Sting's "Mercury Falling" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot

In February of 1996, "Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot" became the first single released from "Mercury Falling". While it reached only 86 on the US "Billboard Hot 100", it climbed to 15 on the UK Singles Chart. The "Unmask Us" website explains that Sting wrote this song after a friend of his who was HIV positive eventually developed AIDS. Sting explains, "The first time he went to hospital I visited him and I was really at a loss to know what to bring him. I'd just read a book by a Buddhist monk called Sogyal Rinpoche (The Tibetan Book Of Living And Dying) and I'd enjoyed it very much and it had brought me a lot of solace. The premise of the book is that dying is a process that we all need to be training for in that we're all dying whether we have AIDS or not. I thought that would be a good book to bring him and he loved the book and got a lot of pleasure from it. This song is about my friend."

"Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot" was nominated for the Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance in 1997.

"Mercury Falling" is Sting's fifth studio album. On weekly charts, the album reached number four in the United Kingdom, number five in the United States, and number one in the European Albums Chart. It was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album in 1997. On the 1996 "'Mercury Falling' Promotional Interview Disc" Sting explains the title of the album: "The title of the new album is 'Mercury Falling'. It was the first lyric I wrote, the first line of the first song called 'The Hounds Of Winter'. But the lyric has a lot of reverberations, it means other things - it has an astrological context, it has an astronomical context, it has a meteorological context, it has a symbolic context, and the whole idea of being mercurial is an image I've always responded to. I mean, there are so many styles on this record and it darts around from genre to genre and back again. It's a very mercurial record, and it seemed to be the right thing to call the record. And at the end of the record I return to this idea of mercury falling - only to rise again." As Sting explains, the first words of the album are "mercury falling"; interestingly, the last words are the same, as the final song "Lithium Sunset" comes to a close and "Mercury falling" is repeated several times.

Answer: Lithium Sunset

In his 2007 book "Lyrics", Sting wrote the following: "A South American shaman told me that the human eye can't filter yellow light, so the lithium in direct sunlight goes straight to the brain. Quite how he knew that lithium is a constituent element in sunlight I didn't find out. He explained further that this is why it was good to watch the sun go down, to feel calm and at peace before nightfall and before the mercury falls again". Of course, the mental health benefits of lithium are well established, and it is used in medication given to people suffering from depression and manic-depression.

Scientists have indeed discovered that there are trace amounts of lithium in our sun; however, they argue that the photons of sunlight cannot possibly carry matter, which, of course, lithium is. They have also discovered that many stars possess lithium and that the stars with revolving planets have greatly diminished quantities of lithium compared to stars that have no planets. The assumption is that lithium has something to do with the formation of planets.

(Some of the information in the question comes from the website "Unmask Us".)

Answer: The Memphis Horns

Wayne Jackson (1941-2016), who played trumpet, was born in West Memphis, Arkansas, and Andrew Love (1941-2012), who played tenor saxophone, was born in Memphis, Tennessee. The two met in 1965 as session musicians performing for Stax Records in Memphis and established what came to be known as the Stax Records' signature sound. Eventually, they created their own group, The Memphis Horns, which included a few other musicians off and on. In addition to the names mentioned in the question, they also performed and recorded with Sam and Dave, Neil Diamond, Stephen Stills, and the Doobie Brothers. Furthermore, they recorded five albums with The Robert Cray Band in the 1980s and 1990s and released an album of their own in 1992 called "Flame Out". After Love was forced to retire in the 2000s because of Alzheimer's Disease, Jackson teamed up with Tom McGinley to record with Neil Young. Later, the two added Jack Hale on trombone to perform with The Raconteurs and help record "Another Way to Die" with Jack White and Alicia Keys for the soundtrack to the James Bond film "Quantum of Solace". In 2012, The Memphis Horns were presented a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and their biographer, Ron Wynn, claimed they are "arguably the greatest soul horn section ever".

You can hear The Memphis Horns on the following songs on Sting's "Mercury Falling": "I Hung My Head", "Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot", "You Still Touch Me", and "All Four Seasons".

Answer: I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying

The Toby Keith version of "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying" climbed to number two on the "Billboard" Hot Country Singles and Tracks Chart and is the only song composed by Sting to occupy any position on that chart. According to a Wikipedia article about the song itself, Keith claims that Sting would let him cover the song only under the conditions that he would let Sting sing with him and play bass guitar. The two of them also performed it live at the Country Music Awards in Nashville, Tennessee. In his 2007 book "Lyrics", Sting writes, "I liked Toby a lot, but we didn't discuss politics".

