Lyrics for Synchronicity II as interpreted by Demau Senae

Synchronicity II Lyrics
Another suburban family morning
Grandmother screaming at the wall
We have to shout above the din of our rice crispies
Can't hear anything at all

Mother chants her litany of boredom and frustration
But we all know her suicides are fake
Daddy only stares into the distance
There's only so much more he can take

Many miles away something crawls from the slime at the
Bottom of a dark Scottish lake

Another industrial ugly morning
The factory belches filth into the sky
He walks unhindered through the picket lines today
He doesn't think to wonder why

The secretaries pout and preen like cheap tarts on a red-light street
But all he ever thinks to do is watch
Every single meeting with his so-called superior
Is a humiliating kick in the crotch

Many miles away something crawls to the surface
Of a dark Scottish loch

Another working day has ended
Only the rush hour hell to face
Packed like lemmings into shiny little boxes
Contestants in a suicidal race

Daddy grips the wheel and stares into the distance
He knows that something somewhere has to break
He sees the family home now looming in his headlights
The pain upstairs makes his eyeballs ache

Many miles away there's a shadow on the door of a cottage on the shore
Of a dark Scottish lake

Many miles away
Many miles away
Many miles away
Many miles away

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grouping
07-02-2002

Rated 0 
I think this has to do with a certain amount of protest to modernism. The evocation of the Loch Ness monster (what other Scottish Loch?) is of things monstrous beneath the surface that we daren't admit to.

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mojonikus
08-21-2002

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this song is about the lives we live today, we have to put up with boredom of family life, the boredom of work, and then at the end of the day the boredom of traffic,
"packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes
contestants in a suicidal race" when your stuck in traffic next, think of these lyrics and u will see what a waste of life . this song is nearly 20 years old and still it rings true for millions of people throughout the world.

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theladysopal
10-20-2004

Rated 0 
have you seen the video to this song?

Omg, so amazing. Sting, you sexy beast ;)

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whistlersmammy
04-16-2005

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this song just reminds me off the surburbs and how oridinary, dull, and grey life can be. the best part of this song is the dad, how he trys his best to mask his frustrations.

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Daveallround
09-10-2005

Rated 0 
food for thought: "Synchronicity is the theory that seemingly coincidental events are connected through their meaning. Psychologist Carl Jung created the term as a way to explain paranormal events." ~ Songfacts.com

I feel the coincidences in this song are the stress the father is undergoing and the pollution of the lake, each of which have a sort of "evil rising up."
Sting makes it even more appearent with the line "Many Miles Away." Though these events are happening many miles away, they are infact connected: Synchronicity

My band played a Police Field Show this year. Pretty cool though some songs weren't included that I thought would have been cool.

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mark36
03-13-2006

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Lines in this song that make me laugh out loud: "Grandmother screaming at the wall," "The factory belches filth into the sky," "The secretaries pout and preen like cheap tarts," and "Every single meeting with his so-called superiors is a humiliating kick in the crotch." The words are like punches to Stewart Copeland's drum-pummeling.

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ICantLeaveU2Behind
05-04-2006

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it says the dad is many miles away from the monster. how is that synchronicity? if the beast had gotten to the dad's home then mabye but...

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sixedheart
06-03-2006

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icantleaveyoubehind - just because it's miles away doesn't mean it's not happening at the same time...

I think the best line in the song is the 'shiny metal boxes'. No wonder Sting was inducted into the songwriters hall of fame.

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loderunner
08-10-2006

Rated 0 
This song is about the guy going insance. The loch-ness monster is a metaphor for his mental state- the guy is in syncronicity with the monster. At the end of the song, he's entering his house to kill his family.

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loderunner
08-24-2006

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Adding to last comment- found 1 line wrong here- should be-
"Daddy grips the wheel and stares alone into the distance" - the word alone adds emphasis to his ambivolence of feeling towards anyone.

"He knows that something somewhere has to break
He sees the family home now looming in his headlights
The pain upstairs makes his eyeballs ache

Many miles away there's a shadow on the door of a cottage on the shore
Of a dark Scottish lake

Many miles away"

So to clarify my post- the monster is entering the cottage to kill all inside, at the same time the father is entering the house to kill his family. Hence, the synchronicity. After hearing the song umteen times, reading the lyrics, and realizing this, it sent chills down my spine. Sting is a hell of a lyracist, with one hell of an imagination.

