The Book Of My Life

I think this is one of the best songs Sting has ever written, the music is totally gripping and the lyrics are as beautiful as honest. I find it a very inspiring song. It really gets you into the mood of reflecting, whether you are lucky and have a fireplace at your home or not.

Some thoughts on the song:

The "ghost who won't die" is easy to identify: his father. Still, Sting has mentioned several times that he believes in ghosts and that we need them in our life, for guidance and reflection. So maybe he's also talking about "good ghosts" in general.

"There's a chapter on love where the ink's never dry" - very beautiful line and also one of my favourite paragraphs in "Broken Music": when he shares his thoughts about this big thing we call "Love". That the ink is never dry could mean that love is everlasting and always in motion. It could also refer to the stormy, passionate sexual love that young lovers feel and the impatience that comes with it. Another topic he deals with very honestly in "Broken Music".

As for the "you" in the last stanza, I agree with vittau's interpretation: It is himself - the man he has become because of all the good and bad "chapters" in his life and is now. Of course, "all that's left is you" could easily be interpreted as a declaration of love to a woman, but I don't think it makes sense here as the whole song is about Sting and his life, not in any way is it a love song. Plus - and I mean that in the most positive way - the person that Sting has always been most faithful to throughout his life is himself! I think what he wants to say is: In the end there is only one thing that is important: Who you are and how you've lived your life and that, when reflecting on it, you can say "It was good.", no matter what other people might think.

These are not the lyrics to The Book of My Life by Sting.....but I do need the right ones.

These are the lyrics to This War.

Let me watch by the fire and remember my days And it may be a trick of the firelight But the flickering pages that trouble my sight Is a book I'm afraid to write

It's the book of my days, it's the book of my life And it's cut like a fruit on the blade of a knife And it's all there to see as the section reveals There's some sorrow in every life

If it reads like a puzzle, a wandering maze Then I won't understand 'til the end of my days I'm still forced to remember, Remember the words of my life

There are promises broken and promises kept Angry words that were spoken, when I should have wept There's a chapter of secrets, and words to confess If I lose everything that I possess There's a chapter on loss and a ghost who won't die There's a chapter on love where the ink's never dry There are sentences served in a prison I built out of lies.

Though the pages are numbered I can't see where they lead For the end is a mystery no-one can read In the book of my life

There's a chapter on fathers a chapter on sons There are pages of conflicts that nobody won And the battles you lost and your bitter defeat, There's a page where we fail to meet

There are tales of good fortune that couldn't be planned There's a chapter on god that I don't understand There's a promise of Heaven and Hell but I'm damned if I see

Though the pages are numbered I can't see where they lead For the end is a mystery no-one can read In the book of my life

Now the daylight's returning And if one sentence is true All these pages are burning And all that's left is you

Though the pages are numbered I can't see where they lead For the end is a mystery no-one can read In the book of my life

He wrote “Broken Music”—a narration about his pre-success days but since the years following this were assuredly more volatile, he might be afraid to write about them. Possibly interesting are the chapters on the ghost that won’t die and maybe the prison built out of lies, although we’ve all been on that amusement ride at sometime or another. “And all that’s left is you” refers to whoever is reading the lyrics? Maybe. I wasn’t sure.

Inspired by Sting's work on [“Broken Music,”] "The Book of My Life" is the sort of brooding, introspective ballad that the singer has defined throughout his career. Anoushka Shankar's sitar summons an atmosphere of mystery at the song's beginning, like the unsettling feeling of encountering yourself in a dream, as song's main character reluctantly digs in the dirt of his buried memories. "There are promises broken and promises kept," the lyrics run. "There are words that were spoken when I should have wept…There's some sorrow in every life."

Along similar literary lines, you've got 'The Book Of Life', which is a track that I was particularly affected by. Its elements of introspection and self-examination encourage the listener - willingly or not - to come up against some of the events of their own life.

[Sting]: In the period before I started writing this record I was engaged in writing an autobiography about the early part of my life - from my childhood through young adulthood up to the eve of success. I didn't really want to write about success or fame or celebrity or having dinner with Elton and all sorts of celebrity nonsense. I wanted to write about a normal person who will become famous, but what happened to that person to allow this to happen. I'm writing about my parents who were very young when they had me - writing about my parents at the age of 20, 25, from my perspective as a 50-year-old man with a certain amount of wisdom, of life experience. And the process was that I was learning to forgive them for what I hadn't forgiven them before, and to love them again. It did bring up a lot of stuff I probably would have preferred to bury and leave in the sediment. I remember being very depressed at the end of writing that book, because all of this stuff was welling up. So I decided to write this song - 'The Book Of Life'. There's no secrets in the book - there's lots of stuff in here that needs to be examined and it's not all good, but it's good to be reflective. I get very reflective sitting in front of a fire. That's my favorite television program - sitting in front of a fire. The thoughts that come, the memories that come. The song is an attempt to bring that feeling into somebody else's life, to be reflective, to remember.

Interesting comments by BK—found on the Net. BK is examining the lyrical content from a religious standpoint.

The most intriguing lines in the song come near the end where he makes a statement that there is only one thing he can see, but it is not clear in the slightest who it is that he is seeing.

Now the daylight's returning And if one sentence is true All these pages are burning And all that's left is you

He could be talking about a woman, or he could be talking about God.

Sacred Love continues with the title song, "Sacred Love" which seems to suggest that the person he was referencing at the end of "Book of My Life" was a woman. The song starts off talking about a woman who seems to be his sacred love.

Well, I'm not looking to argue but I just listened to the song closely, three times (beautiful song, both lyrically and musically, he just keeps getting better and better). Sting tends to sing pretty clearly and yes, these ARE the right lyrics above. Word for word except for maybe one minor place.

This song reminds me of "Digging in the Dirt" by Peter Gabriel.