Sting: 25 Years

Two Sting tidbits lately.

From a TV interview:

Englishman in New York was written for a friend of Sting's who was gay and living in NY when it was illegal to be homosexual in the UK. Sting wrote the lyric "Be yourself, no matter what they say" for him. Always loved that line...

Another quote from Ten Questions:

You say in your book and box set Sting: 25 Years that you don't believe in miracles, that success is about perseverance. Was there never a song that just came as a gift?

Some do come already wrapped in ribbon--probably the most successful ones. "Every Breath You Take," for example. Or "Roxanne." Not that there's anything particularly original about those songs. I don't think there's such a thing as composition in pop music. I think what we do in pop music is collate. It's like folk music. It makes copyright a bit interesting and difficult. I'm a good collator.