'Tea in the Sahara'

"One Wish Before We Die"

For a start, it's April Fools. It's going to be a few days before Nodus Tollens is going to come out. I figure it might be an opportune moment to talk about this instrumental cover I did.

The original is of course the snobby, The Police on their Synchronicity album. It used to be the last track on the LP released in Australia, but later iterations and the CD version features 'Murder by Numbers' as an extra bonus track that comes after 'Tea in The Sahara'. I like 'Murder by Numbers' but one thing it is not, is a closing track for me. It creates more confusion than anything. If the Police didn't think it was worth putting on the original release, I kind wondered if it really belongs at the end of a very unified album without it.

Rick Beato has a nice video about how wonderful 'Murder by Numbers' is but really, one must ask, does it really belong on Synchronicity? And if so, does it belong as the last track?

What's interesting about this song is how the intro section is a C#minor vamp kind of thing which then slides into the verse which is built around F#minor and A, and the Chorus is a disarming I-IV-V sequence in E which resolves back at the C#minor. There's an almost mathematical beauty in how the bits fit together while disguising the E major feel of the chorus right through the intro and verse. Sting works very hard to hide the dirty secret that the song has a happy I-IV-V chorus until it lands on your lap like a delightful surprise. Who writes exquisite songs like this any more?

Rick Beato was also talking about Paul McCartney and Sting as seemingly the only two people who write modal songs, and nobody else seems to do it. It's getting to be a lost art.

With all that said... This is a bit of fun cover. I never feel up to singing Police songs, but I always like playing them on guitar and bass, so it seems inevitable I'd play a cover of something by them at some point. This version features my Telecaster, and my PJ bass. It's a very Fender kind of recording.