Sting Love

Years ago I bought a Sting album and I never really listened to it until one of the songs got popular enough to be played with some regularity on the radio—“Fields of Gold”—and I fell in love with it. So today I listened to the whole album looking at the lyrics. Oh, my, was it ever good. It’s called Ten Summoner’s Tales and all the songs seem to be related in that they tell stories of people set in some kind of magical Middle Ages. Great music and vocals, but excellent lyrics. I not only want to be able to sing them like he does, I wish I’d written them. For example, here are the lyrics to “Fields of Gold”:

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’ll 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.

Isn’t that something? It’s all about romantic love and the passage of time, and how that love gets lost, or just grows old, whatever. I’m such a sucker for romantic love. I’m not at all sure that that isn’t the one thing that makes life worthwhile—romantic love, and even the nostalgic feeling of lost or unrequited love. It’s better than sex, sex is so short-term, but romantic love makes life worthwhile while most of life isn’t worth all that much, not nearly as much as the gold in those fields as the sun goes down.