STING - KING OF PAIN

KING OF PAIN

STING

SONGWRITER: GORDON SUMMER

COUNTRY: U. K.

WHERE?: VIÑA DEL MAR

ALBUM: ALBUM’S FOURTH SINGLE IN THE UK

LABEL: A & M

GENRE: NEW WAVE

YEAR: 1993

 

        Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner (born 2 October 1951), known as Sting, is an English musician and actor. He was the principal songwriter, lead singer, and bassist for new wave rock band the Police from 1977 to 1984. He launched a solo career in 1985, and has included elements of rock, jazz, reggae, classical, new-age, and worldbeat in his music.

       As a solo musician and a member of the Police, Sting has received 17 Grammy Awards: he won Song of the Year for "Every Breath You Take", three Brit Awards, including Best British Male Artist in 1994 and Outstanding Contribution in 2002, a Golden Globe, an Emmy and four nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. In 2019, he received a BMI Award for "Every Breath You Take" becoming the most-played song in radio history. In 2002, Sting received the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors and was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Police in 2003. In 2000, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for recording. In 2003, Sting received a CBE from Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace for services to music. He was made a Kennedy Center Honoree at the White House in 2014, and was awarded the Polar Music Prize in 2017.

"King of Pain" is a song by English rock band The Police, released as the final single from their fifth and final studio album Synchronicity(1983). Written by the band's lead singer and bassist Sting as a post-separation song from his wife, "King of Pain" conjures up symbols of pain and relates them to a man's soul. A&M Records released "King of Pain" as the album's fourth single in the UK, while in many other countries it was released as the second single.

       The song received acclaim from music critics, many of whom praised Sting's lyrics and cited the song as a highlight from Synchronicity. It reached Nº 3 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in October 1983, and Nº 1 on the Billboard Top Tracks chart for five weeks in August 1983. In the United Kingdom, it reached Nº 17 in January 1984.

       Multiple artists have covered "King of Pain". Canadian singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette covered the track for her MTV Unplugged album (1999) and released it as the second single from the album.

There's a little black spot on the sun today

It's the same old thing as yesterday

There's a black hat caught in the high tree top

There's a flag pole rag and the wind won't stop

I have stood here before inside the pouring rain

With the world turning circles running 'round my brain

I guess I'm always hoping that you'll end this reign

But it's my destiny to be the king of pain

There's a little black spot on the sun today, that's my soul up there

It's the same old thing as yesterday, that's my soul up there

There's a black hat caught in a high tree top, that's my soul up there

There's a flag pole rag and the wind won't stop, that's my soul up there

I have stood here before inside the pouring rain

With the world turning circles running 'round my brain

I guess I'm always hoping that you'll end this reign

But it's my destiny to be the king of pain

There's a fossil that's trapped in a high cliff wall, that's my soul up there

There's a dead salmon frozen in a waterfall, that's my soul up there

There's a blue whale beached by a springtide's ebb, that's my soul up there

There's a butterfly trapped in a spider's web, that's my soul up there

I have stood here before inside the pouring rain

With the world turning circles running 'round my brain

I guess I'm always hoping that you'll end this reign

But it's my destiny to be the king of pain

There's a king on a throne with his eyes torn out

There's a blind man looking for a shadow of doubt

There's a rich man sleeping on a golden bed

There's a skeleton choking on a crust of bread

There's a red fox torn by a huntmen's pack, that's my soul up there

There's a black winged gull with a broken back, that's my soul up there

There's a little black spot on the sun today

It's the same old thing as yesterday

I have stood here before inside the pouring rain

With the world turning circles running 'round my brain

I guess I'm always hoping that you'll end this reign

But it's my destiny to be the king of pain

King of pain

King of pain, king of pain, I always be king of pain.