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rikdad
09-12-2006

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I don't think the song quite dots the "i" and crosses the "t" of saying that the father WILL do something violent at this point. He is frustrated by his life, and is returning home with a rising discontent, but there are a lot more men like that than there are homicidal maniacs.

The monster has also crawled out of Loch Ness and arrived at the door of a cottage there. I don't know of any accounts of the legendary monster of Loch Ness that makes it small enough that it could actually fit inside a cottage door -- I can't visualize it walking through a door and going on a rampage inside a house.

The song suggests that something bad might happen at both locations, but it's just creating the tension, not reporting a grisly outcome.

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loderunner
09-14-2006

Rated 0 
"The monster has also crawled out of Loch Ness and arrived at the door of a cottage there. I don't know of any accounts of the legendary monster of Loch Ness that makes it small enough that it could actually fit inside a cottage door -- I can't visualize it walking through a door and going on a rampage inside a house.

The song suggests that something bad might happen at both locations, but it's just creating the tension, not reporting a grisly outcome. "

Well, ridiculous- if u want to be frank- the monster would bash into the cottage. Weird that you'd include the size of a door as a rebuff- that's weak, man.

The monster is an ALLEGORY, man. The man is the monster. He's in syncronicity with the other monster. I can't convince you, but, if you give me the SIZE of the door as an argument- well, that's not only juvenile, it's just silly.

Godzilla never let the size of a door persuade him to leave Tokyo.

Silly. Just damn silly.

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loderunner
09-15-2006

Rated 0 
Just to add a fact- many believe the Lcch Ness monster to be a Plesiosoaur. Dinosaurs lived between 70 and 230 million years ago. (Ages- Triassic, Jurassic, Cretacious). It is doubtful that a Plesiosaur cound fit through a door, and even more doubtful that he would walk on land considering the fact he was a marine dinosaur with flippers.

The Loch Ness saga grew with conspiracy buffs due to the fact (or I've read) that the deep Scottish lake is fed from the sea and returns to the sea.

The only 2 sea monsters I believe in are (1) The Sperm Whale, and (2) this whale's enemy, the Giant Squid. Both spend most of their time deep in the Ocean. We've caught Sperm Whales (Moby Dick was based on a Sperm Whale), but we only have evidince of Giant Squids by the partial tentacles that wash up onshore.

So I will agree that neither a Plesiosaur, nor a Sperm Whale, nor a Giant Squid could have entered a cottage door. As far as a literal interpretation, it's hard to argue with.

But what if he had entered through the GARAGE door..... ??????

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rikdad
09-18-2006

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"the monster would bash into the cottage. Weird that you'd include the size of a door as a rebuff- that's weak, man."

I wasn't trying to rebuff you based on that; I was just commenting on the image the song paints vs. the conventional depiction of the LNM which is, as you say, generally like a plesiosaur, and wouldn't be apt to menace a cottage. That's a separate point; we can accept that there's a monster that can menace a cottage and move on, whether it's the usual image of the LNM or not. (Deeper aside: Some have claimed to see a/the monster on land near Loch Ness.)

Don't see the monster as an allegory -- that would have nothing to do with synchronicity. An allegory could be a story within a story, or a story beside a story. In the song's world, the monster is real, and is approaching the cottage at the same time the man approaches his home. If the monster weren't real in the song's world, it wouldn't be an instance of synchronicity.

I doubt that we are to understand that the man WILL kill his family when he gets inside today. That would be the most terrible thing that could happen, but the song doesn't tell us that he isn't just going to throw a fit or beat the hell out of someone... There are a lot more ways to snap than to launch into a multiple homicide. The most sensational interpretation is not automatically the right one. It's a hack who can only write sensational endings, and I give Sting much more credit than that. Left hanging, the song is more evocative than if Sting had written a particular ending. The subject of the song is what has led to the man's weakened mental state, not what, if anything, will be in the headlines the next day.

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sillybunny
09-21-2006

Rated 0 
In “Synchronicity II,” unusually harmonious picket lines surround the industrial workplace of the song’s emasculated father-character, protesting the environmental contamination unleashed by that factory. Simultaneously, a vengeful Ness-like creature emerges from a polluted Scottish lake, many miles away ... or as close as the stressed father’s teeming subconscious, the beast inside him being on the verge of wreaking havoc just as the distant monster arises. (In the video for the song, the “cottage” finally approached by the creature on the strand of the dark lake becomes Boleskine House, on the eastern shore of Loch Ness. A century ago, the mansion was owned by Aleister Crowley, and more recently, by Jimmy Page.)

