I’ve always felt that there’s something extremely rare and delightful about Sting’s abilities as a songwriter and performer. I recently purchased his memoirs, Sting: Broken Music and added it to the short list of books I’ve read. These are my thoughts.
My love of his music is very hard to understand, let alone articulate. Let is suffice to say I love his music… all of it. I was hoping to get a glimpse into his mind through his memoirs, and hopefully find a way to apply his in-depth understanding of music to my own struggles as a musician. What I got instead was felt like a personal letter from a friend baring his life, in full detail, to me. He discloses very early in the book that his motives for writing are selfish, he has so many memories and experiences that he doesn’t want to forget, so many lessons he doesn’t want to lose over time.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of rock history chronicled in this book as well. We get a first-hand glimpse into the early days of The Police and how the band was formed as well as the not-so-glamorous early shows they performed. However, as much as this book touches on The Police I imagine some will finish the book and feel disappointed The Police aren’t even mentioned until the last few chapters of the book. To fault the book for this reason is to miss the point entirely.
What I appreciated most about the book is the seemingly unfiltered look at the events in the life of a man who would become one of the most respected musician/songwriters in the world. If you have any interest in Sting or The Police I highly recommend Sting: Broken Music.
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