I think @kathy10154 has the most perceptive post on where the song truly came from. (I'll have to go back and look at that book, which I also have.)
I think that what she says, along with other things about Sting's upbringing and perceptions of his hometown play very heavily into this song - it's like a mix of the two- If you think of the boy child being Sting; and both the Fisherman and the "king of the ninth world" being his father's boss (a Devil like character - the king of the sea) it can start to come into focus a bit more- Sting makes a deal with the Devil (and wins!) to set his father's soul free. But it's also like "hell" is defined as being trapped in this small town where industry enslaves the people and eventually collects their souls in the end.
Sting always wanted to "escape" from the doldrums of the shipbuilding town... and he always "felt sorry" for all the workers in the town that seemed to have 'sold their souls' to their employer. So this song - especially revealed in the last verse - is like Sting rescuing himself and his Dad. Sting got out in real life (wrote music, became a star), his father, not so much - but the song paints a picture in which he is able to rescue his father in the end and they both are set free to go to the island of souls (instead of the wicked soul cages at the bottom of the sea.)
I think @kathy10154 has the most perceptive post on where the song truly came from. (I'll have to go back and look at that book, which I also have.)
I think that what she says, along with other things about Sting's upbringing and perceptions of his hometown play very heavily into this song - it's like a mix of the two- If you think of the boy child being Sting; and both the Fisherman and the "king of the ninth world" being his father's boss (a Devil like character - the king of the sea) it can start to come into focus a bit more- Sting makes a deal with the Devil (and wins!) to set his father's soul free. But it's also like "hell" is defined as being trapped in this small town where industry enslaves the people and eventually collects their souls in the end.
Sting always wanted to "escape" from the doldrums of the shipbuilding town... and he always "felt sorry" for all the workers in the town that seemed to have 'sold their souls' to their employer. So this song - especially revealed in the last verse - is like Sting rescuing himself and his Dad. Sting got out in real life (wrote music, became a star), his father, not so much - but the song paints a picture in which he is able to rescue his father in the end and they both are set free to go to the island of souls (instead of the wicked soul cages at the bottom of the sea.)