Rumor has it, via the twitter page of Sting’s guitarist Dominic Miller, that Sting and company are currently practicing the song “I Burn For You”. It remains to be seen if this song will be incorporated into either the Rainforest Foundation concert on May 13, 2010 or Sting’s 2010 world tour with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. Regardless of where the song might turn up, it’s exciting and extraordinary news since Sting hasn’t performed this song live in almost two decades.
A little history about “I Burn For You” is in order based on the current buzz. It is undoubtedly the best song released on the 1982 Brimstone & Treacle film soundtrack and worthy of admiration, unlike the dreadful movie. Sting reportedly performed the song during The Dream of the Blue Turtles Tour in 1985-1986 and the …Nothing Like The Sun Tour in 1987-1988, and “I Burn For You” was also included on Bring On The Night in 1986. At some unknown point after this the song mysteriously disappeared from Sting’s musical repertoire, and he has refused to perform it in successive tours for reasons unbeknownst to increasingly bewildered Sting fans worldwide. By a landslide vote, “I Burn For You” was the #1 song Sting fan club members requested to hear during the Broken Music tour in 2005 when an informal survey was conducted. Although Sting was aware his fans were pining for this one special song, he chose not to play it and still hasn’t complied to this very day.
“I Burn For You” is a complex song with an eerie melody and haunting lyrics twisted around the conflicting notions of love and disturbing evil conveyed by the film Brimstone & Treacle; this duality is repeated in “Every Breath You Take”. Take it as you will, it’s a love song or it’s an insidious song. But “I Burn For You” is a song you won’t forget.
Now “I Burn For You” appears to have been pulled from the mothballs and dusted off to a surge of joyous anticipation. It will be interesting to see where and when the song turns up, if at all. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for “I Burn For You” to be performed as part of Sting’s summer tour with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra because I have yet to hear it live in the many Sting concerts I’ve attended over the years. Let’s hope we’ll be hearing “I Burn For You” . . . “now that I have found you in the coolth of your evening smile” once again.
Sting and Dominic Miller played “I Burn For You” at the Amnesty International concert in Montevideo on October 10, 1990, and this may have been the last time the song was performed live twenty years ago. Info on concert including setlist with “I Burn For You” here:
http://sting.com/archives/tours/tours.php?tourid=15&eventid=1286&viewall=1
Have you ever seen “Goodfellas?” Recall the way Martin Scorcese used the coda from “Layla” during the climax, to accompany (and add irony) to the way all the mafiosos were brutally and graphically murdered.
So by your logic, we are to assume that because that song was used that way in “Goodfellas”, that the coda of Layla is a “brutal, twisted, and sinister tribute to mob-style murders.” … See More
That doesn’t make any sense. Do you see what I mean?
I think you confuse a film’s director’s use of music — with the music itself, with regard to “I Burn for You.”
And comparing its meaning to the surveillance and control of “Every Breath You Take” is also incorrect: there is no duality in “I Burn for You.” It’s not an insidious song — at all. “I’ll be watching you…you belong to me…” Those are direct lyrics about ownership and possessiveness and some say even stalking. There is NONE of this in “I Burn for You.”
It’s a love song – that was once used to puncuate a few (graphic and some would say even disturbing) scenes in an admittedly diabolical little movie…but there’s no hidden meaning in it as a song, on its own.
Read the entire lyrics: there is nothing “dual” about it. And the tune itself is exotic, heady, almost tribal. Lust? Perhaps. Desire? Absolutely. Passion? No doubt. But make no mistake: it is a LOVE song, not a song about evil, control, surveillance, or any other darker meanings.
Fondly,
Tom
Tom, I know this song has special meaning for you and it appears you’ve taken offense. Please know this is not my intention. The brilliance of Sting’s songwriting is the ability for his songs to be interpreted differently. Sting crafts his songs this way deliberately. You interpret it as a love song, and I see something much different. There is a clue for me in the title itself. “I Burn For You” means “I’m going to burn for this” or “I’m going to hell for this because it’s wrong”. Sting himself has said the song is about “sexual frustration”, which hardly translates to a sweet love song in my mind. You’ll find Sting’s comments on “I Burn For You” at http://www.sting.com/discog/?v=so&a=1&id=150 by clicking on “artist comments” from the drop-down box. Sting included the song in the movie soundtrack for a reason, and that is because it can be interpreted to fit the disturbing topic of that movie. We each hold our own thoughts about this amazing song and are entitled to them, and it just proves Sting is one hell of a songwriter! Thanks for your comments.
Kathy
No offense taken: I’m simply challenging your interpretation of the song, and hopefully, I’ll be able to convince you that your logic is faulty…or, maybe I won’t be able to…
Perhaps the best way to look at this discussion is: your interpretation of the song is based on a movie you saw, which is clouding your judgment about it.
But there is no debate: it is not a song about evil. And there are no hidden darker meanings.
Period.
