The Police

Primary members: Stewart Copeland, Sting, Andy Summers
Band Biography
Albums of focus: Zenyatta Mondatta (1980), Ghost in the Machine (1981); Sting's Dream of the Blue Turtles* (1985)
Songs for study:

 

"Spirits in the Material World" - from Ghost in the Machine (1981)

There is no political solution
To our troubled evolution
Have no faith in constitution
There is no bloody revolution

We are spirits in the material world
[Are spirits in the material world
Are spirits in the material world
Are spirits in the material world]

Our so-called leaders speak
With words they try to jail you
The subjugate the meek
But it's the rhetoric of failure

We are spirits in the material world
[Are spirits in the material world
Are spirits in the material world
Are spirits in the material world]

Where does the answer lie?
Living from day to day
If it's something we can't buy
There must be another way

We are spirits in the material world
[Are spirits in the material world]

 

"Invisible Sun" - from Ghost in the Machine (1981)

 

[One, two, three, four, five, six
Oh oh oh oh oh oh]

I don't want to spend the rest of my life
Looking at the barrel of an Armalite
I don't want to spend the rest of my days
Keeping out of trouble like the soldiers say
I don't want to spend my time in hell
Looking at the walls of a prison cell
I don't ever want to play the part
Of a statistic on a government chart

There has to be an invisible sun
It gives its heat to everyone
There has to be an invisible sun
That gives us hope when the whole day's done

It's dark all day and it glows all night
Factory smoke and acetylene light
I face the day with me head caved in
Looking like something that the cat brought in

There has to be an invisible sun
It gives its heat to everyone
There has to be an invisible sun
That gives us hope when the whole day's done

And they're only going to change this place
By killing everybody in the human race
They would kill me for a cigarette
But I don't even wanna die just yet

There has to be an invisible sun
It gives its heat to everyone
There has to be an invisible sun
That gives us hope when the whole day's done

[Oh oh oh oh oh oh...]

"Rehumanize Yourself" - from Ghost in the Machine (1981)

He goes out at night with his big boots on
None of his friends know right from wrong
The kick a boy to death 'cause he don't belong
You've got to humanise yourself

A policeman put on his uniform
He'd like to have a gun just to keep him warm
Because violence here is a social norm
You've got to humanise yourself

Re-humanise yourself
Re-humanise yourself
Re-humanise yourself
Re-humanise yourself

I work all day at the factory
I'm building a machine that's not for me
There must be a reason that I can't see
You've got to humanise yourself

Billy's joined the National Front
He always was (just) a little runt
He's got his hand in the air with the other cunts
You've got to humanise yourself

Re-humanise yourself
Re-humanise yourself
Re-humanise yourself
Re-humanise yourself

I work all day at the factory
I'm building a machine that's not for me
There must be a reason that I can't see
You've got to humanise yourself

A policeman put on his uniform
He'd like to have a gun just to keep him warm
Because violence here is a social norm
You've got to humanise yourself

Re-humanise yourself...
(to fade)

 

"Driven to Tears" - Live in Frejus, France (1980)

 

How can you say that your not responsible?
What does it have to do with me?
What is my reaction, what should it be?
Confronted by this latest atrocity

Driven to tears
Driven to tears
Driven to tears

Hide my face in my hands,
shame wells in my throat
My comfortable existence is reduced to a shallow meaningless party
Seems that when some innocents die
All we can offer them is a page in a some magazine
Too many cameras and not enough food
'Cause this is what we've seen

Driven to tears
Driven to tears
Driven to tears

Protest is futile, nothing seems to get through
What's to become of our world, and who knows what to do

Driven to tears
Driven to tears
Driven to tears

Driven to tears
Driven to tears
Driven to tears

 

 

Turn on my V.C.R.
Same one I've had for years
James Brown on the Tammy show
Same tape I've had for years
I sit in my old car
Same one I've had for years
Old battery's running down
It ran for years and years

Turn on the radio
The static hurts my ears
Tell me where would I go
I ain't been out in years
Turn on the stereo
It's played for years and years
An Otis Redding song
It's all I own

When the world is running down
You make the best of what's still around
When the world is running down
You make the best of what's still around

Plug in my M.C.I
To excercise my brain
Make records on my own
Can't go out in the rain
Pick up the telephone
I've listened here for years
No one to talk to me
I've listened here for years

When the world is running down
You make the best of what's still around
When the world is running down
You make the best of what's still around

When I feel lonely here
Don't waste my time with tears
I run Deep Throat again
It ran for years and years
Don't like the food I eat
The cans are running out
Same food for years and years
I hate the food I eat

When the world is running down
You make the best of what's still around
When the world is running down
You make the best of what's still around

When the world is running down
You make the best of what's still around
When the world is running down
You make the best of what's still around

(Verse 1: Repeat fading)

 

"Russians" - from Dream of the Blue Turtles (1985)

 

In Europe and America,
there's a growing feeling of hysteria
Conditioned to respond to all the threats
In the rhetorical speeches of the Soviets
Mr. Krushchev said, "We will bury you"
I don't subscribe to this point of view
It would be such an ignorant thing to do
If the Russains love their children too

How can I save my little boy from Oppenheimer's deadly toy
There is no monopoly of common sense
On either side of the political fence
We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too

There is no historical precedent
To put words in the mouth of the president
There's no such thing as a winnable war
It's a lie we don't believe anymore
Mr. Reagan says, "We will protect you"
I don't subscribe to this point of view
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too

We share the same biology
Regardless of ideology
What might save us, me and you
Is that the Russians love their children too