Sting announced today that proceeds from his recently re-recorded 1985 song “Russians” will benefit Ukrainian humanitarian and medical aid.
06.03.2022 - 03:13 / usmagazine.com
Speaking out. Sting returned to a 1985 song that he hoped would no longer be needed more than 30 years later.
“I’ve only rarely sung this song in the many years since it was written, because I never thought it would be relevant again,” the 70-year-old told fans in a video via Instagram on Saturday, March 5. “But, in the light of one man’s bloody and woefully misguided decision to invade a peaceful, unthreatening neighbor, the song is, once again, a plea for our common humanity.”
The song, simply titled “Russians,” was first released as a single from The Dream of the Blue Turtles, his first solo album after breaking away from his band, The Police. It was among his highest charting songs in the first decade of his solo career.
In Saturday’s video, Sting concluded, “For the brave Ukrainians fighting against this brutal tyranny and also the many Russians who are protesting this outrage — despite the threat of arrest and imprisonment – We, all of us, love our children. Stop the war.”
The Only Murders in the Building actor launched into a live version of the song, recorded along with cellist Ramiro Belgardt. His caption included an address to send supplies to Ukrainian refugees in Poland as well as information hotlines and a link to Help Ukraine.
The England native, who has been married to wife Trudie Styler since 1992, wrote the song amid the Cold War, which didn’t end until 1991. The musician said in the 2007 book Lyrics by Sting that he’d been inspired while with a friend at Columbia University who had access to a computer that intercepted a Soviet TV signal, and he was taken aback by the wholesome nature of a children’s program.
“The shows seemed thoughtful and sweet, and I suddenly felt the need to state something obvious in
Sting announced today that proceeds from his recently re-recorded 1985 song “Russians” will benefit Ukrainian humanitarian and medical aid.
Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorWhen Sting first released the song “Russians” in 1985, the Cold War had been raging for nearly 40 years, and the song aimed to strike a humanizing tone on the people actually behind that Iron Curtain. Just weeks earlier, the Soviet Union had gotten a young new leader named Mikhail Gorbachev who ultimately would end that war and change the world in the process, for the better, it seemed at the time.Sadly, four decades later, Russia has launched the most devastating ground war in Europe since World War II with its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and it’s necessary to strike a humanizing tone again, and Sting has released a re-recorded version of the song to benefit www.helpukraine.center — a volunteer storage center established by Ukrainian business owners where humanitarian and medical aid can be sent from all over the world – with funds being processed through the German charity foundation, Ernst Prost, People for Peace – Peace for People.
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