SO RELEVANT RIGHT NOW! Sting - Russians REACTION

[@stevepreece2931]

Never a truer word spoken. Absolutely spot on, and when you think about it, how sad in 2023. As people of the world, we haven't learnt anything 😢

[@Stealbmin]

It is the doom of men that they forget

[@mandarinlearner]

I grew up in the Air Force during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Dad was a bombardier trained to drop nuclear bombs. This song guts me to the core

[@Glimiril]

The cold war was palpable growing up, I was a teenager when this came out, there was a fear of a nation with very little information about (pre-internet) could start a war that was nuclear. Now as I grew up I realized two sides to every story, how ever at the time the media through TV or newspapers or radio was limited to a western world view and fear of the red button as it was portrayed. Genesis "land of confusion" another for example, artists of the time, trying to make sense of things. 1980 Moscow Olympics, 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, brought home with each nation boycotting the other the devide. And also Music videos started to become a thing too. Sting has for me been a world music artist and a person whose songs prevoke thoughts and memories but also joy for me, shape of my heart being one of my favourites.

[@thatbroad5848]

I wore this album out in my late teens ! Really great song. Haven’t heard it in decades and Still mouthing the lyrics!♥️

[@TonCKroon]

Thanks for an excellent review and interpretation of a fantastic song. It will be exceedingly difficult for generations who did not experience the Cold War to appreciate this song properly. That is understandable. That's why the addition of so much context is particularly good. Russians was one of many building blocks that ultimately led to the end of the Cold War. Many songs were written, many demonstrations took place, many political discussions took place and there was clever maneuvering to ultimately reach the point where the Iron Curtain fell. This led to decades of relaxation and tranquility in which younger generations could grow up. It's a shame that, due to the idiocy of a few, we are back where we were back then. It is a shame that we must go back to the old songs of resistance and awareness. It is important that today's young generations take responsibility for THEIR children. And ensure that politicians start working in service of their people again. On either side of the political fence...

[@fliprim]

This song was politically formative for me back in the eighties. It was the start of me realising that the people of a country are quite distinct from their leaders. That whole peoples are lied to (often with great subtlety and finesse) to justify the ambitions of the few and pull them into a dishonest alignment. This happens in all sorts of ways and at all sorts of scales. Simply meeting our very counterparts from the other side, sharing photos of our kids, sharing our music, could unpick most of the mischief-making of our respective manipulators, their bluster from behind the curtain. The unspoken answer is, yes, yes they love their children too. I go in deep and detailed in my political philosophy these days, but this simple aphoristic wisdom became its bedrock, and when it tangles and locks up, this is the reset button I reach for. Great reaction and thoughtful comments. Thanks yet again.

[@UkeBrian]

💯

[@zoeherriot]

Except Russians. They seem to be sending their children to Ukraine for a sack of potatoes and a rusty Lada. It is WILD the interviews with the parents that just don't seem to give a crap that their children will end up in our sunflower oil.

[@michellemiles9966]

I'm so glad you chose to react to this song. The entire album from which this comes, The Dream of the Blue Turtles, is really good and I highly recommend it. For me, it's one of those straight through albums. I usually listen to all of it and in order. But keeping in mind when it was released, I remember as a teenager in the early 80s there was a collective feeling of dread, fear and uncertainty. The Cold War was our inheritance. Without one shot being fired we all lived under the threat of mutual annihilation. It was an unwinnable war, not just for that current generation but for future generations to come. This I believe is what Sting is referencing and asking the listener to contemplate. So often we buy into the us/them mentality and we just have to remind ourselves that we are much more similar than we are different. Why not treat each other that way?

[@McLeod2022]

SAME!

[@thekeyboardess1150]

Thanks a lot for reaction to this song. Sting is a deeply engaged and gifted artist, and I hope you'll react to other hits from him, his songs are really worth digging into. I suggest THEY DANCE ALONE, FRAGILE, LET YOUR SOUL BE YOUR PILOT, SHAPE OF MY HEART, WHY SHOULD I CRY FOR YOU, MAD ABOUT YOU, IT'S PROBABLY ME, IF I EVER LOSE MY FAITH, DESERT ROSE... There are so many great songs from him!

[@josecuesta4519]

Beautiful song

[@welle5086]

It was the hight of the cold war.. Again a good reaction , thank you

[@ImpartiallySpeaking]

No this was Gorbachov ere. Relative calm - compared to now!

[@welle5086]

@@ImpartiallySpeaking Gorbatschow startet in 1985 and became President in 1990 - so yes it startet to losen up, but it still was cold war- and we fehlt it

[@ImpartiallySpeaking]

@@welle5086 From a British perspective It didn’t feel like there was a cold war. The Gorbachev ere brought reassurance and hope to the West. For the first time in my lifetime we saw Gorbachev and Russia as non-aggressive, non-dominant. Non-hostile. - How times have changed!

