The song that put Sting into a state of “catatonic fit”
When you grow up surrounded by music and have that part of your life enriched from an early age, there’s a high chance that that will stay with you forever and continue to feel nourished. In the case of Sting, who grew up in a very musical household, he managed to take this and transform it into a fruitful career.
After having played in bands during his school years growing up in Northumberland, Sting would get his first taste of professional musicianship performing with local jazz outfits at the age of 18 while also qualifying to become a teacher and working other menial jobs on the side.
He would later abscond to London in pursuit of something more thrilling, and having already met with Stewart Copeland while he was on tour with Curved Air, he went about trying to find him to try out the idea of forming a new project.
While The Police were inspired by a broad combination of post-punk, new wave and reggae, this didn’t necessarily align with the background of any of the musicians involved, with original guitarist Henry Padovani having been raised on classic rock, and Copeland’s origins being in prog. What they were aiming to do was branch out from the worlds they’d previously known and create something entirely new.
There are, of course, elements of Sting’s jazz background that would seep into the foundation of what The Police were all about as a band, but it was never a true indication of what they were intent on offering. At the same time, this jazz influence wasn’t necessarily where it all started for Sting as a youngster, and his earliest musical obsession goes back to the roots of rock and roll that he was exposed to in the family home.
During a Christmas broadcast of This Cultural Life on BBC Radio 4, Sting would dive into his earliest recollections of the music he listened to in his childhood. While he fondly recalled how his parents’ musical aptitude sparked a curiosity in him, with his earliest memory being crawling around his mother’s feet while at the piano, he also recalled hearing a particular song that he was transfixed by.
Speaking about his mother, he explained how “she would also bring records into the house,” before retelling the tale of hearing a particular song for the first time. “She would bring in early 78s of people like Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard. When I first heard ‘All Shook Up’ by Elvis Presley, I remember having a kind of catatonic fit, rolling around on the floor with excitement. It was such a fresh sound.”
For many people of Sting’s age, hearing this song would have provoked a similar reaction due to how radically different it was from the status quo in the ‘50s, and given how he was already surrounded by music as a result of his parental influence, it’s hardly surprising that he continued to chase this high by pursuing a career in this world.
He continued by praising his mother for her impact on his musical education, claiming that without her, he probably wouldn’t have ever found himself in the position he occupies today. “My mum was a big musical influence on me,” he concluded. “She encouraged me to play and sing, so I owe a great deal to her.”
