Sting - Russians Song Analysis 4v3r66

Russians – Sting “Russians” is a song taken from Sting’s first solo album “The Dream of the Blue Turtles” which was released in 1985. Gordon Sumner was born in 1951 in Newcastle, England by a pianist mother who certainly gave him the taste of music. Indeed, he was quickly attracted by music as proved by the numerous instruments he played - such as the guitar, the piano, the saxophone, the mandolin, the harmonica and even the pan flute. His nickname comes from a concert in 1972 with one of his jazz local band, he performed wearin g a black sweater with yellow hooped stripes. The bandleader surnamed him Sting (“dard” in French) on of his resemblance with a bee. Since this day, everyone calls him Sting and he doesn’t want to be called Gordon anymore. He kept on playing jazz until he ed The Police, an English rock band, in 1977 which he became famous with. Released in 1979, “Message in a Bottle” was their first big success in. “Roxanne” was also very famous but it was censured because it deals with a prostitute. Sting wrote most of the songs and was the singer and the bassist, however he left the band in 1985 to start a solo career. That’s precisely at this time that he wrote the song “Russians”. Although Sting interpreted and composed this song, the melody comes from “Lieutenant Kijé”, a Romance of the very famous Russian pianist Sergei Prokofiev. It’s not a well-known fact but Sting loves classical music. Sting’s song is about the Cold War, it deals with the conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States. This track contains 7 stanzas of 4 verses each and a chorus which is heard at two times, the fourth stanz a and the final one – where the lyrics are a bit modified. First, Sting explains the context of the song, the “feeling of hysteria” which can be felt “in Europe and America” at this era. This feeling is due to “the rhetorical speeches of the Soviets” pertaining to their opposition to the American ideology and the liberal democracy. Russia wants to outdo America, thus the phrase Sting quotes from Mister Khrushchev “We will bury you” is particularly scary. It alludes to the nuclear bomb the Russians were threating America with. They could used it but they wouldn’t “if Russians love their children too”, if so, America could reply with their own bombs. This confrontation was clearly political, it was named “the balance of terror”. Noone wanted to use these bombs due to the effects on people and the environment. Then, in the third stanza, Sting asks himself how he could save his “little boy from Oppenheimer's deadly toy” in reference to the atomic bomb, created by the American physicist Robert Oppenheimer which was named “Little Boy”. It was used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, the aftermath were disastrous. The entire world knew the dangers, people don’t wanted to be part of this conflict but they couldn’t do anything to avoid that. Sting emphasizes the non-sense of this confrontation, both sides were irresponsible, “there is no monopoly of common sense” he said. Indeed lead ers play with human lives and even the whole earth putting their interests above. Next, the chorus puts on light that whoever you are, Russian or American, you ar e a human being, even if you doesn’t share the same ideology. This phrase deals with the fear everyone share regardless their nationality. It also means that it is absurd to want to kill the other while he’s human too, there’s neither sense nor m oral in this war. Once again Sting hopes that “Russians love their children too”. In the two following stanzas, Sting takes the History in example. Every disaster becomes a model to avoid in the future (like the Nazism which is a perfect anti-symbol of the democracy), Sting rhetorically asks the President of the USA if h e know an example in the History. Does he want to be an example for the History ? He certainly doesn’t want to. Moreover, with the

two last sentences, Sting denounces the war and the lie that it can be won whereas there’s no winner in a war, especially if it’s a nuclear war. At the end, the ringing sound of the clock is a r eference to the doomsday clock which represents the threat of a global nuclear war. The last stanza is the chorus, a bit modified, which is like a moral and a hope for the future. Humanity is what we share and it’s what might save him and us, but only “if the Russians love their children too”. This phrase says it all, the destiny of Humanity is in the Russians’hands. To conclude, the tone is highly dramatic, it is given by the melody and the slowness of the vocals. Actually, this song doesn’t allude to the war itself but more about the danger of the war, and the after-effects that may result. The aim of Sting is to denounce the stupid doctrine of this confrontation when the threat of the atomic bomb was at its highest point. The entire world was breathless, the fear was everywhere and the people were helpless. I’m crazy about this music. I exactly feel the fear that was in th is era, even if I wasn’t born in 1985. That’s obviously a masterpiece, the depth of the lyrics is very intense, and the vocals are contrasting between sadness and madness, softness and cruelty. It inspires peace in front of death, its message is really hopeful. It’s our humankind, it’s not a game ! This song makes me reckon that humans are the worst monsters ever born, we are poisoning ourselves and the e arth at every moment. However this song is the best song I’ve ever heard, it combines the lyrics with the melody and the vocals perfectly. The tone is really pessimistic, there’s a kind of depressive hatred. In my opinion, this song should be heard at least once by anyone either to feel the softness and the violence of the song or as an example of what humankind can be at the extreme of its madness. This song is the History, we have to learn by it in order not to commit the same mistakes.

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