[@xoni77]

Оf course, Russians stopped taking knives in the back@@ImpartiallySpeaking

[@denisewhite4858]

Had this on vinyl and remember thinking when I first heard it that I fervently hoped it would always come down to unintended collateral damage to the loved ones of all involved. 😢 Thank you for such a thoughtful reaction.

[@robertcampopiano6001]

I grew up during the Cold War. I was two when the Berlin Wall went up in 1961 and I was 40 when it came down in 1989. I had a photography instructor in the late ‘80s who is Enrico Fermi’s granddaughter. Enrico Fermi was one of the the physicists who achieved the first controlled chain reaction in Chicago as part of the Manhattan Project. This song still has power.

[@florkgagga]

A little math...the wall stood for approx 28 y. So you were either 12 when it went up or 30ish when it came down. Anyway I was 12-ish when I heard about the wall "across Berlin" and only 2-3 years later understood it goes all around West Berlin, dividing families etc, bizarre. I was in the military service of Yugoslavia (nothing special just a year) when the wall came down. Even more bizarre, because "whoa , something's changing, are we going to be a part of all this??" and lots of fear. And then there are so many armed conflicts, as if to mock the line from the song "there's no such thing as a winnable war", they keep trying again and again. Sorry, I went off, tears flowing etc.

[@burns1210]

Your math isn't mathing

[@joepangia4413]

“Even back then” lol. I was 17 in 1985 listening to this while cruising with my friends back when there was a real threat because there was a USSR! btw, the final line of the song back then was “what might save us me and you is THAT (not “if’) the Russians love their children too!” They changed the line this year for your political programming, Back in the day Sting himself talked about the origins of this song and how they were rooted on him and his friends watching long distance broadcasts of Children’s Television programming coming from Russia which inspired this idea!

[@Dennis-en9qy]

This have always been my favorit sting song. I was 9 years old when it was released. I didn't understod all the lyrics back then, I from Sweden, but I understod "I hope the Russians love their children to" and "We share the same biology" and that along with the melancholy and his voice was enough to make me feel it deep. Still get goosebumps all over when hearing it. still playing it on the piano sometimes (my very simple version, not a pianist) and still get a tear or two rolling down my cheek. Thank you for reacting to it ❤

[@jon-paulfilkins7820]

I'm one of those that grew up under the shadow of the nuclear bomb, there is a LOT of songs, and many pop songs from the 80's that mention in passing or directly address the fear that we could all die any minute. Alphaville - Forever Young, Nene - 99 red balloons, OMD - Enola Gaye, Queen - Hammer to fall... to name but a scant few.

[@purplebrit]

I was still at high school in the early 80's England. Myself and my teenage friends lived in fear of a war. nuclear

[@kevokevo3830]

Awesome reaction

[@atwellorama]

This album and it's follow-up "Nothing Like The Sun" are masterworks. I would love to see you react to "They Dance Alone (Cueca Solo)" about the widows in Chile following the Pinochet years. Oh, and congratulations Mama!

[@ditsiwt]

This was such a powerful song when I was a childunit, and it's sad that it still holds true today.

[@estranhokonsta]

Wise song. Wise words of the reactor.

[@michelfroggy56]

Another political song Sting did on the ensuing album, Nothing like the sun, is They dance alone. The song is about the mothers, daughters, sisters of political prisoners in Chile dancing alone in front of the president's palace in Santiago. The political prisoners under the regime of General Pinochet were never seen again. A side note Savatore Allende who was the President was the first ever communist leader freely elected and the US was uncomfortable with that fact and they backed a coup to remove and execute Allende.

[@barraqali336]

Fabulous choice of topic! Thank you.

[@traog]

Another Sting song of a similar theme is "Fragile", there is also a song "They dance alone", not exactly the same theme but connected.

[@jamesdevine1822]

I'm surprised you didn't mention the line: 'there's no such thing as a winnable war, it's a lie we don't believe anymore.'

[@billmittenzwey3021]

and “there is no monopoly of common sense, on either side of the political fence” that’s also getting more relevant

[@cliveklg7739]

This song was played in the Documentary about Sting's first solo album/concert. Documentary and album called "Bring on the Night'. They played this over filming Sting in the delivery room as his wife gives birth and cutting the umbilical cord. "Bring on the Night" Is a fantastic album and documentary. Highly recommend the documentary as it has a lot of that albums music and some insight to his writing/composing/producing process.

[@cathyba5113]

I admire you for your analysis and to be neutral, music is music and no political. You make an excellent work. Thank you

[@nekske1]

Thanks Rosalie for youre honest and kristal clear comment.

