You'll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley
You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we walk in fields of gold
So she took her love for to gaze awhile
Upon the fields of barley
In his arms she fell as her hair came down
Among the fields of gold
Will you stay with me? Will you be my love?
Among the fields of barley
We'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we lie in fields of gold
See the west wind move like a lover so
Upon the fields of barley
Feel her body rise when you kiss her mouth
Among the fields of gold
I never made promises lightly
And there have been some that I've broken
But I swear in the days still left
We'll walk in fields of gold
We walk in fields of gold
Many years have passed since those summer days
Among the fields of barley
See the children run as the sun goes down
Among the fields of gold
You'll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky
When we walked in fields of gold
When we walked in fields of gold
When we walked in fields of gold
Upon the fields of barley
You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we walk in fields of gold
So she took her love for to gaze awhile
Upon the fields of barley
In his arms she fell as her hair came down
Among the fields of gold
Will you stay with me? Will you be my love?
Among the fields of barley
We'll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we lie in fields of gold
See the west wind move like a lover so
Upon the fields of barley
Feel her body rise when you kiss her mouth
Among the fields of gold
I never made promises lightly
And there have been some that I've broken
But I swear in the days still left
We'll walk in fields of gold
We walk in fields of gold
Many years have passed since those summer days
Among the fields of barley
See the children run as the sun goes down
Among the fields of gold
You'll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky
When we walked in fields of gold
When we walked in fields of gold
When we walked in fields of gold
Lyrics submitted by anieloo, edited by anne113661
Fields Of Gold Lyrics as written by Gordon Sumner
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The first stanza is going back in memory and remembering that time when she was happy with him. It describes falling in love and how exciting that feeling was. There, they swear that their love will be forever. A line I love is "we'll forget the sun in his jealous sky..." I've always taken this to mean that their time in that life is limited, that he will die a young man, and she will have to live many years without him. Forgetting the sun in the jealous sky talks about that cycle of day and night that is comparable to life and death. They are forgetting for a while that their moments together are limited and that the life they have together will end rather soon. For that while, they are just enjoying their time together, living in the moment and not thinking about anything else.
"Many years have passed..." she returns to that physical place where she was happy with him, but also she returns to the place in her mind. It has been a long time, so things have changed. She watches children (not her own, just children playing) near this place, and the sun is setting. Here again is the life/death cycle.
As for the west wind, it's like a trigger for her memory, that feeling ignites her memories again, and they are bittersweet, she remembers the happiness she felt for him, but there is also the pain of losing him. I've always thought of the last stanza as a switch of perspective. Whereas till that point, he was basically speaking to her telling her she will remember him, now she is speaking to him. "You can tell the sun in his jealous sky when we walked in fields of gold", meaning that because he's already passed away, he now sees the bigger picture and can tell that time cannot touch their love, for it transcends everything.
I adore this song. Eva Cassidy sang it very nicely, but at the end of the day, Sting wrote it, it will always be his. The way he sings it ... wow. It is the most amazing song he has ever written, even people who dont like other things he has done enjoy fields of gold. Its truely amazing.
I agree that it's generally a straightforward love song, but Sting has a "spiritual" (and specifically Tantric) disposition, which I think plays into this song, particularly with the puzzling line:
"You'll forget the sun it it's jealous sky."
In some spiritual traditions, like Tantra, there's the concept of an ascendant and a descendant path. Ascendant is transcendent, heavenly, almost otherworldly; while descendant is worldly, manifest. (Both paths can be seen as legitimate, you can either try to transcend the world to find "God" or embrace everything of the world to find God.)
Now, he says "Forget the sun" because he's asking her to embrace this human love, here on this earth, symbolized by the worldly "fields of barley." And he's saying that they will have such profound Love that the fields of barley will actually become "Fields of Gold." (Which is also why the Sun is jealous, because the Sun will always be transcendent and thus will never be able to experience the sacredness of manifestation.)
Linn
The melody and lyrics are a poem and I could listen to his voice forever! As soon as the song begins, I can immediately picture the beautiful fields of gold and the important scenes in life that take place within those fields...
The music as well as the lyrics are very deep and full of emotion.
I guess the song is about a relationship that broke up long ago (I think so because of the repeated phase “You’ll remember me...”) although it seemed to be so perfect, that even the sun was jealous of it.
The change of perspectives is quite striking: the first, third, fifth and sixth verses as well as the bridge (“I never made promises lightly...”) are written in the perspective of the lyrical I (Sting himself — the person who had the relationship) in a kind of retrospective, it seems he wants his former girlfriend to remember the past relationship, too, because he lists some of the beautiful moments the couple had (going for a walk together — 1st verse; Sting’s confession, that he loves her — 2nd verse; lie together in fields of gold). Maybe he has still got some hope, that one day this relationship will get a second chance (?).
As a contrast, the second and fourth verses are written from the view of a third person who seems to watch another couple’s meeting in the same place (“Fields of Barley”- verse 4). In verse 4 Sting even seems to describe the feelings of the other man (“Feel her body rise when you kiss her mouth”). Perhaps Sting wants to express, that there are much more broken hearted people with the same destiny he had — first a perfect relationship, but later a disappointing experience (?)
And, finally, I think the sunset in the 5th verse is a symbol of universal transience and the running children can be seen as a symbol of hope.
This song makes me also remember a quite similar experience of my own life. Once I performed Fields Of Gold on guitar at school together with a keyboarder I loved very much. Singing and making music with him was indescribably intense, but he didn’t love me, so all that’s left for me are these memories and the music.