When The Police released Synchronicity in 1983, they were on top of the pop rock music world. But Sting, the band’s singer and chief songwriter, already had one foot out the door. He was interested in beginning a solo career, which he did amidst intense interest from fans and media.
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To his credit, Sting has always seemed less interested in playing to the masses than in following his own restless muse in his solo career, but that hasn’t stopped him from scoring some hits along the way. Here are our picks for the five best Sting songs released after he forged out on his own.
1. ”Fortress Around Your Heart” (from the album The Dream of the Blue Turtles, 1985)
Sting flummoxed a lot of his fans from the Police days with the tone of his first solo album, The Dream of the Blue Turtles. Those expecting rock or pop moves were surprised to hear him surrounded by jazz musicians. It was an indication of the kind of musical searching that would mark his entire solo career.
You can hear the idea come to fruition in this moody track that became a Top 10 hit when it was released as the album’s third single. Sting delivers his typically literate lyrics and seems to be telling a story about a battlefield. In the chorus, he reveals that the trappings of war are just metaphors for the treacherous ground of a rocky relationship, one that he wishes to repair. Branford Marsalis’ sax weaves its way through to add some sultry atmosphere.
2. “Why Should I Cry for You” (from the album The Soul Cages, 1991)
Sting’s third solo album, The Soul Cages, is regarded by many fans as his finest. After initially struggling to find inspiration following his father’s death in 1987, the floodgates opened when he wrote “Why Should I Cry for You.” The song uses a nautical theme inspired by Sting’s boyhood home near a shipyard, and that theme was then utilized throughout the entire record.
On this track, evocative pipes and hypnotic percussion set the tone as Sting struggles to orient himself in the wake of his father’s passing. Would North be true? he asks, questioning his inner compass. It’s a beautiful song about grief and moving on, as personal and touching as anything in Sting’s catalog.
3. “It’s Probably Me” (with Eric Clapton, from the Lethal Weapon 3 Soundtrack, 1992)
Soundtrack work was good to Sting in the ‘90s. He scored his biggest post-Police hit ever when he teamed up with Rod Stewart and Bryan Adams on “All for Love” for The Three Musketeers soundtrack.
While that song reveled in bombast, “It’s Probably Me” is a much subtler beast, and all the better for it. Sting gets some A-list help on the track, too, with Eric Clapton adding some lovely guitar work, especially in the bluesy solo section, and composer Michael Kamen co-writing and adding sweeping orchestration. But ultimately it’s Sting’s lyrics that win the day, as the narrator professes his friendship, probably against his better judgment, to someone who drives him crazy—mimicking the relationship between Mel Gibson’s and Danny Glover’s characters in the Lethal Weapon films.
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4. “Shape of My Heart” (from the album Ten Summoner’s Tales, 1993)
When Sting left The Police, it was in part for artistic independence. But he has often worked with excellent collaborators throughout his solo career. Guitarist Dominic Miller has been with him since the early ‘90s, and he’s one of the few to get in a writing credit on a Sting solo song. He came up with the mesmerizing guitar figure that permeates this track off Ten Summoner’s Tales, allowing Sting to come up with the lyrical themes.
“Shape of My Heart” uses a deck of cards as a jumping-off point for this tale about a gambler. But this guy isn’t your typical know-when-to-hold-’em type, but more someone who sees in the cards some meaning that he can’t derive from his everyday life.
5. “I’m So Happy I Can’t Stop Crying” (from the album Mercury Falling, 1996)
Sting goes country? You might think it an odd fit for a guy known for his art-rock leanings. But he pulls it off beautifully here. In fact, he did it so well that Toby Keith would release a duet with Sting of this song the year after the original, resulting in a major country hit.
“I’m So Happy I Can’t Stop Crying” borrows a classic country song storyline: the guy whose wife and kids have left him behind. But Sting isn’t about to settle for any cliché. He dives deep into what the journey might be like for a character like this, a journey that ends with him looking up at the stars and coming to a kind of spiritual acceptance of the situation. Considering he would go on to write a song recorded by Johnny Cash, maybe Sting, in another life, could have been a Nashville hitmaker.
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