Some Songs Considered

“Wrapped Around Your Finger” – The Police 
(Words/music: Sting, available on Synchronicity, A&M 1983) 

Like many drummers, Stuart Copeland has an expansive drum kit with multiple sizes of tom toms and cymbals.  Unlike most drummers, Stuart Copeland finds ways to make every bit of the kit useful.  The groove through the first two thirds of “Wrapped Around Your Finger” isn’t complex – bass drum on beats one and three, rim knock on four (making it a sort of cousin to the “Be My Baby” beat alluded to in last week’s post), but Copeland makes it more than just simple timekeeping.  Instead, he embellishes with the high tom tom, open hi-hat, and even his tiny splash cymbal, all the while keeping a light touch.  Where a lesser drummer (or at least my recreation of this beat) might weight down the song, Copeland never overplays despite incorporating all of the different aspects of the kit.  What’s notable is that Copland doesn’t even touch his snare drum, a staple in rock music, until the chorus.

The restraint here eventually pays off, as the track shifts during the final verse.  While Sting’s lyrical turnaround – “now your servant is your master” – isn’t the most poetic of his career, Copeland’s drumming follows the cue anyway.  His light click on the snare’s rim becomes a full on snare hit on both beats two and four, essentially giving the track a “double time” feel.  While Copeland continues to embellish with little fills (and varies playing on both the middle and the inner bell of the ride cymbal – one of his favorite tricks), he essentially plays the rest of the song straightforward.  To be fair, Copeland’s shift to two and four follows Sting’s bassline, which slips into doubletime a few bars before Copeland moves over to his drums.  It’s this precise interplay in the rhythm section (not to mention Andy Summers’ always skillful lead guitar, but there’s only so much to target in one post) that made Sting’s songs come to life so dramatically during this era.  

More on The Police: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

“Driven to Tears” – The Police
(Words/music: Sting, available on Zenyatta Mondatta, Interscope 1980) 

Given Sting’s post-Police foray into soft rock, it’s understandable how some might dismiss the Police.  When coupled with the way some of their songs are used - “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic” on the soundtrack to The Wedding Singer and “Every Breath You Take” surprisingly misappropriated by wedding singers (and sampled by Puffy, of course), It’s understandable how some banish the Police into the realm of adult contemporary radio.  To do so, however, sells the band short, particularly in the way the three musicians in the band were more than the sum of their parts.

While Sting, the primary songwriter, vocalist, and biggest personality in the group, still receives the most attention, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland more than held their own with their more famous bandmate.  Summers, an accomplish guitarist outside of the rock world, brings his knowledge of jazz into his guitar playing, particularly in the unconventional chord voicings in “Driven to Tears,” moreover, Summers’ guitar has a distinctive echoey tone that helps cast the mood appropriate for Sting’s lyrics about poverty.  His solo, however, departs from this shimmery echo into the more disjointed and dissonant sound one might expect on a Gang of Four record rather than a Sting recording.  Additionally, Copeland, a cult hero in the drumming world, controls the beat with an acrobat’s prevision and flair for the dramatic.  Whether locking into the double-time groove in the bridge section or tossing off-the-cuff fills into empty space, Copeland stakes claim to one third of the sonic space in the song.  Copeland and Summers give sting the canvas to tell his story of disgust and empathy, giving just enough detail to communicate his point without making himself the center of the circus.  Instead, as with the band’s best recordings, the entire trio shares the spotlight.

More on The Police: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm