Yesterday I returned from Moscow. The first thing I did was to listen to this song. Sting was and is right: "There's no thing such a winnable war. It's a lie we don't believe anymore". Thank you for making this video. And of course: Russians are good people and love their children incredibly.
@@horizonblack really? Did America say no to Afghanistan? Iraq? Syria? Libya? Somalia? Yemen? And that's just the last 20 years.... Kill count 3 million. In 250 years of existence America's only known 20 years of peace. I think you scream yes yes yes rather than no
I’m German and I’m turning 55 this year. My childhood and my teenage years were covered by a feeling of fear of a Third World War. As Germany was split into East and West Germany we were in the center of the Cold War. So this fear was very realistic. More than once the world was only an instance away from a nuclear war and Germany would have been the first country to be bombed. And this was the time when Sting would publish this song. It very much described my feelings back then. All us kids felt like that. And now, today, this scary feeling is back, accompanied by the horror of the war in the Ukraine…
May be it is just because you are 55 now, because when you were 33 and Germany joined NATO military operation without UN sanction bombing Belgrade with uranium, did you feel the same?
I am German as weil, turned 52 in july this year an remember that thread was always present. I remember when ABC test alarms went off, I would always hide unter the kitchen table or a bed. And people don't get smarter. UKRAINE....smh to Mr. f*** putin. I for my part have lost trust in humanity a long time ago.
The war in Ukraine is basically wanted by the USA. They want Ukraine since the end of the Cold War. Even taking advantage from the western ukrainian people who are basically fascists and nazis.
I was living in West Germany from 84-87 and saw Sting on his Dream of the Blue Turtle's tour in Frankfurt. I can recall as an American we had to have a go bag in case of invasion. Where I lived in Wiesbaden was only like 6 hours from a tank invasion from East Germany. Made one think.
@@positroll7870 Those 180 is actually 1. So it's more like 1 to 5. We heard that that 1 is only 20% of the earth's population that are being dictated by am. Would you like to disagree or explain why some of the guys here follow the trend of calling the ru president a dictator or a tyrant?). The majority of Russians will honestly laugh at this idea, the rest will not be surprised because they know how much is being invested in weakening this country. There is a percentage of people that will support "this" idea, they are the ones you see starring on your mainstream media and make you think: THIS IS SO TERRIBLE! I wrote a few times how it works. Not again. It's just truly sad how entire nations can be manipulated and how little it takes to not recognize fakes and believe them. (I am a believer. For many years I could not understand how is it possible for the prophecies come to pass... But now we see some of them in action)
Sting, a person who is iconic af. And his band, The Police, literally serves us one of the most iconic songs of the 80s. Too bad not a lot of people appreciate them and tends to forget about them. But, I will never forget, the moments that they put out. Love you guys 💙
Part of the melody is inspired by Prokofiev (Lieutenant Kijé//Romance) and the video was made by French director Jean-Baptiste Mondino who also did Axel Bauer 'Cargo de nuit'.
Une partie de l’arrangement musical est tirée du chanteur auteur compositeur kabyle Idir (RIP) poème sur à mort. Sting est tellement a l’écoute de toutes les cultures et humaniste !
I heard this song in the summer of 1988 in a discotheque in Ukraine, then still USSR. Even then it was clear that the Ukrainians are a people of their own and wanted to be independent.
It wasn't "a big hit". But it hit hard. I never once heard it on the radio, if that's a measure of what "big hit" means. But to call things "a hit" is something people tend to want to put on a song or a musician as if there is no significance without it. Anyway, those of us who were plugged in very much knew about it. Frankly, radioplay is a wasteland, always has been, always put off by songs with any actual depth. Often, you'll have either one of the other, seldom both depth and "a hit you heard on American Top 40." Thankfully, there was not a lot of time between the era this song was released in and the fall of the Berlin wall, just a few years
@@Cre80s *"It wasn't "a big hit". But it hit hard."* Precisely stated. Played even less than "Children of the Sun", but you only had to hear it once for it to be indelibly unforgettable.
I was 16 when I first heard this. I got chills, just like you. It always brings me to tears. The Russians do love their children, too. Putin doesn’t give a shit. 🥺 As a Cold War Child, I prefer my war cold. 😞 🇺🇦
Exactly. I m the same age as you and at the time those lyrics about Russians loving their children too were reassuring. That was a different era, before Putin....