[From Rock & Holy Rollers: The Spiritual Beliefs of Chart-Topping Rock Stars in Their Lives and Lyrics by Geoffrey D. Falk.]

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RobotRock
09-21-2006

Rated 0 
Like many Police songs of this era (check out When the World is Turning...") this is definitely a social commentary on post-modernism. For a good example of fictional post-modernism and to see what it's all about, check out "White Noise" by Don DeLilo (not sure about spelling) but it's an amazing book. I'm not sure about the Loch Ness Monster references though. Perhaps it is comparing the stark, bleak, reality of the American post-modern age, with the fantasy and mystery of ages past? Who knows. grouping may have a good point too.

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RobotRock
09-21-2006

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I'm sorry, I meant "When the World is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's still Around.

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sillybunny
09-28-2006

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Anyway, 'Synchronicity I' is my favourite of the two - the energy, catchiness and band tightness on this Karl Jung-dedicated track simply can't be beat. Its partner, 'Synchronicity II', is somewhat more complex and throws in tough lyrics about ugly industrial mornings and Scottish lakes, but is still a near-masterpiece of a superb 'atmospheric rocker'. And that's it with the energetic tracks; although personally, I'd say that 'O My God', despite being slower and 'draggier', is still pretty energetic.
[George Starostin]

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CuteSparkina
02-05-2007

Rated 0 
It could be about a family named Sumner. The sumners are at breakfast. Dad Sumner is complaining that his job bites the sword, Nana is upset about something, and Mom Sumner is frustrated at her son Gordon. See, she's all upset because her little Gordie-Wordie hates school, says he wants to be a rock star, and even hates his name and wants to be nicknamed after the thing bees do best :-)

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kickstart71
02-16-2007

Rated 0 
I like Rikdad's posts, and agree. I never visualized violence at the song's end. Like the song "Walking in your Footsteps", Sting is comparing our lives/feelings (or lack of them) with those of Dinosaurs and, here, the LNM... Things bubbling underneath the surface of the everyman's regular day... I never paid attention to the lyrics 20 years ago when I first discovered this album and fell in love with it. But a few years ago, when I heard it with wiser ears, it was as if for the first time. The imagery, and the comparisons of the two realities in the song, are fantastic. Best song on the album.

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PencilNeckedGeek
02-19-2007

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Some famous writer once described Britons as living lives of quiet desperation. Pink Floyd referenced the line at the beginning of "Dark Side of the Moon." Seems to me this song is referring to it as well, drawing a picture of a desperate middle-class man socially buffeted from all sides until "something has to break," at which point the inner monster is released and, the song seems to imply, something horrible happens.

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forest29
03-18-2007

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"Seems to me this song is referring to...a desperate middle-class man socially buffeted from all sides until 'something has to break,' at which point the inner monster is released and, the song seems to imply, something horrible happens. "

Yep. All you folks who think otherwise, need to listen again. The visceral intensity of the music and Sting's voice leave no doubt in my mind that the monster inside of daddy is coming home and that when it does something really ugly is gonna go down.

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Feohatha
06-29-2007

Rated 0 
this song is kind of odd and so is the vid but good anyway. By the way you put the 'all' and 'know' around the wrong way.

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dustinholleman
07-31-2007

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i think that the song is telling two stories about the lochness monster and a frustrated dad. they are feeling and doing the same thing, they are in sychronicity. the dad realizes his life is full of boredom and frustration and hes trapped as a middle class worker. while the monster is full of boredom and frustration, trapped in a loch and always hiding.
In this point in the fathers life he finally snaps out side of his house where he can see his family who he's gotten sick of and his monster hes been storing inside of him finally comes out, and goes in and murders them all. The Loch ness monster, in an act of frustration, creeps up to a lake side cottage to kill everyone inhabiting it.
basically the same story with both the man and the monster.

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saturn9
09-10-2007

Rated 0 
I can't really see the synchronicity between the monster and the dad, as they have different motives for violence. To me this song is just a chilling warning that even the most seemingly harmless and vacant have their breaking point.

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