The songwriter that Sting referred to as a mentor: “That’s genius”
Reaching the top of your game as a musician is always going to bring moments where you have to pinch yourself, and for Sting, joining one of his songwriting heroes onstage has to be one of them.
Given his broad-ranging palate, it makes sense that some of his idols also stem from far-reaching backgrounds, but for him, there is no greater influence than Paul Simon, arguably one of the most celebrated singer-songwriters that the US has ever produced.
Simon got his breakthrough in the 1960s alongside Art Garfunkel as one-half of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, and Sting grew up listening to the music that they produced together, which shows as it profoundly impacted his creative style moving forward with his band and solo.
Simon was never one to sit in one lane, often incorporating worldly references that took his output in various directions, and while the Northumberland-born singer had his roots in the post-punk outfit of The Police, his tastes have morphed throughout his career. He evolved his band into a reggae and new wave-inspired act before he eventually embarked on a solo run that saw him introduce elements of jazz and pop into his work for a truly eclectic spread.
Thus, you can understand where Sting gets his aspirations for fusing different styles, but, beyond the starry-eyed admiration, nothing could beat the fact that he ended up with the pleasure of touring the world in 2014 with his favourite songwriter.
In a 2024 interview with The Los Angeles Times, he explained that it was perhaps one of the greatest moments in his career to team up with someone he had looked up to, also taking the opportunity to praise him for his approach to songwriting and his intelligent way with words and storytelling.
“Paul is one of my teachers, one of my mentors,” he proclaimed, “If I had an ambition to be a literate songwriter, he’d be the man whose feet I would sit at. Songs like ‘America’ are masterpieces. It’s a pretty big subject, looking for America. In less sure hands, that would’ve been a disaster, but he starts with pies and magazines and cigarettes, and then suddenly the epic nature of the song is revealed; that’s genius.”
There’s no doubt that Simon’s ability to craft simple narratives from elaborate concepts is something that only a genius could handle, but the fact that he’s become an inspiration for countless other musicians in the years since he first emerged and has managed to stay relevant is perhaps an even greater indication of his brilliance.
Sting ultimately recognises the importance of what Simon brought to the world of music, and the ways in which he changed the perspective from which people wrote songs, not always choosing to take the obvious approach and instead challenging himself to tackle more ambitious topics to classic results.
