The band reunited in January 2007 for a reunion tour that lasted until August 2008.
Biography
The Police formed in early 1977 in London by Stewart Copeland (drums), Gordon Sumner, better known as Sting (bass and lead vocals), and Henry Padovani (guitar). Andy Summers later joined the group, and after a very short stint as a quartet, Padovani left the band. The Police became one of the most popular bands in the late 70s and throughout the 80s.
The Police are notable as one of the first mainstream white pop groups to adopt reggae as a predominant musical form and to score major international hits with reggae-styled material. (The first all-white reggae band with permanent members and frequent recording in Europe was Peps Blodsband, lead by Peps Persson from south Sweden who changed from blues to reggae 1974/75). Although reggae was already very popular in the United Kingdom (due to the large number of Caribbean immigrants) and a number of Western European countries, reggae was little known in the United States and rejected by most black artists in U.S, and prior to the emergence of the Police only a handful of reggae songs had enjoyed any significant chart success. The Police, UB40, The Clash and Bob Marley (Jamaican, partly living in England after being shot in Jamaica, are considered with a number of new wave, rock and ska bands as one of the leaders of the Second British Invasion of the U.S.
The Police were strongly influenced by reggae (especially reggae drumming and base lines), jazz and, in the beginning, punk rock – something that came to be shifted more and more towards pop during the 80s. Their lyrics also changed from challenging, but yet somewhat politically restrained punk- and new wave lyrics, to after 1982 in some songs emphasize environmental awareness and human oneness. The biggest hits, however, had romantic or sexual themes. The Police met together with other "white" British bands which played reggae, as UB40, criticism from black English rastafarian reggae bands like Aswad (in a BBC documentary on TV) and Steel Pulse, for being accomplices in the music industry of "Babylon", stealing the Caribbean slave descendants' musical treasure. This criticism has later been withdrawn. Aswad has even made the covers of Police songs like "Roxanne".
Tension grew between the band members, because unlike most other bands, they did not share songwriting credits. They released their last album, Synchronicity, in 1983, selling over 8 million copies. Synchronicity is critically regarded as their best album, with hits such as Synchronicity II, King of Pain, and probably their best known song, Every Breath You Take. In 1984, after touring in support of Synchronicity, The Police went on hiatus while Sting pursued his acting and solo music careers. Two years later, The Police reformed and played a few concerts for Amnesty International. Soon after the band went into the studio. Sting wanted to re-record their old songs but Andy and Stewart wanted to leave the originals alone and only two songs were re-recorded during these studio sessions. Although the group is considered to have disbanded in 1984, 1986 was the last time The Police engaged in any musical activity.
In 1992 the band released "Message in a Box", their 4 CD box set, and performed at Sting's wedding to Trudie Styler. A live CD was released in June 1995. On March 10, 2003 The Police were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and performed Message in a Bottle, Roxanne and Every Breath You Take.
The Police reformed in 2007 and opened the Grammy award ceremony of that year with a performance of Roxanne. Towards the end of May the band began a world tour. In 2008 the tour ended at Madison Square Garden, New York on August 7, and The Police disbanded for good. Sting was quoted towards the end of the tour that he had achieved closure with the band and revealed that The Police would never tour or record again.
Sting has said that the material on the album Ghost in the Machine were inspired by the writings of Arthur Koestler, and that the Police's final studio album Synchronicity was influenced by the writings of Carl Jung. Sting also peppers his songs with literary allusions: the song "Don't Stand So Close to Me" mentions Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita; "Tea in the Sahara" alludes to the novel The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles; and "Wrapped Around Your Finger" refers both to the sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis, from Greek mythology, and to Mephistopheles, from the German legend of Faust .
