I love this music video... With Sting running around in a black room with thousands of candles lit... Its very cool, and I haven't a clue what this song is actually about although its very mystical and interesting..

MY Eighth grade teacher analyzed this song for our class. He says it's about the priesthood and attaining the ring the higher priests recieve. But, that was 20 years ago.

This song is just another little peace of the genius that Sting and the Police laid out for us. The music in this song literally floats along... very slowly and hauntingly. This is really brought out by how Sting chooses to sing the lyrics - almost in a wave like motion between the notes. The music stays this way until the bassline and drums start moving in the last verse - this change of feel combined with the strong final lyric ("then you will find your servant is your master").
As far as the meaning, I can only guess it is about being with a married woman and lusting for her. And she lusts for the narrarator too.
In Greek Mythology, Scylla and Charibdes are female sea monsters who lived in caves opposite of each other and devoured sailors. I think this is a representation of maybe the narrarators girlfriend, and the married woman he is seeing. The Narrator is constantly staring at the ring, which is almost taunting him as he can't have her.
The 'destiny sold' is her life almost. She is now stuck forever with one man(her husband). It is now all reflected in that ring.
Mephistopheles is a devil who Faust(a magician and alchemist) sells his soul to for more power. This is representing that The Nararratorwill sell his faith(in his girlfriend) for power(the chance to be with the married woman).

The lyrics "I'll be wrapped around your finger" means that the Nararator will do anything for her(for the time being).

The final verse, is kind of where the married woman wants the Nararator, but everything has happened already, and he is out. He will 'vanish' and she'll 'never find' him. He will turn her face to stone(Alabastor is a type of limestone i believe).

The final line "Then you will find your servant is your master, and you'll be wrapped around my finger' is saying that she was basically used.

Kind of long and over the top, but its the best I could do. ANd for an awesome song like this, it deserves it.
Awesome song. Sting and The Police rule.

This song is just another little peace of the genius that Sting and the Police laid out for us. The music in this song literally floats along... very slowly and hauntingly. This is really brought out by how Sting chooses to sing the lyrics - almost in a wave like motion between the notes. The music stays this way until the bassline and drums start moving in the last verse - this change of feel combined with the strong final lyric ("then you will find your servant is your master").
As far as the meaning, I can only guess it is about being with a married woman and lusting for her. And she lusts for the narrarator too.
In Greek Mythology, Scylla and Charibdes are female sea monsters who lived in caves opposite of each other and devoured sailors. I think this is a representation of maybe the narrarators girlfriend, and the married woman he is seeing. The Narrator is constantly staring at the ring, which is almost taunting him as he can't have her.
The 'destiny sold' is her life almost. She is now stuck forever with one man(her husband). It is now all reflected in that ring.
Mephistopheles is a devil who Faust(a magician and alchemist) sells his soul to for more power. This is representing that The Nararratorwill sell his faith(in his girlfriend) for power(the chance to be with the married woman).

The lyrics "I'll be wrapped around your finger" means that the Nararator will do anything for her(for the time being).

The final verse, is kind of where the married woman wants the Nararator, but everything has happened already, and he is out. He will 'vanish' and she'll 'never find' him. He will turn her face to stone(Alabastor is a type of limestone i believe).

The final line "Then you will find your servant is your master, and you'll be wrapped around my finger' is saying that she was basically used.

Kind of long and over the top, but its the best I could do. ANd for an awesome song like this, it deserves it.
Awesome song. Sting and The Police rule.

if you like this song and you like underoath/screamo/hardcore then you should checkout the underoath cover of this song its pretty sick..

I like The_Soul's interpetation. I never thought of that. I actually thought maybe it had something to do with the occult since Sting was into it at that time.

I like The_Soul's interpetation. I never thought of that. I actually thought maybe it had something to do with the occult since Sting was into it at that time.

I have no idea if this is what the artist indended, but when this song came out it made me think of (and here I reveal my true geekiness) the book Lord of the Rings. The song is sung from the point of view of Sauraman the White.

I doubt this is the intended meaning, but I can't help interpreting the song this way...

Thanks, The Soul. I appreciate this song now even more. Is it possible that the reason Sting smashes all the candles down at the end of the video is the realization that perhaps she's been had? The candles are formed in a path and when she reached the end she realizes that he's gone and these candles mean nothing (candles representing the romance of it all). Maybe I need another coffee.

As a side note, there was one very cheesy Country singer who did a video something very similar with the candles. It was just pathetic. So obvious where he got the idea.

Why are you thanking The Soul when you should be thanking me?
This song has no metaphors and no married woman. It is simply about a sorcerer's apprentice who has designs on his master's powers. Read the lyrics and tell me I'm wrong.

definately sounds like he's having an affair...

Many songs have many layers of possible interpretations. So, if you think this song is about a sorcerer's apprentice, it's ok, but if you think that this song is about how you can turn up things when you are deeply in love and realize that the other part was playing with you... it's also ok.
That's the beauty of poetry.

Actually, this does sound a lot like The Lord of The Rings from Sauraman the White. Except for the final line.
"when you find your servant is your master" Sauraman was the master.

