“I’ve only rarely sung this song in the many years since it was written, because I never thought it would be relevant again,” Sting, former frontman of the pop sensation The Police, writes along his performance of “Russians” — a Cold War-era song from 1985.
“But, in the light of one man’s bloody and woefully misguided decision to invade a peaceful, unthreatening neighbor, the song is, once again, a plea for our common humanity. For the brave Ukrainians fighting against this brutal tyranny and also the many Russians who are protesting this outrage despite the threat of arrest and imprisonment – We, all of us, love our children. Stop the war.”
The cello adds a haunting element to an already haunting dirge, with lyrics that ponder and weep and question the giant machine that ignores the people it governs.
“There’s no such thing as a winnable war,” Sting sings, “it’s a lie we don’t believe anymore.” But there are so many lies we do believe, he may need to add, if he updates the song for the 21st century.
