So Lonely

“So Lonely” was The Police’s first fusing of punk and reggae that would become not only a pioneering new sound in rock, but also their signature sound. It was the band’s third single, the last from their debut album, peaking at #6 in the UK and #7 in Ireland. Its lyrics were taken from “Fool In Love”, a song from Sting’s previous band Last Exit. Its chorus, Sting has admitted, is a sped-up reinterpretation of Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry”. In a 2000 interview with Revolver, the band discussed “So Lonely”: Sting: People thrashing out three chords didn’t really interest us musically. Reggae was accepted in punk circles and musically more sophisticated, and we could play it, so we veered off in that direction. I mean let’s be honest here, So Lonely was unabashedly culled from ‘No Woman No Cry’ by Bob Marley. Same chorus. What we invented was this thing of going back and forth between thrash punk and reggae. That was the little niche we created for ourselves. Copeland: It was also the first time Sting said ‘screw the punk formula’. Sting started playing the song and I distinctly remember Andy and I making farting noises and going, ‘Yeah, right’. But then he got to that steaming chorus, we looked at each other and realised that maybe we should give it a try. In spite of our kerfuffling, Sting persevered and made us create something new. Sting: The other nice thing about playing a reggae groove in the verses was that you could leave holes in the music. I needed those holes because, initially, I had a hard time singing and playing at the same time.