Discography
* Outlandos d'Amour (1978)
* Reggatta de Blanc (1979)
* Zenyatta Mondatta (1980)
* Ghost in the Machine (1981)
* Synchronicity (1983)
Synchronicity II
The Police Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Grandmother screaming at the wall
We have to shout above the din of our rice crispies
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
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 his 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
Many miles away
Many miles away
Many miles away
Many miles away
Many miles away
Many miles away
The Police's song Synchronicity II paints a vivid picture of suburban life, where families are stuck in mundane routines and plagued by frustration and boredom. The song describes a morning in which a grandmother is screaming at a wall and everyone has to shout over the noise of their rice crispies just to hear one another. The mother is reciting her litany of boredom while the father stares blankly into the distance, having reached his limit. The scene then shifts to an industrial setting, where the factory spews pollution into the atmosphere and management strides brazenly past picket lines. In this environment, women are objectified and meetings with superiors are unbearable. The final scene takes place during rush hour, where the family must suffer through a suicidal race back home, where a shadow looms over the door of a cottage on the shore of a dark Scottish lake, hinting at something ominous and foreboding.
The song serves as a commentary on the emptiness and despair that can accompany monotonous routines and a life devoid of meaning. It also touches upon the themes of environmental degradation, social inequality, and human alienation in a modern industrial society. The haunting melodies and evocative lyrics, as well as the sparse yet powerful arrangement, create a compelling and thought-provoking work of art.
Line by Line Meaning
Another suburban family morning
Another day in the life of a typical suburban family
Grandmother screaming at the wall
The grandmother is likely senile and shouting at an inanimate object, indicating the sense of frustration and alienation in the household
We have to shout above the din of our rice crispies
The family is so detached from each other that they can't hear anything over the noise of their breakfast cereal
We can't hear anything at all
Their breakfast is serving as a distraction to the point where the family can't even communicate effectively anymore
Mother chants her litany of boredom and frustration
The mother is expressing her feelings of boredom and frustration with her life
But we know all her suicides are fake
The family is aware that the mother is merely threatening to commit suicide as a form of expression, but wouldn't actually follow through with it
Daddy only stares into the distance
The father is distant and emotionally unavailable
There's only so much more that he can take
The father is becoming overwhelmed by the pressures of his life
Many miles away something crawls from the slime
At the bottom of a dark Scottish lake
There is something ominous and threatening emerging from the depths of a Scottish lake, which serves as a metaphor for the emotional turmoil and uncertainty in the suburban family's lives
Another industrial ugly morning
The start of another work day in a drab, unappealing setting
The factory belches filth into the sky
The factory is polluting the environment
He walks unhindered through the picket lines today,
He doesn't think to wonder why
The worker is able to cross the picket lines without issue, despite the fact that he is benefiting from the work of union organizers
The secretaries pout and preen like cheap tarts in a red light street,
But all he ever thinks to do is watch,
The worker objectifies and sexualizes the women in the workplace, indicating a lack of respect or consideration for their feelings
And every single meeting with his so-called superior
Is a humiliating kick in the crotch
The worker feels powerless and humiliated during interactions with his boss or manager
Many miles away something crawls to the surface
Of a dark Scottish loch
Something unsettling is emerging from the depths of a Scottish lake, mirroring the sense of danger or uncertainty in the worker's life
Another working day has ended
The work day has concluded
Only the rush hour hell to face
The worker must now face the chaos and stress of rush hour traffic
Packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes
Contestants in a suicidal race
People are metaphorically like lemmings, blindly following the crowd and racing towards their deaths
Daddy grips the wheel and stares alone into the distance
The father is again distant and withdrawn, consumed by his own thoughts and concerns
He knows that something somewhere has to break
The father feels that the mounting tension and pressure in his life will eventually become untenable and lead to some sort of crisis
He sees the family home now, looming in his headlights
The pain upstairs that makes his eyeballs ache
The father is eager to return home, but is anxious about the emotional turmoil and conflict that awaits him
Many miles away there's a shadow on the door
Of a cottage on the shore
Of a dark Scottish lake
The ominous force from the Scottish lake is still present, suggesting that the underlying sense of tension and danger is pervasive and ongoing
Many miles away
Repetition of the idea that the sense of danger and uncertainty is pervasive and distant, yet still present in all aspects of the characters' lives
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Gordon Sumner
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Daniel
on Roxanne
Algum leitor sabe a letra de Saludos Caballeros ?
Até agora não conseguí !
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