[@richardwilliams6256]

Stings style and evolution this era was /is my favorite post The Police. He hooked up with Branford, Kenny, Omar some great jazz musicians and toured in 85-86 I believe. Great to be a teen at that time.

[@jon-paulfilkins7820]

Early Sting solo career has a few highlights. Englishman in New York, Moon over Bourbon Street also are worth you looking at.

[@bartonbagnes4605]

It might have worked in the ending credits to Oppenheimer, but not in the movie itself. He had no way of knowing that only 6 years later the Soviet Union came to an end, for financial, not social reasons. The song "Anthem" from the Broadway musical Chess echoes your sentiment. In it the Russian Chess player, who's defecting, says "When no flags flew, when no nations stood, my land was born. And you ask me why I love her, through wars, death and dispare. She is the constant, we who don't care. And you ask me will I leave her. But how? Let men's petty nations tare themselves apart. My land's only borders lie around my heart."

[@davideastham]

I've been listening to Sting for probably 40 yrs and this one didn't look familiar. Thank you for the reaction Rosalie. You're the best ❤

[@markgreen7378]

I hope the Military industrial complex love their children too.

[@ianbotha9912]

Listen to Desert Rose, King of Pain, Fortress Around Your Heart, and Brand New Day by Sting too. He's an incredibly deep thinker.

[@realtruth716]

The clock ticking at the beginning and end is a symbol of 'MAD' Mutually assured destruction

[@patrickbrannen2887]

I still have my original Police tshirt. Bought it from Columbia House.

[@arnodobler1096]

Sting is a Genius Playing every Instrument in short time

[@Mickael_]

Sting released an acoustic version of Russians just a few days after the war start. Worth a look

[@Mickael_]

Edit : Put my comment before the end of your video, I just saw you mentionned it 😁

[@garyrobb5341]

Loved your reaction. You understood. I served on several submarines for sixteen years, all with nuclear weapons, during the madness of MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction. If we fight, no one survives.) Few of us ever mentioned what we did for fear of being demonized. It caused problems that I still have but I guess it was worth it.

[@rayian5891]

Well spoken

[@cjmusser22]

Christopher Nolan said Sting's song Russians inspired him to pursue making the movie Oppenheimer.

[@hansmolders1066]

The real question is, how did we end up here again? It's not the peoples of the world who want this to happen, we all want to live, love and laugh! When I was a little boy I asked my father ( a WWII vet) did you shoot someone he answered. "I don't know and I don't want to know!" DO NOT TRUST THE GOV, TRUST YOUR HEART!

[@charlesf2804]

If you haven't heard it, "Fortress Around Your Heart," off the same LP, is worth a listen.

[@tobster955]

It's such a somber song. I've never heard this song by Sting.

[@mandarinlearner]

I grew up in the cold war and Cubam Missile Crisis, my father would have been the one dropping the nuclear bombs. This video shredded me when it first came out

[@Trynadcatiy]

It’s so sad that the Russians are mistaken. "It's very easy to put labels on the other side of the world." Isn't that what the song was originally about?

[@fliprim]

I was brought up on classical Russian and European music and Prokofiev was a major delight for me. The Romance from Lieutenant Kije is profoundly beautiful and elegiac for such a sombre piece... a perfect choice for Sting. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pGLWlJ-rr9GDsJI& Certainly a significant number of rock/pop musicians in the UK had classical associations, often from their secondary education. Classical, went in deep for former secondary school teacher, Sting. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJ_Xo5xvhMuUiLs

[@McLeod2022]

Sting received the Kennedy Center honors and witness Esperanza Spalding perform "Fragile" while she graces the Bass with loving hands... she sings and plays with such honest passion... it is worth a visit. Actually most Kennedy Center Honor vids are worth a kind look. Link is here, if allowed... kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4C3mpqlarpggLs

[@egvasilieva]

Bravo!🌺

[@suevick637]

In 1985, there was still the USSR. Half of Europe was under Russia's rule. Just a year or 2 or so before Gorbachev ran out of money and had to let go. I was born with a 1st generation American Grandfather, who's parent's came from Russia just a little bit before he was born on Elis Island, NYC. Raised dirt poor, my Grandfather made a good life for his family in America. It is sad, as someone that was raised with the stories of life in Russia between WWI and WWII. It is not the faults of the people of Russia, rather the fault lies with Russian leadership and a corrupt government. Now the people of Ukrainian are suffering from the ways that Russian schools taught the youth. Sadly, I see the same tiny changes in our government and our freedoms that started the issues that continue today in so many communist countries. We all need to turn our eyes to God and to changes that teach truth and not propaganda. My heart goes out to Eastern Europe.

