I just downloaded the Police’s “Synchronicity II” off iTunes. As I listened to it, I got to wondering about the lyrics. The verses portray the mundanity of life, but the choruses talk about something happening in some faraway Scottish lake. What’s the connection?
Sting is comparing the man about to mental with the monster in the lake about to attack some poor hapless schmoe in the cabin near the lake.
At least, that’s the way I see it.
I took it as the Loch Ness Monster, which represents the narrator’s rising insanity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity refers to Carl Jungs “acausal connecting principle.” Basically, everything is interconnected and things that seem like coincidences really aren’t coincidences. The two story threads of the song–a man’s mundane day and the Loch Ness monster doing…whatever the hell she’s doing–seem to be totally independant phenomenon but are actually connected by a mysterious “spooky action at a distance” force. Hence the title.
I recommend you download “Synchronicity I” from iTunes, which I always thought was the better of the two songs.
I love the Police. I saw a guy at the gym with a Synchronicity tour shirt on from 1983 the other day. I asked him where he got it, and he said a thrift store. No way I ever find anything that cool in a thrift store.
And no, I won’t defend post-Police Sting.
I am not sure I’ve ever actually heard that song in its entirety. All I can remember hearing is a snippet from a television commercial.
People sneer at me, but I loved the Police as well. And I consider vib’s exegesis* to be a superbly astute encapsulation of the song’s basic message.
The Police is a prime example, IMO, of how a bandleader with fundamentally good songwriting instincts and a knack for melodic hooks can have his compositions perfectly tempered and augmented by the creative input of solid supporting bandmembers. Solo Sting goes straight to Hell so quickly it’s frightening, though there were some good moments on Dream of the Blue Turtles. The first three Police albums are, by far, the most fun, but Ghost had some excellent music as well, and Synchronicity is as good a swan-song as any could have hoped for, in retrospect and considering what followed.
*That’s the sort of pedantic b.s. word Sting would pull out of his arse in an interview to prove to all the world how fucking brilliant he is.
My favorite Police song & video.
“We have to shout above the din of our Rice Krispies”
Loved the Police, can’t stand Sting. They are probably my all time favorite band, but Sting needs people around him that tell him no, and fight with him.
Otherwise, you get everything after Dream of the Blue Turtles.
The idea of Synchronicity is that everything is interconnected, no matter how irreleveant to each other they may appear. “Synchronicity II” is the tale of a stressed-out man playing his part in the rat race and supressing his anger and rage. Consequently this rage manifests itself as something stirring many miles away in a dark Scottish lake.
Incidently, there is only one lake in Scotland, Lake Menteith , all other bodies of water are lochs. So Sting was perhaps being more precise than he intended. There is no monster said to be in Lake Menteith.
It sounds like he says “loch” in the last stanza.
A bit OT but Gosh you guys are hard on post-Police Sting. Well, hell, now that I think about it, the only thing he’s done that I liked after Dream of the Blue Turtle was “All This Time” from Soul Cages… 
Yes, he says “lake” in every verse except that one.
Gold star for Futile Gesture re. Lake of Menteith. 
Well, I just had a quick Google for the lyrics and it looks as though both"lake " and “loch” are used, just depending on what is wanted for a rhyme.
Good girl that I am, I won’t post the lyrics though, 'cos of copyright.
Well, it’s a drawn-out note, though, isn’t it. I mean, “Of a cottage on the shore…of a dark…Scottish LAAAAAAAAAAAKE” sounds a hell of a lot better than “Scottish LAWWWWWWK”
+1 - well stated.
Welll, a loch is still a lake, just like an eraser is still an eraser even when a Brit is calling it a “rubber.”
We needn’t assume it has to be Lake Menteith just because Sting (who after all isn’t Scottish anyway) calls it a “lake” one time out of three.
Wow…so much solo-Sting dislike!
I love the Police. I second the Sync I recommendation. I think my favorite song off of that album may be Ms. Gradenko. (Miss?)
Dream of the Blue turtles is great, I also love Soul Cages. A little heavy? Maybe, but it’s a concept album, so I give him a break.
Count me in with those who thought the song alluded to Nessie.
Though Nessie is hinted at, the monster described in the song doesn’t sound like the usual Nessie discription. Nessie is usually thought of as a swimming monster confined to the Loch. But the mmonster in the song is discribed as crawling to the surface, and casting a shadow against the door of a cottage on the shaw. Much more like a swamp thing or Grendel.
The song is alluding toi insanity coming to the surface and threatening the home. And synchronicity is used in the linking of distant and apparantly very different events.
I’ll vote for liking 10 summoners tales as a posr Police Sting effort. But also cringe at most post Police Sting music.
Make sure you listen to “Wrapped arround your finger” also from the Synchronicity album (in fact get the entire album).
I do not like much of sting’s solo work, but I do not totally hate him. Just watch this music video, incongruently done to scenes of the anime know as Sailor Moon: Dreams of Red, taken from Desert Rose. At least, if you want to go through a long and bothersome registration process. Better yet, just buy the CD. http://aluminumstudios.com/amv/index3.html