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what language is the background singer singing in?
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what’s he saying?
The answer to question one is apparently Arabic.
“buy a Jaguar”
alternating with
“Make Sting rich”
According to the DJ the first time I heard the song, Sting was improvising Arabic(-sounding?) words to the music. If it is actual Arabic and not just Arabic-sounding, I highly doubt it’s anything sensical. I can check with my Arabic-speaking friends next week…
My kids called me to listen to “Desert Rose” and asked what are the Arabic lyrics they hear in there. There is some genuine Arabic in the song. Some of the syllables like “ma ma ma ma” are glossolalia, but some of it is real Arabic words.
The first word you hear is “Layli, ya Layl*” – this is the universal refrain used in nearly all Arabic songs. It means ‘Night, O night!’ For the Arab soul, the night brings out all his deep feeling. Night is the time when the desert air cools and a person’s dreams and songs can let loose. Even the Bible tells about God walking in the Garden in the “cool of the evening.” Night is the mysterious veil of darkness and was mythologized by the prehistoric Semites as Lilith, the Dark Side of the Feminine. Layla is also a well-known name for women. Eric Clapton wailed for Layla too, his song inspired by classical Sufi poetry.
The other words say something like wen el-hur, wen es-salamah – ‘Where are the paradise beauties? Where is safety?’ Sting goes “I dream of rain, ya Layli ya Layl / I dream of God…” According to Frithjof Schuon, the four dimensions of the Arab soul are symbolized by the desert, the sword, Woman, and God.
It’s a nice song. I’m impressed. Good one, Sting.
Doesn’t Islam forbid combining vocal music with instrumental music? Am I mistaken, or is Faudel not devout, or is it perhaps a law that doesn’t really matter much in modern Islam?
I do like the song. I love the sound of Arabic, very soft, poetic language.
C’mon, Rhythmdvl.
It’s a beautiful song. It’s got nothing to do with cars.
Peace,
mangeorge
The background artist’s name is Cheb Mami. Just FYI.
You evidently haven’t seen the video for the song, or read anything about the corporate partnerships and marketing tie-ins he established in connection with his latest album. I have a lot of respect for the Sting-meister, musically speaking, but financially he’s treading awfully close to sellout territory. That, however, is a different thread…
Sorry 'bout that. I guess I just have issues with Sting. I caught a few of his performances when he toured with the Dead in '93 (?). Not the best idea, to schedule an overly choreographed, image-obsessed opening act for an overly improvisational uncommercial (unless you count ties, skies, sunglasses, etc. :rolleyes: ) headliner. Everything he did just came off as very contrived - he ‘spilled’ he little cup of tea several nights at about the same time, with the same cutesy ‘oops’ reaction each time. Blech.
As for the song? Again, my apologies for my cynicism, but the first few times I heard it was during a Jaguar commercial. He was sitting in a jag, singing his ditty, hawking cars. He himself decided to inextricably tie his song with the message “buy a Jaguar.” So maybe it is not a direct translation of the Arabic, but it is the general meaning of the song.
Pretty sure that IS selling out, though. 
Come on, where is the rock of old? When we sang to make a point and express feelings, not sell cars and make moola! Yeesh.
All I know about this video comes from watching its Pop up Version. Anyone else catch it? They mentioned the name of the weird guy singing the Arabic phrases…I forget it though. The music style he’s singing in is known as Rai, or so they say. Arabic or Algerian or something like that. And they mentioned the tie-in. How it was used as a commercial too. I don’t know if i’ve ever seen the ad, howver… Made me angry. :mad:
Here are the lyrics;
http://www.stingetc.com/lyrics/index.html
I don’t watch much tv, you see. I do listen to the radio.
I wasn’t aware of the controversy surrounding the song.
Shame on you, Sting, making all that money.
Sorrry, I’ll never listen to it again. 
Anyway, there’s nuthin’ in the song about no Jaguar.
Peace,
mangeorge
“Some of the syllables like ‘ma ma ma ma’ are glossolalia”
I’m shocked, shocked to find glossolalia in a Sting song. The running joke among my friends is that nearly every song Sting released involves the repetition of the sounds “e-o” so that we have come to call Sting “Captain EO” like the Disney/Michael Jackson character. Whenever any of us hear the “e-o” in a Sting song, we start cracking up.
“Rai” music is like a blend of Arabic music with hip-hop. Like calypso used to do, it contains social/political commentary and satire, but like hip-hop it uses DJs. The word rai is Arabic for ‘opinion, view’, from the verb meaning ‘to see’. The way you see things. All the rai DJs are called “Cheb” – that’s Algerian for the Arabic word shâbb which means ‘a youth, young guy’.