That's great and all. Shame the same cannot be said for the 14,000 dead East Ukrainians these past 8 years, the majority who were killed by forces loyal to the PRO WESTERN Ukrainian government.
I was only a few months shy of my thirteenth birthdays when I first heard this in 1986. I was living in Belgrade, but ended up escaping 7 years later to the United States, as I didn't want to take part in a civil war that my family lived on both sides of. I remember loving this song so much that I recorded it on my favorite cassette tape as soon as I could. I'm an amateur keyboardist, and have always had this huge love for amazing strings + synthesizers arrangements like this one. I feel like it's actually more tense now than it was in 1986. Yugoslavia wasn't a part of the Warsaw Pact, but we all breathed a huge sigh of relief when Gorbachev became a new President of the USSR in 1985. He was a peace-loving man, and probably the only USSR President that I actually really liked. I also started to like Reagan more and more, as he kept working with Gorbachev on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty that was signed at the end of 1987. I remember different USSR presidents, and I read a bit about each one, and I think the ones not named in the song were the worst: namely Stalin, Brezhnev and Andropov. Check out what "Brezhnev doctriine" is, and it will send chills down your spine. I feel like Putin is operating straight out of the Brezhnev doctrine, and it's terrifying. Also, I think the times when Yuri Andropov was the President of USSR was the scariest time for me in all of cold war. I was just a kid then, and everyone kept mentioning this name "Andropov, Andropov". People openly talked about different nuclear war scenarios. This was during the 1982-1984 period. We all felt a huge wave of relief when Andropov died. Love and prayers to Ukraine and to all the Russians that either protest this war or deep down don't want this war and were duped and fooled into supporting it.
Few songs capture the Cold War like this. It’s a shame that we are still thinking this way 37 years later. The clock at the beginning represents the Doomsday Clock. It’s strange that you would say you guess things were going on then. When this came out we were on the verge of nuclear war every day.
That caught me too. But when you think about it, he’s likely too young to remember. I don’t think the Cold War is really taught in schools, is it? I was a child of the 80s, so I remember this part, but I know there was so much more in the decades before that I really just know from hearing about it. We at least never had drills to hide under desks like they did back then. People of this younger age never knew an East and West Germany. Their maps in geography class didn’t say USSR. We have adults know that don’t even really remember 9/11 because they were too young. It is sad that we are clearly not learning enough from history, because some of it is definitely repeating itself.
Our school library had a book about nuclear war and survivable rem/rad doses and I swatted on that as much as anything else at school. Probably wouldn’t mean much on the frontline, but in New Zealand I thought we had a chance.
For me it's his best song. He as got a lot of splendid other songs but this one describes so well the geopolitical situation in 1985 (and of today) and the fears of the normal people not able to do something against the march of history and violence...
For those of us who lived through the Cold War and the Bay of Pigs, this song has never been forgotten. At the time I was in a UK boarding school (14 years old, I believe) and my parents in Germany (my father military and the NATO tanks rumbling through the night on operations), all I wanted was to get to them. Letters were the only way of communicating with them. What is happening today brings this all back.... and Sting's song is in my mind again.
The same day Ukraine was invaded I ordered 2 cases of Potassium Iodine from Amazon. I. AM. THAT. AFRAID. We lived through the cold war of the eighties and right now we are back on that same edge. The Iodine is not for me. I'm old and I have health issues. It is for my children and grandchildren. To protect them as best I can. BTW... the prices of those 2 cases is now 6 times what it was when I ordered mine.
I was a child on a nuclear security air force base during the Cuban Missile Crisis. My father would have been dropping nuclear bombs if ordered to do so. This song hits me so hard
I remember when I first heard this song when I was 14,yo in History class. We were studying the Cold War, our teacher made us listen to this song and watch the video, and let me assure you, there was not one single dry eye in this classroom (I (don't know if it was mandatory in highschools in France but my teacher did it at least). 10 years later, I still got the chills and teary eyes. thank you for your reaction Derek (now i can actually listen to this song again because i couldn't remember the title until now lol)
This sent shivers down my spine, 40 years ago, when living on the cold war frontline in Germany. I didn't expect the song to become so relevant again...again threatened by a Russian nuclear bomb. Horrible.
