Along similar literary lines, you've got 'The Book Of Life', which is a track that I was particularly affected by. Its elements of introspection and self-examination encourage the listener - willingly or not - to come up against some of the events of their own life.
[Sting]: In the period before I started writing this record I was engaged in writing an autobiography about the early part of my life - from my childhood through young adulthood up to the eve of success. I didn't really want to write about success or fame or celebrity or having dinner with Elton and all sorts of celebrity nonsense. I wanted to write about a normal person who will become famous, but what happened to that person to allow this to happen. I'm writing about my parents who were very young when they had me - writing about my parents at the age of 20, 25, from my perspective as a 50-year-old man with a certain amount of wisdom, of life experience. And the process was that I was learning to forgive them for what I hadn't forgiven them before, and to love them again. It did bring up a lot of stuff I probably would have preferred to bury and leave in the sediment. I remember being very depressed at the end of writing that book, because all of this stuff was welling up. So I decided to write this song - 'The Book Of Life'. There's no secrets in the book - there's lots of stuff in here that needs to be examined and it's not all good, but it's good to be reflective. I get very reflective sitting in front of a fire. That's my favorite television program - sitting in front of a fire. The thoughts that come, the memories that come. The song is an attempt to bring that feeling into somebody else's life, to be reflective, to remember.
Along similar literary lines, you've got 'The Book Of Life', which is a track that I was particularly affected by. Its elements of introspection and self-examination encourage the listener - willingly or not - to come up against some of the events of their own life.
[Sting]: In the period before I started writing this record I was engaged in writing an autobiography about the early part of my life - from my childhood through young adulthood up to the eve of success. I didn't really want to write about success or fame or celebrity or having dinner with Elton and all sorts of celebrity nonsense. I wanted to write about a normal person who will become famous, but what happened to that person to allow this to happen. I'm writing about my parents who were very young when they had me - writing about my parents at the age of 20, 25, from my perspective as a 50-year-old man with a certain amount of wisdom, of life experience. And the process was that I was learning to forgive them for what I hadn't forgiven them before, and to love them again. It did bring up a lot of stuff I probably would have preferred to bury and leave in the sediment. I remember being very depressed at the end of writing that book, because all of this stuff was welling up. So I decided to write this song - 'The Book Of Life'. There's no secrets in the book - there's lots of stuff in here that needs to be examined and it's not all good, but it's good to be reflective. I get very reflective sitting in front of a fire. That's my favorite television program - sitting in front of a fire. The thoughts that come, the memories that come. The song is an attempt to bring that feeling into somebody else's life, to be reflective, to remember.