Queen is weeping
Somewhere a King has no wife
And the wind it cries Mary
The traffic lights they turn blue tomorrow
And shine their emptiness down on my bed
The tiny island sags downstream
'Cause the life they'd lived is dead
And the wind screams Mary
Will the wind ever remember
The names it has blown in the past
And with this crutch, its old age and its wisdom
It whispers "No, this will be the last"
And the wind cries Mary
The Wind Cries Mary by Sting is a haunting and emotional song that explores themes of loss, loneliness, and despair. The song's opening lines paint a picture of a quiet night, with all the clowns and jacks put away for the evening. Despite this, there is a sense that there is still joy left in the world and that happiness is making its way down the street in the form of footsteps dressed in red. The wind whispers Mary, perhaps a reference to the Virgin Mary or a symbol of something innocent and pure, a beacon of hope amidst the darkness.
The lyrics take a turn in the second verse, where we are confronted with the reality of brokenness and sadness. A broom sweeps up the broken pieces of yesterday's life, and we are left to wonder who the Queen is who is weeping and why the King has no wife. It is a bleak picture of a world where everything seems to be falling apart, a world where the wind cries Mary.
The final verse combines these themes in a powerful way, as the traffic lights turn blue and the emptiness of life is highlighted. The tiny island mentioned may be a metaphor for a solitary existence, cut off from the mainland of society. And yet, the wind cries Mary, reminding us that even in the darkest of times, there is still beauty to be found in the world.
Overall, Sting's The Wind Cries Mary is a poignant and thought-provoking song that speaks to the human experience of loss and loneliness. It is a reminder that even in our darkest moments, we are never truly alone.
Line by Line Meaning
After all the jacks are in their boxes
Once everything has settled down and put away for the night
And the clowns have all gone to bed
After all the commotion and excitement has died down
You can hear happiness
One can perceive the sound of joy and contentment
Staggering on down street
Moving unsteadily down the street
Footprints dressed in red
Red footprints left behind by someone who is injured and bleeding
And the wind whispers Mary
The wind carries Mary's name softly through the night
A broom is drearily sweeping
Someone is cleaning up the mess of the past, but it is a difficult and melancholy task
Up the broken pieces of yesterday's life
Picking up the shattered remnants of a life that is now in the past
Somewhere a Queen is weeping
A woman of great importance is mourning
Somewhere a King has no wife
A man of great power is without his life partner
And the wind it cries Mary
The wind expresses sorrow, perhaps for the losses suffered by the Queen, the King, or someone else named Mary
The traffic lights they turn blue tomorrow
The future looks bleak and full of emptiness
And shine their emptiness down on my bed
This emptiness and despair is very personal, affecting the singer personally
The tiny island sags downstream
Even an entire community can feel weighed down and defeated
'Cause the life they'd lived is dead
This sense of hopelessness is due to the failure of the way things were before
And the wind screams Mary
The wind expresses a sense of horror or agony, again perhaps related to Mary or some other tragic figure
Will the wind ever remember
The artist wonders if the wind will continue to carry the memories of the past
The names it has blown in the past
These memories are of individual people and their lives
And with this crutch, its old age and its wisdom
The wind can provide comfort and guidance in spite of its age and fragility
It whispers "No, this will be the last"
The wind reassures the artist that the pain and suffering will come to an end eventually
And the wind cries Mary
The song title is repeated, bringing the sorrowful and mournful theme full circle
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: JIMI HENDRIX
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@goodkawz
I have always loved this song since I first heard it about 50 years ago.
While in the Marines.
Hearing the Hendrix original as the intro to a Christian radio program
brought me here today. ¡! 🤔🤭
I listened to this a few times, while reading most of the comments,
and then a few more times without distraction.
It grew on me.
I’m tonally and rhythmically challenged,
so I probably don’t even understand the comments as well as I seem to,
This cover seems to rip at my feelings a little more each time I listen.
“Rip” in a good way. Exquisite bluesy pain mixed with comfort.
The lack of perfect unity of feeling between the musicians,
from this tyro perspective,
is not due to the musicians being unaware of each other.
There is or was a band where I live called “Mixed Emotions”,
and mixed emotions are in the wind of this classic.
Well captured in this cover. At least for now. IMHO.
I think the performers have offered a lot (really a lot!) to those of us
who don’t (maybe because we can’t)
begin and end our listening experience as critics.
peace
@stringzzzz1
Simon York
Yes... Well put, Simon.
I'm still digesting this tune here on my second replay.
I do love hearing John's, long since abandoned, HIGH VOLTAGE approach, combined with sonic resolve.
Another way of saying this is, "A validation of "the treatment needed," as jazz critics have coined when working with the aspects of preservation, regarding the composers intent.
By maintaining the spirit of Jimi's rhythmic phrasings and fusing an inspired homage during the solo section,
this much is to be justified.
Hendrix, not just a bluesmen., but possessed a strong combination of delta blues, rock'in roll, and a Motown/Montgomery vocabularies, facilitated via this same vehicle heard here, in so many of his works.
As you mentioned about John,
Jimi's conveyance of the inexpressible, is much like what John's opinions reflect about his own vision.,
These are shared attributes.
Clearly., Hendrix inspired and influenced a great-many guitarist, including McLaughlin.