Sting also explains in his book that the song "is one of the songs I am most proud of structurally". The first three verses establish a character who has recently been divorced by his wife and has surrendered himself to complete cynicism and spitefulness. Sting then creates the challenge of turning the song around; the bitter character reaches a state of acceptance, peace, and contentment as he begins to sense a connectedness among everything. One night, the character looks up into the night sky filled with stars, and as Sting explains: "He chooses a star for himself, one for his wife, two for his kids, and, most tellingly, one for the man who's run off with his wife. Something in that vision gives him hope and courage, the ability to accept that life has to move on, no matter how hard you've been kicked. And so the last verse, if not exactly joyful, is meant to evoke possibility, a glimmer of hope for the future. He has lost his cynicism, and this change of heart is illuminated by the key change--half a step--and the world keeps on turning". Thus, the line from the chorus--"I'm so happy that I can't stop crying"--is initially an ironic, sarcastic comment, but by the end, the same line is now spoken with complete sincerity.

Answer: La Belle Dame Sans Regrets

"La Belle Dame Sans Regrets" is a twist on the title of the John Keats' poem "La Belle Dame Sans Merci". "Hungry for You (J'Aurai Tourjours Faim de Toi)" is a song from "Ghost in the Machine", the fourth studio album by The Police; it is sung mostly in French with a little English during the chorus. "Perfect Love . . . Gone Wrong" is from Sting's 1999 "Brand New Day" album; Sting sings the song in English, but the vocalist Ste Strausz performs a rap vocal in French during the song's interlude. "Regatta de Blanc" is the title of an instrumental piece on the second Police album, also called "Regatta de Blanc".

Dominic Miller also co-wrote "Shape of My Heart", released on Sting's 1992 "Ten Summoner's Tales". It is also a part of the soundtrack to "Leon" or "The Professional", starring Jean Reno, Natalie Portman, and Gary Oldman. Sting and Miller collaborated on the composition of a few other songs as well: "Jeremiah Blues (Part I)" and "The Wild, Wild Sea" from 1991's "The Soul Cages" album and "Lullaby to an Anxious Child", one of the "B Sides" released with the singles from "Mercury Falling" (the CD single "You Still Touch Me" in the United States).

Answer: All Four Seasons

The personnel credited for "Mercury Falling" are staff and musicians who by 1996, the year of the album's release, had worked with Sting for quite some time. The co-producer of the album is Hugh Padgham. As mentioned earlier, Dominic Miller plays guitar on one of Sting's albums for the third time in a row. Vinnie Colaiuta plays drums, and Kenny Kirkland plays keyboards. Branford Marsalis plays saxophone on "Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot" and "I Was Brought to My Senses", and Kathryn Tickell plays Northumbrian pipes on "Valparaiso" and fiddle on "I Was Brought to My Senses".

Answer: B. J. Cole

Brian John Cole was born June 17, 1946, in Enfield, England, and his lived most of his life in and around that Middlesex area. Some of his earliest work was in the band Cochise, but he has played with a great number of other musicians and bands, including Humble Pie, Roger Daltry, T. Rex, Uriah Heep, Gerry Rafferty, John Cale, R.E.M., The Verve, Bjork, Depeche Mode, Robbie Williams, Robert Plant, and David Gilmour. He has also release a few albums of his own work, and it was his solo material that first got Sting's attention. Cole appears not only on Sting's "Mercury Falling" album but on 1999's "Brand New Day" and 2001's "All This Time" albums as well. He has furthermore performed live as part of Sting's band.

While Cole has demonstrated great versatility through his playing rock, jazz, and experimental styles of music, he has always remained true to the steel guitar's rich background in country music. In fact, he has been a driving force behind the popularity of country music in the United Kingdom. On "Mercury Falling", his playing can be heard on "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying" and "Lithium Sunset", both songs steeped in a country music sound.

Answer: The Hounds of Winter

In his 2007 book "Lyrics", Sting writes, "[T]he album ["Mercury Falling"] opens with this rather bleak song. Its first line, Mercury falling, has so many reverberations for me--astrological, meteorological, astronomical, mythological, as well as the idea of finding myself in the cold-desolate landscape of old age and melancholy".

During the song, the singer metaphorically hears "The Hounds of Winter / Howling in the wind", and later "They harry me down".

In 2009, Sting adapted "Hounds of Winter" musically to be released on his "If on a Winter's Night . . . " album.

Answer: I Was Brought to My Senses

In his 2007 book "Lyrics", Sting wrote the following words about his inspiration for the song "I Was Brought to My Senses": "I was becoming more and more attuned to the beauty of my surroundings, watching the seasons change, perhaps for the first time. Marking the passing of the snowdrops and crocuses of February for the daffodils of March, the hanging blossoms of April. I remember marveling at the elaborate courtship dance of the mayfly all around the copper beech. I was not living a normal life, I'll be the first to admit, living at the Lake House.

It felt more like that of a nineteenth-century aesthete than rock and roll. Easily caricatured, I know, but blissful nonetheless. My days were numinous, mystical, psychedelic, and everything seemed infused with meaning. Two birds in a sycamore tree were more than just two birds, they were an entire story".

The last statement refers to some of the words in the introductory a capella lyrics to the song: "For then without rhyme or reason / The two birds did rise up to fly / And where the two birds were flying / I swear I saw you and I".