The_Soul, your idea is good but I think that it's too metaphorical. I know that Sting is a deep guy but that's really stretching it. However, I have nothing better so I'll just nod my head in agrement.

I am inclined to believe that this song is about the book Faust. Mephostophles as a term for the devil origanates from this book and the Greek philosophy that is referenced is in fact in the book. Also the whole theme of the book is that the devil will receive Faust's soul when he dies if the devil can make Faust one with self to put it blutly. In the end the devil that is serving as Faust's servant, the devil's goal is to become the master in the afterlife. Just my interpretation.

A truly beautiful song.

Scylla and Chayribdis are NOT two female sea monsters. Scylla is the sea monster and Chayribdis is a whirlpool. Odysseus had to sail between them and he had to make a difficult choice of which one to sail closer to. If he chose to sail close to Chayribdis, he risked losing his ship and everyone aboard, if he sailed close to Scylla, she would eat some of his men. He chose to sail close to Scylla. It's choosing between the lesser of the two evils.

My Interpretation: It has nothing to do with the Lord of the Rings. It's about a younger man falling for an older MARRIED woman (at least in her mind). That's what the "staring at the ring around your finger" line is about. The Scylla and Charybdis line is alluding to how torn he is(she thinks), should he even do this, "have the affair?" He's doing this for experience, but he knows she's doing this with an alterior motive: "I can see the destiny you sold Turn into a shining band of gold", ie They'll get married so and live happily ever after, "I'll be wrapped around your finger"

But, he doesn't want the same thing: "Mephistopheles is not your name
I know what you're up to just the same"
He's not going to fall for it.

One day she'll realize that it's her pursing him, not the other way around: "I will turn your face to alabaster, When you find your servant is your master"

In the end "You'll (she) will be wrapped around MY finger" meaning she'll be pursing him. He has her and she doesn't know it (yet).

well, firstly, i can say that the song is not about LOTR, the priesthood, masonry, or the occult.

i must say i initially agreed with dengeist. when i first listened to the song, i thought it was about a young man in desire for an older woman, who knew he was but had given herself away in marriage.

the reference to the Scylla and Charybdis being from the oddysey is correct. its a very Sting way of saying "caught between a rock and a hard place". the young man faces to very difficult options: trying to be with a married woman, or walk away ("hypnotized by you if i should linger")

coming "seeking only knowledge" simply means, i believe, that he has heard what has happened and has come to ask her if it's true.

"seeing the destiny [she] sold" simply means that he has watched this woman who had such wonderful possibilities for a future, throw it away for a frivilous and empty relationship with this other person. the "shining band of gold" obviously being the wedding band. the wedding band he is completely captivated by forces him to deal with his emotions for her, he is, as we say, "wrapped around [her] finger"

Mephistopheles is a much more difficult allusion to define here i think, and has been perplexing me for a while now (which actually led me here). Mephistopheles is another name for the devil in many christian mythologies from the derk ages, and is also refferd to in the play 'Faust', as being satan's lead devil. i think he compares the woman to him because she is wanting to play the game of keeping both men for herself, for some reason, and will not be a part of it, though he still listens to the things she is trying to tell him: her "tuition". the "fruition" is a foreshadowing of the final chorus.

the "devil (where we can remember him comparing her to mephistopheles) being behind him", and "vanishing in thin air" means he has decided to leave her to her decision and walk away, forever. lyricists sometimes invision oceans as imagery for isolation, because they are such vast, unyielding things. thats my opinion.

and finally, she realizes the mistake she made by leaving him to marry this other person and wants the young man back: she realizes shes "wrapped around his finger"

as i said this is what i first thought, but now after researching it some, and even reading some interviews with Sting himself, he says this song was actually written in reference to a marriage breakdown with his wife, ending in a divorce. if anyone reads this and thinks i have put some thought into this, well thankyou, and please feel free to email me if you want. peace

I've always thought this to be a song of initiation into the mysteries of tantra...(extreme sexual experience for those who somehow are not aware of this.)
Spellbound by the power of a woman.. finger ring meaning marriage FOR LIFE...
in a christian society anything like this is obviously evil as it not accepted yet. Why get so into faust? meph.. just goes in lyricly no?
Seems to be a lot of thought on the utterly mundane aspects of life & infidelity.
what else could a man want in a loving partnership?

wrapped around your finger....what's wrapped around your finger when you enter into a relationship? a WEDDING RING.

"Why are you thanking The Soul when you should be thanking me?
This song has no metaphors and no married woman. It is simply about a sorcerer's apprentice who has designs on his master's powers. Read the lyrics and tell me I'm wrong. "
Boss man had it on the money. And Sting said it IS A RING, so that's no revelation there. It could be a Sorcerer or a Sorceress, no inference to sex is mentioned. When anyone thinks of a magic ring, Lord of the Rings comes up, so I can see the connection, but, ya, it's not LOTR. Actually, the song sounds like a pretty kewl D & D adventure :).