@@sandrinecozic7214 this is not about NATO/OTAN or the US. This about a country trying to join the EU, the European family which has brought us more than 70 years of peace and stability, brought by a fundamental change in which (Western) Europeans see and approach their lifes. A country wants to join this club, another country wants to stop it, wages war on it, killing innocent women, men and children. Nato can't do anything to stop this cruel and bloody dictator, because of being threatened by outright nuclear war. Any further questions or opinions?
@@sandrinecozic7214 Yeah? What about NATO? Did NATO just invade an European Country? Did NATO just threaten the Russians with nuclear weapons? So what about OTAN?
@@sandrinecozic7214 U Talk about Propaganda and in the same Way u believe all the Lies Putin talks about. Wow thats so stupid. BtW Russia has a Nazi Problem too but they will fight as special Operations Team for Putin (Group Wagner). 'But OTAN'....- is OTAN shooting at a nuclear powerplant? Is OTAN robbing the Ukraine and kill thounsands of people? Is OTAN making a civil war in Ukraine? Is OTAN threaten with nuclear weapons? Putin will conquere the whole Ukraine and install a russian jumpin Jack as President. And Russia signed a contract in 1994 that they'll get the 1000 ukrainian Nuclear Missles and respect the Borders of Ukraine. A sh*t for Putin.
I was 12 years old in 1985 and was worried about a nuclear war between USSR and USA due to all the hype of the Cold War, I remember listening to this song and was deeply moved by it at that age. I still listen to it from time to time. Good timing on this with the current situation.
This song has always hit hard especially if you read the lyrics. When this came out we were on a knife edge, nuclear war was threatened on both sides and the fear was tangible. This song was expressing what we all felt at the time. If you notice Sting composed it so it would sound like a funeral march plus the ticking in the background reminds us of the imminent threat, how much time do we have left? This song has been playing in my head now for a week, since Russia invaded Ukraine. It's sad we haven't learnt and we are back to this solemn place yet again. 😔
Yes, a classic! Brilliant video too. Strange; just a month ago, you could tell young people: Okay, that was a long time ago, everything is normal now. And now, one week ago - Back to this?!? Again?! Good reaction Derek, I feel your emotions...
I have never heard this Sting song. Thank you for reviewing it. From hearing it, it is as deep as Cranberries- Zombie. The children are innocent, it is viewpoints in the grown ups heads that twist them up and spit them out. The song I am currently listening to is The War Song by Culture Club.
The message of Fragile is similar, but very different. It is inspired by the suffering of Chileans under Pinochet. theres also a Spanish version, Fragilidad. And this makes an important point: While the US brought, and helped to maintain peace, prosperity and stability to my continent, Europe, they brought suffering and destruction and anything but democracy to most of Latin America.
I remember Sting playing an acoustic version of Fragile as the one and only song on 9/11, when he was due to play in New York. Its lyrics are so poignant for 9/11.
This song has been going through my head a lot lately, which led me to your video. You had a great reaction to it, it was obvious that you were genuinely moved. It is an amazing song and is even more meaningful with what's been going on.
Je l'adore aussi mais on l'avait qq peu oublié ...C'est juste "waouh" comme elle résonne à nouveau tellement fort !! "I hope that Russians love their children too"...😥
His first performance of this live was on his first solo Album "Bring On The Night" and the documentary of the same name shows him setting some of the arrangement for the song for that performance. What is even more powerful about the documentary is they set the song over the birth of one of his kids, actually being in the hospital as he is in the delivery room. So the lyrics are even more striking with that imagery. I highly recommend that documentary.
keep in mind this was released in 1985. two days ago (mar. 7, 2022) a russian general was killed on the front lines in ukraine at age 37.... born the same year this song came out. he was one of the children sting was singing about. ironic and tragic all at the same time.
@@Sofield119 our government has been making our lives miserable for years. If we fought against. They pointed weapons at us and put us in prisons. We are not afraid of sanctions. We are more afraid of our own government. Thanks for your words. Now many people hate me just because I'm Russian.Peace for Ukraine.
@@karneko4531 you, my dear Russian fellows, the people of the great Russia. have the key to stop all this horror. Go out, in the streets, to protest against Putin's agression. Russia isn't Putin and Putin's not Russia. Please shout it out on the streets ! Now ! You are the key, really. They're bombing and invading Ukraine. People of Russia, change the history, now.