John employs in his own way, like any self-respecting artist would, the delicate manner of "treatment" while
having the liberal freedom to expand on this "Poetic Masterpiece.,
Jimi Hendrix's - 'The Wind Cries Mary.'
-------
In reflection to your words, Simon...
I too feel a certain insight and affinity to McLaughlin's vision.
Having been exposed to the mans work before my teens. I find that today, it bares me an intuitive understanding to the celestial nature of McLaughlin's work. The 70's especially.
A Mahavishnu Orch. fan since it's inception.
Of course, like John's musical evolution, It took years to comprehend the full magnitude of meanings one may come to understand as an adult, like Coltrane and odd time signatures, let alone a kid faced with the times this content was composed/written in. Viet Nam was on the evening news, nightly.
Of course, we don't start at the top.
But there's something to say about being exposed to the concept., "Expressing the Inexpressible."
This can move a child with an ear for music. For myself as a wittiness, the musical ideas, or should I say, 'Extrapolations', of what John had produced back then can not be understated in this psyche of the mind's eye.
His earlier works gave me the framework to base theses observations from.
'Devotion' Lp.
'Extrapolation' Lp.
'My Goals Beyond' Lp
I can go on but I'm terrible at keeping it short.
The man's career is a nothing less than a full range account of pioneering brilliance, taking a genuine discipleship principals to the level of a Master Guru, in his own right. the "Expressing the inexpressible." A lifetime achievement award is relevant here for this international hippy. Right John? lol.
I can only encourage young musicians to get exposed to jazz fusion groups of the 70's. From there, you'll find something worth pursuing.
--------
Of course... Many McLaughlin and Hendrix fans alike, along with the music industry vipers, have come to know of McL and Jimi's, mini collaboration recording. Some informal blues jam taking place.
The idea of these two, and I don't mean popular, arguably thee "most influential guitarist," living and playing together "in they're own time" is a discovery that you would think, never be passed over. And under some some unprepared setting of all things.
Did someone yell "DOG PILE!!!"
Unfortunately, much of what this encounter was left to chance in terms of content and prepared arrangements. Recording quality was also not the standard and very poor, as well. As was the recording attempt, itself.
Nevertheless..,
The significance of this "Meeting of the Spirits, so to speak," is a deep subject in itself.
(and it's out here on Y Tube)
Briefly, with the likely reason of such..,
It's my personal feeling that McLaughlin wanted to protect the memory of Jimi and himself by simply not releasing the content to the world, knowing it didn't stand on it's own.
By allowing the common critic of the day, that being of 'The Rolling Stone Magazine' variety, would of had a field day trashing Hendrix which was there actual job at the time, under big bother's watchful eye, conducting their defaming campaign for all the rock stars that just happened to disappear by death.
So, an unreleasable warmup noodlings of informal content from a recorder left on continuous record mode was sure to be exploited by the pariah hacks and profiteers of that day, swarming the never-heard material.
And yet, somehow... John changed his position on keeping the tapes out of the public domain to conceded to the fan-ship of guitarists and music historians, making the withholding issue a selfish matter.
Combine that with fictitious accounts of recorded content followed by inquires wanting whats denied them...
I can only assume John did what only needed to be done.
So if anyone reading here hasn't heard these recordings by now, they're not hard to find.
I don't feel the need to link them on this post. There are interesting to hear and have highlights to ponder.
In general., A working on some blues approaches to be later pursued for an actual project, right before Hendrix was taken from us.
-----
There is an element I think deserves focus on just how down to earth and
yet powerful in pride, under the times of fear and uncertainty for a
any Black American man. Let alone, Hendrix... This had to be the essence of raw courage when I here the
freedom in Jimi's work..
Closure...
After a fifty year moratorium on accessing, now un-classified doc. and a dissemination official hospital records, doctors, nurses, ambulance personnel and staff members a the scene, all derectly in contact to the corpse of Jimi's body provide ' a of all accounts and records,, I come to believe Jimi was a victim of one of the ugliest times in U.S history.
Latest documents confirm, Jimi was a targeted mark for the FBI's youth suppression agenda and as a potential threat, had to be, and was, neutralized. Plain and simple.
His manager... being "The handler," his girlfriend, being "The Lover - turned Liaison" to the powers that be. and are highly suspect in what can only be a pre-approved solution in place to what was conceived as a national threat in to the youth culture of the time. place, long before any possible associations with the Black Panthers were to gain Jimi's attention.
Jimi Hendrix
R.I.P. our ascending Angel.
@mikelistman5263
Hendrix was an amazing lyricist! The words to this song are poetry.
@pablotorres7436
Yep!
@JOKRoadrunner
He was also the greatest Artist of any kind ever….
@suranjandas597
One of the best Hendrix covers I've heard
@Quintessentguy
Of course, I agree. Thank you for the comment.
@jhandle4196
Check out Gary Moore's covers of Jimi, especially the ones where he's playing with Billy Cox on bass, and Mitch Mitchell on drums..
Hard to get more authentic than that.
@TheVeryBlondeOne
What I like about John McLaughlin is that he does not imitate others' style. He puts his own style there.
@jamesbond4633
Blondie ...how do you know so much about music?!!!
@michaelmook4768
@James Bond all you have to do is listen to mclaughlans solo to know this ..doesnt require einstein to figure it ..
@Becker333
He ALWAYS has soul and feeling with the SPEED!!!