Sting’s early life was dominated by a shipyard—and he dreamed of nothing more than escaping the industrial drudgery. But after a nasty bout of writer’s block that stretched on for years, Sting found himself channeling the stories of the shipyard workers he knew in his youth for song material. In a lyrical, confessional talk, Sting treats us to songs from his upcoming musical, and to an encore of “Message in a Bottle.”

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By: wildsPosted on Categories : Categories : generalTags:

50 Replies to “Sting: How I started writing songs again”

  2. I love this talk,so inspirational, I would say it would be so appropriate for students graduating and starting life as professionals , he like any good teacher would make a perfect actor ;love the songs about the shipyard ; it seemed so theatrical and operatic!I admire him more now!

  14. whenever you read about or hear about sting, "pretentious" comes to mind. He seems to act like he's better than everyone around him. He's not, and I am grateful for his success and his marriage should be an example to others but to those of us his appearance anyway – I don't know him – hes kind of in that class with Bon Jovi, Don Henley, Ritchie Blackmore, etc……

  22. He's a very well expressed individual. Goes hand in hand with his great musical and songwriting talent.

    That comment equating his resurgence in songwriting as "projectile vomiting" made me spit my coffee.

  26. Sting knows that if he finished the opening song and paused, even for a moment, he would be treated to self-satisfying applause as he is used to.

    But he doesn't.

    The personal repsect is inarticulately impactful for bringing intimacy to his words to follow.

  45. First thought: Sting did a Ted Talk? WTF??
    Second thought: Oh right. He was a teacher for a little while.
    Third thought: How many people who have been on Top of the Pops have done Ted Talks ???

  46. Of course Mary Magdalen has always been portrayed as a prostitute ( which is totally untrue ) by the Christian church in an attempt to continually denigrate women – hence the ‘ Magdalen Laundries ‘ run by those dreadful Irish nuns – whereas Christ’s female disciples were infact far more faithful than his male disciples other than John ( the disciple whom he loved ). They all ran away at the crucifixion and slept when he was in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane and one sure thing is that Peter was no ‘ petros ‘ or rock ! I suspect that if he hadn’t lived in a ‘ man’s world ‘ Christ would infact have chosen a woman to be the the head of his church .
    As a separate matter, Sting’s songs are generally biographical in one sense or another though ‘ I’ll be watching you ‘ and ‘ Roxanne ‘ are a bit worrying !!! ?
    Never quite understood this about Royalty cos I seriously AM a Republican AND even if you accept the institution of Royalty , they should be the heirs of the Catholic Stuart’s and NOT a German family who were brought in just because they WEREN’T catholics !
    And the nonsense of the Head of the Anglican Church being the monarch really is a farce !
    If it’s to continue to exist the Anglican Church MUST be disestablished !

  47. I hate it when politicians, celebrities and musicians harken back to their real or imagined history to humbly show they came from real roots and that they’re ordinary people. Better to embrace the reality of their massive wealth and share it with the poor, disabled, disenfranchised and just understand that any person doesn’t need so much money to buy Tuscan villas, grow wine and gather global Awards like empty bottles in the recycling bin. The honest way forward for these gifted but essentially lucky ones is to acknowledge their luck, share their wealth without fanfare and revel in anonymous charity. Sting please call Bill Gates , Bono and everyone you know and challenge him to donate 10X without identification. You have the ability to comfort a million lives or more , fill their lives with your generosity and be happy that you did.

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