. From All This Time, the album Sting recorded following his father’s death and the subsequent disappearance of his muse, I think he’s saying he wished life would have been different between his father and him. Perhaps he imagined he and his father were shipbuilders because ships are more glamorous than milk—his dad was a milkman. Being an observant and perceptive person, Sting couldn’t help but notice his father’s despair over working long hours for what he would have liked to be more money and consoling himself with drinking. Billy’s father dies in an accident. Sting’s father died of Cancer. I think the song suggests he loved his father very much but the lives they were leading made the relationship between them tenuous at best.
The Island of Souls could be a heaven because it was a place to disappear in and no one was bothered by work—no coal on the ship—leisure sailing only.
If I stretch to imagine a Sting with a wealthy father who was fairly content with his life, I might also see a son who perhaps took over the family business—maybe even with private reluctance, not wishing to upset the father he loved—experiencing song writing only as a weekend hobby and perhaps only performing at the annual community players’ productions.
We are the splendid creatures we are because of the experiences we have had, not in spite of them
. From All This Time, the album Sting recorded following his father’s death and the subsequent disappearance of his muse, I think he’s saying he wished life would have been different between his father and him. Perhaps he imagined he and his father were shipbuilders because ships are more glamorous than milk—his dad was a milkman. Being an observant and perceptive person, Sting couldn’t help but notice his father’s despair over working long hours for what he would have liked to be more money and consoling himself with drinking. Billy’s father dies in an accident. Sting’s father died of Cancer. I think the song suggests he loved his father very much but the lives they were leading made the relationship between them tenuous at best.
The Island of Souls could be a heaven because it was a place to disappear in and no one was bothered by work—no coal on the ship—leisure sailing only.
If I stretch to imagine a Sting with a wealthy father who was fairly content with his life, I might also see a son who perhaps took over the family business—maybe even with private reluctance, not wishing to upset the father he loved—experiencing song writing only as a weekend hobby and perhaps only performing at the annual community players’ productions.
We are the splendid creatures we are because of the experiences we have had, not in spite of them