Plus, Kathy, if you’re going to quote Sting, then be complete about what he said, don’t twist his words to support your interpretation that there’s something inherently dark about the song. For instance, why not fully quote Sting, instead of taking what he said out of context: he’s on the record as saying “I SUPPOSE it’s about sexual frustration.” That’s Sting saying, after the fact, in retrospect, that 30 years after it’s been written, he surmises that’s what the song was about. That’s not Sting saying, “I wanted to write a song about sexual frustration.” Plus, he says the song “wound up as part of a movie soundtrack…” Again, that’s not Sting saying “I set out to write a dark, twisted song to accompany a film about the devil” — he did not write the song for the film.
I’ll put money that he wrote it for Frances Tomelty during their courtship — again, it was written in 1975 — long before it was reinterpreted by the Police and reused in a soundtrack.
Honestly, Kathy, I almost wish you hadn’t seen the stupid film — because even from the clip you’ve included on your website, anyone can see “I Burn for You” is a passionate song about an intense love…and nothing else.
Seriously, I can think of lots of films that use songs in movies that were never intended to be associated with the subject matter — your interpretation of “I Burn for You” is tantamount to saying that Wagner’s “The Ride of the Valkyries” is a song about war, napalm, and genocide, as used in Francis Ford Coppola’s, “Apocalypse Now.”
I may sound offended, but truly, I’m more incredulous, that you still maintain your viewpoint, despite all the rational thinking I’m sharing to show you that “I Burn for You” is about a burning desire for another human being, not about a human being burning in hell. (Seriously?) “You and I are lovers…Nighttime falls around our bed…in peace we sleep entwined…” There is no double meaning. Just single meaning: I LOVE YOU. So much that I’m thinking about you as we lie in each others arms…
Sweet? Did anyone ever say this was a sweet love song?
Read my lips: Passion. Desire. Intensity.
Lastly, Sting did not “include the song” as part of the soundtrack for a reason — the musical director for the film decided to use the song in that way. That wasn’t Sting’s decision.
Sure, you’re right — you’re entitled to your interpretation about this song — I suppose I’m just trying to rescue you from yours. I feel bad for you, that a 30 year old film so influenced your interpretation of one of Sting’s most famous songs that every time you hear it, it evokes such dark images for you.
Lastly, though, I think that you’ll eventually have to admit it — that what’s going on here is that your interpretation of the song has been forever influenced by its use in a relatively forgettable little movie — and that’s sad for me.
But there is no debate:
“I Burn for You” is a love song.
An hypnotic. Tribal. Earthy. Heady. Unique. Love song.
Fondly,
Tom
We shall have to agree to disagree on this one. Here is Sting’s full comment on “I Burn For You”, take from the “All This Time” CD-ROM in 1995:
“I suppose ‘I Burn For You’ is about sexual frustration. I actually wrote this song when I was a school teacher. I used to set my kids very difficult essays to write in class and I’d sit in the corner of the room and play my guitar. My sexual frustration had nothing to do with my pupils I hasten to add, but I wrote it in the classroom.”
I have not twisted Sting’s words, he clearly explains what the song is about. Sexual frustration is a dark subject by definition: a state of agitation felt by an individual whose sexual satisfaction is considerably less than desired.
As you accuse me of clouded judgment, I suspect the same in your desire to maintain the song is simply a love song. Your interpretation of the song has been forever influenced because it was a crucial element of your marriage proposal and wedding. No offense taken, really? Your response clearly indicates that is not the case.
As it seems necessary, I will apologize once again for bringing to light a different viewpoint of this song that you find so distasteful. “I Burn For You” is supremely worthy of admiration, and I’m sure it will retain its special place in your heart due to your emotional attachment, as it should. But you will not be able to convince me otherwise, and my logic is not faulty.
Period.
I absolutely love “I Burn For You”. The bridge is so gripping, and his voice on the original track penetrates your ears like few of his songs do. I could do w/o the long fading chant, but other than that, it’s an incredible often-overlooked gem.
Interestingly enough, I recently got some old clippings of Sting off of ebay, and one interview mentioned that the song was actually slated to be on “Synchronicity” but because Stewart and Andy had stipulated to have at least one each of “their” songs on the album, it was cut in favor of none other than “Mother”, if you can believe that, and “Miss Gradenko”, which was not too shabby for a Copeland attempt but no way deserved to take the place of this Sting ode. Thankfully, it ended up on the “Message In a Box” Set, so I don’t have to dust off my phonograph needle to enjoy the original.
As for the movie Brimstone & Treacle, I own it and have watched it several times, and personally, I think it’s up there as one of Sting’s best performances in film. He’s very convincing as a street rat coniver, and the entire story kept my interest and curiosity like very few films in general have. I could have done w/o some of the sex scenes, but contrary to when most directors claim that they’re “critical to the plot line”, in this case, they actually were. Any Sting fan or general movie buff should see it, I think