The cold war was never as bad as it is today. Interesting to hear this channel refer to events in Europe where it’s worth remembering Russian threats against the West and NATO would effect the America just as much as anywhere else. It’s not merely a European crisis
Just now learned that the bridge bringing Russian supplies and troops to Crimea has been destroyed by Ukrainian forces, and this song instantly came to mind. Found your site my third replay. I grew up under the fear of the Cold War. My youngest child was born the same year Sting released this piece, and it brought me to tears. It is provokingly poignant that it is being rediscovered and received with similar impact by our children's children in this new age of uncerainty. May compassion prevail. Pray for peace.
Je ne me suis jamais intéressé aux paroles, c'est clairement édifiant et d'actualité ! Sinon que j'aime les artistes anglais, quand on voit et entend sting encore aujourd'hui, le mec n'a pas pris une ride en terme de charisme !
Tu aurais du 😁 ! J'avais 13 ans à l'époque et on l'avait apprise en cours d'anglais (le prof était super il est vrai). Oppenheimer deadly toy" est incroyable. C'est grâce à cette phrase que j'ai su qui était Robert Oppenheimer et de quoi il était le "père" ! L'année suivante, en avril, c'était Tchenobyl ! Ce mi-temps des années 80 était irrespirable !
How ironic to react to this song now...! The lyrics just used to sound like they belonged to a bygone era__until a few days ago. How sad! How tragic! History repeating itself over again. 😥😢😓😭
This was a song that really made me think as a Veteran who served overseas on a Cold War border. Scary if thought about too much then, but pride now in having stood up and lived it. We won that one and yet here we are, and now my kids are of age :-(. The beat goes on. Live in the now.
In one moment last week we were instantly put back 40 years in time. The fear of destruction never really vanished. And here we are again. Delivered into the hands of one maniac madman. All we can do is pray. Because the question if Putin loves 'his children', is now answered. He does not.
Such a powerful song! People who were already on this Earth at that time do remember - especially in Europe - that this nuclear threat we feel today was an everyday feeling then : for 40 years we were wondering "When will they invade us, when will they drop the bomb and USA will lanch theirs too as a response" :(
On nous oblige à choisir un camp, celui du "bien" évidemment, qui dépend de l'endroit où on se trouve. Mais nous sommes tous frères et les prétentions des oligarches ne devraient pas nous concerner. Au contraire c'est la population qui subit. Soyons solidaire aux hommes plutôt qu'aux idées venues d'en haut.
Thank you so much Dereck for your reaction to this really powerful song ! Sting has got so many beautiful and clever songs. You should also listen to 'Moon over Bourbon Street, 'Fragile', Fields of Gold', 'They dance alone'. Love from France
40 years ago and now have the same situation... When on the 80's ear this song, break my heard, and now too, I hope that all peaple go to right way and make peace and love...
In 1987 , Indochine recorded " Les Tzars ". This song is AGAINST DICTATURES.. In the video you will see Adolf Hitler , Benito Mossulini , Léon Trotsky , Joseph Staline , Mao Zedong and Idi Amin Dada who was cannibal. Lyrics : « Qu'ils nous foutent la paix ! » « La révolution ! »
Unbelievable....exact same thing that came out of my mouth when I first heard this song 30 years ago. It's just so nice to witness the generation now discovering how great and meaningful our music was back in the day. Okay....let me go back now to my Tik-Toking.
4:26. When Sting said that Mr. Reagan said her would protect you, he was referring to a new defense system called Star Wars. It was a system designed to intercept nuclear missiles before they hit their target. Look it up. When he says I hope the Russians love their children too, he's not talking about putting your children first. He's talking about MAD or mutually assured destruction. The idea behind arming ourselves with so many nuclear weapons was that the other side wouldn't dare to use theirs because we would retaliate. Both countries would kill everyone including the children.
This song definitely summed up the feelings many of us where having at that moment...Growing up in the 80s we were always preparing for war with Russia.. I was 15 when this song came out and really made me stop and ponder that question....We came very very close to a nuclear war, but if it wasn't for a Soviet submarine military member and his gut feeling to not fire! Bless that man!
