The rock song Sting called one of the greatest ever written
When Sting was honing his craft, no one was claiming to be the most accomplished musician in the world.
The punk regime had only just begun, and there’s a good chance that anyone would have spit in the face of someone who was bragging about how many chords they fit into a song or what strange jazz musician they idolised. That was all musical window dressing as far as punks were concerned, but Sting never lost the magic behind finding the right song whenever he performed.
Even as far back as his Police days, it was always about chasing down that perfect mix of lyrics and melody whenever he wrote one of their tunes. Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland could certainly embellish on his tunes where they wanted to, but chances are ‘Roxanne’ would have been a hit no matter who played, purely based on how great the melody was. And that wasn’t by accident, either.
Sting had spent years honing his craft in more accomplished outfits, and while that wasn’t the coolest thing to admit, he wasn’t about to unlearn everything he did back in the day. He wanted to be celebrated for writing great songs, and by the time that he got around to making Synchronicity and the rest of his catalogue, he was unafraid to wear his pop influences on his sleeve, whether it was working with Frank Zappa on occasion or channelling his inner Brian Wilson to make ‘King of Pain’.
But all throughout his life, he never forgot about the singer-songwriter side of himself. The biggest hits of his career may have got to the top of the charts thanks to fantastic musicians, but Sting figured that a good song only needed to be played on one instrument to sound great. And going back as far as his punk days, he always had a soft spot when listening to Paul Simon, both solo and with Simon and Garfunkel.
Because, really, Sting and Simon are kindred spirits in a way. Both of them saw heights that no one could have dreamed of with their actual bands, but when they went solo, their focus was more about finding the right musicians that would suit their songs, whether it was bringing in jazz musicians on Dream of the Blue Turtles or Simon travelling to the other side of the world to bring Graceland to life.
It was one thing to love the melodies that Simon came up with, but Sting knew he needed to do justice to ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ when he began singing it with Simon on tour, saying, “[I approach it] with respect. I think it’s one of the greatest songs ever written, so I’m very honoured to try and do it justice. I think Art Garfunkel’s version of that song…you can’t touch it. But I bring something of myself to the song when we sing it. And it’s a lovely thing to do. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do that with him onstage.”
But when Sting does his rendition, he does have a much different instrument to work with. Garfunkel’s version is absolutely beautiful for what it is, but with Sting’s smoky baritone voice anchoring everything down, his version fits somewhere between the massive showstopping version from the 1970s and the more downtrodden version that Johnny Cash would end up doing towards the end of his life.
Simon was always going to have reservations about what other people were going to do to his song, but in Sting’s hands, ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ makes all the sense in the world. He wasn’t going to try and outdo the original by any stretch, but taking into account the lyrics about supporting a friend through thick and thin, that comforting voice that brought us tunes like ‘Fields of Gold’ is the right companion you’d want by your side.
