Hi, I just put TST on, and I suddenly thought: IIELMFIY just *doesn't* sound like a standard Sting song, in the way that, say, After The Rain Has Fallen does. The drums are all wrong (or rather, aren't standard Sting drums), harmonica isn't a traditional Sting instrument. I was also thinking about Paul Simon's career, how every hit single he's had in his solo career (certainly in the post-Simon and Garfunkel and pre-Graceland era) has been oddball and weird, off the wall, even though Paul Simon previously was a pretty much straight down the line rock-folk sort of guy. (OT: Paul Simon fans who didn't like Songs from the Capeman, check out You're The One - I think you'll like it more.) Desert Rose certainly fits that bill. Even if it was a Volvo commercial (I notice, incidentally, that other artists are doing the same these days - ISTR Cheryl Crow) There's also something, well, *captivating*, about IIELMFIY's chord changes. I don't know what it is about them. I was also thinking, not for the first time, the monumental coup that Sting has pulled off: you'll see reviews saying that Sting played new stuff along with old favourites such as Roxanne, Every Breath You Take, Fragile, Fields of Gold... Hang on, now: Fields of Gold is at most 8 years old. For someone who's been playing since 1979, it's a *new song*. This is especially funny when you see reviews that claim that Sting hasn't done anything interesting recently, and cite as counterexamples, er, Fields of Gold. I suppose Fields of Gold is timeless; not so much that it's a classic (and it is; it's getting covered a lot, and I would recommend that anyone who doesn't like the original, should check out Eva Cassidy's version, which is on Songbird and any MP3 site) - but because it's not dated. He could have written it at any time, unlike Russians, which pretty much dates itself to before the end of the Cold War, or They Dance Alone, well, ditto sortof. Actually, seriously, listen to either Eva Cassidy's or Mary Black's version of Fields of Gold if you haven't heard them. Better than tracking down obscure concert bootlegs IMO. Sam -- Home page: http://www.illuminated.co.uk/ Sting by the numbers: http://www.illuminated.co.uk/sting/