[@bigty390]

Ukraine literally have Nazis in their government

[@Le-0N91]

сначало на собственное правительство посмотри ,прежде чем чужое обвинять в войне и коррупции!Мы вам не африканские страны винить нас в коррупции!Если в США коррупция легализована путём названия его словом "Лоббизм" это не значит,что у вас нет коррупции!!!

[@Trynadcatiy]

Очень легко вешать ярлыки находясь на другом конце мира. Разве не об этом песня? Чтобы исключить фактор давления на людей, возьмем цифры до 2010 года. Это не так давно, но в то время люди могли открыто говорить о своем этническом происхождении. "На момент 2010 года около 80-85% украинцев имели родственников в России. Эти данные основываются на опросах и исследованиях, проведенных до начала политических и военных конфликтов между двумя странами." - ответ от ChatGPT 4o. "Согласно переписи населения 2001 года, этнические русские составляли около 17,3% населения Украины. Это было примерно 8,3 миллиона человек из общего населения страны в то время. Этнические русские были наиболее концентрированы в восточных и южных регионах страны, включая Донецкую, Луганскую области, а также в Крыму, где их доля достигала 58,3%​" - ответ от ChatGPT 4o. Вот что из себя представляет "Монолитный украинский народ". И надо полагать что все они с удовольствием отказались от языка (русского языка), на котором говорили их деды и прадеды. Вы знали что в русском языке существует более 40 слов для обозначения родственников? И всего 7-10 для обозначения денег. В английском языке все с точностью наоборот. Сомневаюсь что вы поймете наши мотивы, но я могу понять почему западный мир не верит что мы хотим защитить своих соплеменников

[@hilaryupton9349]

New sub here, your reactions are wonderful. I think you would really enjoy an American artist named Tyler Childers. As you have said before, people are craving music with substance and about real subjects. Tyler's most powerful songs are about real issues affecting marginalized people, not only in his home state of Kentucky but across America.

[@miamicool666]

With recent events, it seems we haven't learned anything yet.

[@georgeklaes9248]

Cold war era song.

[@UkeBrian]

9:35 💯

[@richardwilliams6256]

You had to be there is all i can see. Nuclear Arms race Gorbachev/ President Regan , cuban missile crisis.

[@yosrider]

Hi you must see the video Cakra Khan... Will You Still Love Me Tommorrow (Cover) ver. Roberta Flack... Good Luck

[@NABIL7]

Please, react to Peter Gabriel - Here comes the flood.

[@Le-0N91]

Until today, only the Americans have used nuclear weapons and I will note against the peaceful cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki!

[@ahmed_touma]

Nancy ajram dropped new song react plzz

[@ImpartiallySpeaking]

Sadly he chickened out of playing this during the current conflict and safe to say no change of the words to include ref to ‘Mr Putin’ in place of Khrushchev

[@chrisgilbert9076]

I believe he released an acoustic version on Instagram at the start of the invasion of the Ukraine. It’s a deeply personal song and one Sting rarely played in concert.

[@ОксанаГрушевська-н7л]

And what is politics? Aren't people the ones who create, form and shape the politics in their country? Do you really believe people, who live in Russia are not responsible for the crimes their country commits on the international arena?

[@rosalieelliottofficial]

yes people contribute, but i think people are complex and we often don't know what goes on behind closes doors. what people are told. what they feel they must do to survive and protect their families etc. a lot goes into it i my opinion. no country is perfect. even within a nation there is a lot of division and people can't agree on matters. people are complex i believe.

[@Le-0N91]

Значит в ядерной бомбардировке мирных городов Хиросимы и Нагасаки виновны все американцы,а не только их правительство?В бомбардировке Ирака,в войне во Вьетнаме,в рабстве африканцев ,в уничтожении и последующей резервации остатков коренного населения северной Америки,тоже виновны все американцы???

[@АнатолийБ-п5д]

When you understand that the Russians are a separate civilization, integrating the peoples of the Caucasus, the Volga region, Siberia, the Far East, becoming one with them, but preserving their faith, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, shamanism, preserving their languages ​​and culture does not need the teachings of the West. The time has come for the Russians, together with the brothers who share their ideas of justice, to create a new world order. Let there be no offended people in the world - a new principle for peoples

[@bambina5604]

What you don't understand is that Russians don't get to decide the world order. There's no one in Russia and there are ethnic groups that would gladly separate themselves from Russia.

[@martintotev372]

Get back on your Zoloft buddy 😂

[@ownmindruler]

This one didn't age well...

[@herrdocjdm]

Don’t invade other countries unprovoked. This song is about the Cold War not about Putin’s blatant, illegal and unjustified land grab of another sovereign nation. You should be ashamed of yourself for condoning Russia’s unprovoked war with Ukraine. Remove this post and do better.

[@bigty390]

Ukraine was killing Russians before the war statred