Hi I was a teenager when sting recorded the song . You have to understand at that time USA and Russia had an agreement called mutual destruction agreement. That agreement consisted in to launch nuclear bombs as soon as the satellites could see heating traces of the engines even before the real launch.
this song. Im 57 translated this song into Russian in my Russian 101 class back in 1985 and had a girl I was trying to date sing it in Russian.... Was in the Army in Geramy in '94 and still have a piece of the recently downed berlin wall ....chills to hear this now AGAIN
Russians takes up the musical theme of the Romance from the orchestral suite Lieutenant Kijé, composed by the Russian Sergueï Prokofiev. In 2010, Sting explained that the song was inspired by watching Soviet TV at Columbia University: "I had a friend in college who figured out a way to pick up the satellite signal from Russian TV. We would have a few beers and walk up a small flight of stairs to watch Russian TV... At that time of the night, we could only see the children's shows (because of the jet lag), their “Sesame Street”. What struck me when I watched these programs was how much care and attention and clearly love had been invested in these programs. And they were our enemies, but they clearly love their children like we love ours".
Finally someone reacts on this song!! You did it! I was 13 when it was released and I still remember ALL the lyrics though it's been some decades we've been listening to it. It struck me so deep at that time...So as soon as I 've heard what 's happening in the world right now, I couldn't help myself from remembering this song and hope too...And can you believe it??? there's a live version recorded on the First of the year 2011 in...Moscow!!! Thanks Dereck to light young people with this masterpiece...
Really glad to see a reaction to this song, that is just as relevant today than it was in 1985. Another one from Sting that is beautifully poetic and poignant is called 'A Children's crusade'. A song by the Clash that you might also be interested in is called, 'The Call Up'.. it mentions the wheat fields over Kiev 'maybe I want to see the wheat fields over Kiev and down to the sea. There is a rose that I want to live for, although God knows, I may not have met her' .. thanks!
I was there. I was 12 at the time. Although I was basically a little girl, it touched me a lot and I couldn't help thinking of this song right away. I was hoping we'd never have to listen to it with the situation and spirit we're in now. It's a masterpiece
Sting recently released a live version like a week or so of him singing the song to Instagram, and the text included an address to send supplies to Ukrainian refugees in Poland as well as information hotlines and a link to “Help Ukraine”.
The ticking that continues at the end is also telling because (I think) it says that it's still just a matter of time, still a very real possibility. As long as we possess these weapons and they are locked and loaded and ready to go, it will always be a real possibility.
I start listening Sting when he relese this song in 1985 and i fell in love with this song and his voice,music..The Polices too!Iwas a kid of just 8 years!
When Paul Weller was asked why he didn't write political/protest songs anymore he said "I would be writing about the same things so what's the f***ing point"
hello Dereck... It's a song that I loved and still love...it "vibrated" at the time so much! And "wow" how it sounds so loud again!! "I hope that Russians love ...their children too"...😥
I just discovered this song now. Had a heart to heart with my Russian friend today. He doesn't want this war. He knows the truth. And he's not alone. Putin and his corrupt regime is the enemy and threat to peace. "There is no winnable war."
I am soon to be 74. I remember going out the kitchen door to go to school, shutting the door, and wondering if I’d ever see my parents again. Young man, you ask why. The answer is because enough young men buy the BS of the glory of war, violence and dominance in the form of killers-for-hire aka the military in every generation. The western American Indians have long had the tradition of potlatch, that is “an opulent ceremonial feast at which possessions are given away… to display wealth or to enhance prestige.” In other words, the more you give away the higher status you have, the direct opposite of this materialistic world. It has always been a choice between potlatch or (ultimate) destruction. I repeat- it has always been this choice. So for those who seek cover, absolution or forgiveness in war as always having been with us they will not find it from me. You can’t just move past this, the Real Original Sin, and continue indefinitely into the future. I don’t care what the world tells you. THE WORLD IS WRONG. Potlatch or war? Life or annihilation. Which side are you on? P.S. When Khrushchev said, “We will bury you” it is never said that in context he meant economically. P.P.S. For you very young, I was a schoolchild at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
I was never a fan of Sting or the Police, but this song gets me. I am an 80 child, but I was not afraid then, my country is neighbout to russia, this song is so relevant now again.
yes this song is so relevant for the times we are living right now.........im sure the russians love their children.....they are probably the only ones that can stop putin....peace is what we need