Answer: Lance Ellington

Lance Ellington provides additional vocals on "Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot" and "I Was Brought to My Senses". He has also worked with Michael Jackson, George Michael, and Robbie Williams. Furthermore, he has made regular appearances on BBC's "Strictly Come Dancing" and he played his father Ray Ellington in the 2004 film "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers".

Kim Turner worked as the road manager and sound engineer for The Police and later, with Miles Copeland, a co-manager for Sting's solo career. He died in 2003.

Danny Quatrochi has worked as a technical assistant for The Police as well as for Sting.

Answer: Twenty-Five to Midnight

In the United States and Canada, "Twenty-Five to Midnight" was released in April of 1996 on the CD-Maxi Single for the song "You Still Touch Me". In 2007, Sting published his book "Lyrics" and wrote the following about "Twenty-Five to Midnight": "About thirty years ago, I left my hometown and went to seek my fortune in London. I was very lucky, because I could quite easily have been in the wrong place at the wrong time and met the wrong people, but I didn't [he eventually met Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers, and together they formed The Police].

But this song is about the alternative. It's a song about failure." At one point in the song, the singer reminisces about his experiences with his band: "We called ourselves the Latino Lovers / Hawaiian shirts and top forty covers / I didn't think I could sink this low / When drugs and booze ate all my dough / This isn't how it was meant to be / There's no such thing as a meal that's free / If I was ever to get out alive / I have to get home on time".

Answer: Valparaiso

Sting wrote the following about the song "Valparaiso" in "Lyrics", his 2007 book: "When I was a kid at school, geography was one of my favorite subjects, and my favorite topic was, strangely enough, South America. I was fascinated by it. The mysterious romance of the names enthralled me more than anything: Amazon, Xingu, Peru, Lima, Quito. I would look dreamily at the map, imagining creepy jungle glades and high Andean cities. Valparaiso was one of the names that captured my imagination. I imagined it meant valley of paradise and pictured old sailing ships berthed in its peaceful harbor, resting after the terrors of Cape Horn. Some images, even imaginary ones, stay with you."

Greater Valparaiso has been the second largest metropolitan area in Chile, after its capital Santiago. It is one of Chile's central locations for education and commerce, and it has served as the seat of Chile's National Congress. It is about seventy miles northwest of Santiago. In the past, it was considered a haven for sailors who passed through the Strait of Magellan or rounded the Cape Horn.

Answer: Lake House

In his 2007 book "Lyrics", Sting writes the following about his life at Lake House and his recording of "Mercury Falling" there: "This was the second album written and recorded in Lake House [the first being 1992's "Ten Summoner's Tales"]. I was enjoying these long periods at home with the family. I'd spent so much of my life in hotel rooms and concert halls. I felt that at last I was living a real life. The kids would come home from school in the afternoon and we'd all have dinner together like a normal family. I suppose the album title suggests, among other things, that my mercurial life was beginning to find some balance, like I'd finally put down roots. I'd always believed that 'settling down' was anathema to creativity, but I wanted to give it a shot". Sting warmed so naturally to his country surroundings that one might say he was "to the manor born" though his beginnings may not have initially suggested it; he grew up in Wallsend near Newcastle with a milkman for a father.

The Lake House estate is in Wilsford cum Lake in County Wiltshire, and the house is a Grade I listed building, meaning that it is of exceptional historical importance in the United Kingdom.

Answer: I Hung My Head

Sting comments on this song in his book "Lyrics": "This song is now confirmed as a bona fide 'country' song, having been covered by the late, great Johnny Cash in the final years of his life. I was so proud to hear my words and music interpreted by the "master" . . . ".

He further writes, "I wrote my version of the song in 9/8; the guitar riff just occurred to me that way and reminded me of the gait of a galloping horse dragging a corpse. The story of a terrible accident, guilt, and redemption materialized out of the title and out of the haunting image of the riderless horse [a reference to the line "The horse he kept running, the rider was dead"]".

The song's title--"I Hung My Head"--is a pun. As the line is sung in the chorus, the listener to the song begins to realize that the meaning wavers between an action the boy does to show his shame and then the boy's realization that he has caused his own death (a death that seems to occur on different levels--emotionally, spiritually, physically).

Johnny Cash's version of the song can be heard on the Season Six soundtrack of the American television program "The Shield" and on the soundtrack of the film "The Green Hornet". Bruce Springsteen performed a version of the song at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2014 when Sting was one of those receiving this honor.

Answer: You Still Touch Me

While Sting borrowed the guitar vibe heard quite plainly at the beginning of "You Still Touch Me" from Sam & Dave's "Soul Man", he has also said that he is "not interested in just copying records that were already brilliant. What's the point? You can't improve on Sam and Dave or Marvin Gaye. You can't better Otis Redding. But you can twist it a little, combine it with other elements and pervert it a bit to make it your own."

This information and quoted material can be found on the website "Songfacts".

"Soul Man" is a song written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter. It was recorded and released by the duo Sam & Dave in 1967, when it became a big hit for them and climbed to number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart.