King Of Pain

This is a very personal song written by Sting. He had recently separated from his first wife, actress Frances Tomelty, and was not getting along with the other two members of the band. Instead of repressing or deflecting the hurt, Sting dives headlong into it on this track, crowning himself the "King Of Pain."

Sting said in Musician magazine: "I conjured up symbols of pain and related them to my soul. A black spot on the sun struck me as being a very painful image." He recalled the specific incident and how future wife Trudie Styler inspired the song's title in Lyrics By Sting: "I was sitting moping under a tree in the garden, and as the sun was sinking toward the western horizon, I noticed that there was a lot of sunspot activity. I turned to Trudie. 'There's a little black spot on the sun today.' She waited expectantly, not really indulging my mood but tolerant. 'That's my soul up there,' I added gratuitously. Trudie discreetly raised her eyes to the heavens. 'There he goes again, the king of pain.'"

The mallet instrument that plays throughout this song is a xylophone played by drummer Stewart Copeland. In a Songfacts interview, he explained: "Those chords Sting had on a little Casio, which has a kind of clinky sound. We thought, Let's make it a little more organic and play it on the xylophone." When they did it live, Copeland would play the xylophone for the first minute of the song, then ditch his mallets and return to the drum kit. Copeland also mallets on "Wrapped Around Your Finger"; when they did that one live it was a showcase song for him, as he played a variety of percussion instruments set up on a special rig.