Whether he is "officially" diagnosed as bipolar or not, he's made reference to being very depressed for long periods of time, and the lyrics in this song paint exactly the kind of bleak and hopeless picture of the world that someone in the midst of a depressive episode would experience. I was long ago diagnosed as bipolar, so have been there, have experienced these lyrics... and I'd like to offer what is perhaps a different twist on them, an interpretation that is, to me, maybe slightly more illuminating as to the state of mind of someone who's "in it."
First, I think it's important to note that the imagery he creates relates not just to the suffering of the living, but to a kind of randomness in the world that effects all things. Beyond the fox, the gull, the whale, etc., (the living things), there's also a hat in a tree and a rag on a flagpole... not to mention the sunspots themselves. All of these, together, suggest a kind of negative, naturalistic view of the world (and universe), a view where things "just happen" and traits "just are," all of it out of anyone's control. In this world-view, pain and suffering and death are simply part of a meaningless lottery. What I think Sting is saying, in a nutshell, is, "Well, if nature can be so random and so indifferent to things like these (the fox, whale, etc.), then why in the world would I expect nature to be any more kind to ME? I'm no more entitled than the whale, the fox, or the butterfly."
Alnother neat thing: like any chaotic system, sunspots are paradoxically both random, and predictable. Each spot ("soul") is random as to where specifically it appears and the course of its "life." Still, when they're viewed collectively, sunspots are cyclical, following an 11 year pattern. This is interesting because, in a similar way, bipolar disorder is cyclical when viewed on longer time scales (years, or a lifetime), and yet it is often completely random as to when any one episode will arrive. It's an interesting parallel, though I'm not sure it was intended by Sting.
Is it not the consensus that Sting is bipolar?
Whether he is "officially" diagnosed as bipolar or not, he's made reference to being very depressed for long periods of time, and the lyrics in this song paint exactly the kind of bleak and hopeless picture of the world that someone in the midst of a depressive episode would experience. I was long ago diagnosed as bipolar, so have been there, have experienced these lyrics... and I'd like to offer what is perhaps a different twist on them, an interpretation that is, to me, maybe slightly more illuminating as to the state of mind of someone who's "in it."
First, I think it's important to note that the imagery he creates relates not just to the suffering of the living, but to a kind of randomness in the world that effects all things. Beyond the fox, the gull, the whale, etc., (the living things), there's also a hat in a tree and a rag on a flagpole... not to mention the sunspots themselves. All of these, together, suggest a kind of negative, naturalistic view of the world (and universe), a view where things "just happen" and traits "just are," all of it out of anyone's control. In this world-view, pain and suffering and death are simply part of a meaningless lottery. What I think Sting is saying, in a nutshell, is, "Well, if nature can be so random and so indifferent to things like these (the fox, whale, etc.), then why in the world would I expect nature to be any more kind to ME? I'm no more entitled than the whale, the fox, or the butterfly."
Alnother neat thing: like any chaotic system, sunspots are paradoxically both random, and predictable. Each spot ("soul") is random as to where specifically it appears and the course of its "life." Still, when they're viewed collectively, sunspots are cyclical, following an 11 year pattern. This is interesting because, in a similar way, bipolar disorder is cyclical when viewed on longer time scales (years, or a lifetime), and yet it is often completely random as to when any one episode will arrive. It's an interesting parallel, though I'm not sure it was intended by Sting.