It's interesting to read the "magic/sorcery" interpretations. At first glance, there's nothing to strictly contradict that kind of reading, but there are three lines that hold up much stronger if the plot is that a younger man had an affair with a married woman, was held at a distance by her, and plans to eventually leave her, but hasn't done so yet.

The addressee has traded some possible life path for a golden band of gold, and we know that he/she wears a ring on the finger. This certainly calls to mind marriage and not joining the mafia or becoming a wizard or anything else: the burden of proof is on someone who thinks it is not about marriage.

"Knowledge" has an archaic definition meaning sexual experience -- something they don't teach you of (in the classroom anyway) in college. The education metaphor returns later with "tuition", but this is not the usual definition of this word, either: It is instruction, not money you listen to. The speaker is acquiring early (or first) sexual experience.

The Mephistopheles reference is a metaphor -- the young man has made a bargain that he has come to regret (and that is the key characteristic of the Faust plot): He has gained the sexual experience he sought, but now he's trapped in a relationship where the other person holds all the power.

At this point, the woman is dominant in the relationship. The young man, while he is still with her, PLANS to gain dominance (every verb in the final verse is in a subordinating clause or preceded by the modal "will") -- it hasn't happened yet, and maybe never will.

"Devil and the deep blue sea" is the biggest giveaway line: It's the title of an old song Tony Bennett covered which is about a man who is in a relationship that he can't get himself out of because of his attraction to the woman. In THAT song, the singer says

"I ought to cross you off my list,
But when you come knocking at my door,
Fate seems to give my heart a twist
And I come running back for more.
I should hate you, but I guess I love you,
You've got me in between the the devil and the deep blue sea."

That is exactly the situation the first two verses of THIS song describes, and Sting didn't use the title of that song by accident. In fact, Scylla and Charybdis is a clever reference to it: Scylla was a devil and Charybdis was the deep blue sea.

Finally, we know that the comeuppance that the speaker plans for his woman involves him abandoning her, and breaking her heart. He's not gaining any wizardly powers over her, because his goal is that she never find him.

Alabaster, by the way, is known for being white. When he says he will turn her face to alabaster, he means that she will be shocked by the reversal, turning her face white.

When the song ends, though, none of this has happened. The young man is still in an asymmetrical affair only dreaming that he had the upper hand.

I've heard, too, as shadowfox says, that not only this song but the whole album SIDE is about the end of Sting's marriage. The end of his marriage though does not match this song detail-by-detail. He was married and left his wife for another woman. I think the themes of infidelity and relationships that one is not happy with loosely tie this song (and in other ways, other songs on the album side) to his life, but not closely.

Ultimately, the "devil and the deep blue sea" line makes non-affair interpretations untenable. That is precisely the situation that song was about; the line wasn't chosen accidentally. The ring on the finger is descriptive of the affair interpretation and only has an ad hoc connection to sorcery. Finally, gaining power simply by leaving is also true of a broken relationship, not spells and potions.

�Wrapped Around Your Finger� depicts an inexperienced youth trapped between �Scylla and Charybdis,� in a dangerous liaison with a married woman. That is, caught between two equally perilous alternatives, where moving away from one danger takes him closer to the other. Such perils were encountered by Odysseus (in Homer�s Odyssey) as a pair of former nymphs turned into lethal sea-monsters.
This older, seductive woman may not be the rebellious fallen angel, Mephistopheles, of Goethe�s Faust. It is nevertheless clear that her extra-collegiate �teachings� are designed to enslave the young soul to whom they are applied.
The song�s �devil and the deep blue sea� is a sailing term. In the construction of wooden vessels, the �devil� was the longest seam in the deck planking, running from stem to stern. The act of caulking that seam required one to be precariously suspended in the bilges, literally between the �devil� and the aquamarine ocean. The same position has since come to be regarded as akin to one�s being caught between a rock (e.g., the one on which Scylla lived) and a hard place (or the difficult, drowning whirlpool of Charybdis).
Closing the present song, then, the student imagines his otherwise-betrothed conjugal teacher and her perils as being in his own past, from a future vantage point when he will be more knowledgeable than she is, being in a position to teach and mesmerize her with his expertise.

[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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"Devil and the deep blue sea" is not known to have originated as a sailing term. See

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/between%20the%20devil%20and%20the%20deep%20blue%20sea.html

� 'Wrapped Around Your Finger'. New Age atmosphere, but hey, the song would be worth the trouble even if it contained nothing but those 'piiiiiiwng-piiiiwng' synth (guitar?) noises. But no, it also has Sting assuming the A-A-B-B rhyming scheme for his verses instead of the traditionally classic A-B-A-B scheme. How clever. Count me in.
[George Starostin]

i cant go one day without listeing to this song. man i just think it's so sinister
i can't sleep

lol I personally dont think its purely about sorcery...but the music is mysterious and like sorcery...to add to the song. I think its more about relationships, maybe becoming infatuated with a chick (seems to be a sting theme)...he'll do anything for her, envisions the ring around her finger, and its pretty damn hard work to make her like him etc. I think the second verse could possibly be referring to God, I don't know. Third verse more of the same..final chorus - she finally wants him..maybe its too late? LOL - great song

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