If you’re a fan of ’80s music, you’ll likely be familiar with The Police’s 1983 single ‘Wrapped Around Your Finger’. Lifted from the band’s monumentally popular fifth studio album Synchronicity, the atmospheric track reached the top 10 in numerous countries worldwide and has since been the subject of many cover versions by a variety of artists. One such cover came courtesy of pianist and singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, with a little help from the song’s composer and original singer Sting.
The cover was played at a concert organized in honor of Sting’s 60th birthday, with a wide range of artists including Bruce Springsteen turning up to duet with the Newcastle-born singer and bassist on songs from his long and varied career. Sting’s duet with Rufus Wainwright had to be one of the highlights of the night, however, with the pair transforming ‘Wrapped Around Your Finger’ into a beautiful, orchestra-led pop song that was met with a colossal cheer from the show’s live audience.
One particularly notable feature of the cover was Rufus’ passionately delivered vocals, which brought more overt feeling to the song than is present on the Police’s original. In fact, Rufus’ vocals were so well delivered that many fans said they thought this version – which featured Sting on bass and backing vocals – was even better than the original; “this remediation of Wrapped Around Your Finger blew everyone away,” commented one viewer, who had actually attended the concert themselves.
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Also performing that night was American songstress Lady Gaga, who covered The Police track ‘King of Pain’ (another single lifted from 1983’s Synchronicity). But where Rufus’ version of ‘Wrapped Around Your Finger’ was relatively faithful to the original, Lady Gaga’s take on ‘King of Pain’ – which again featured Sting on bass and backing vocals – transformed the track completely, giving it a much rockier feel on account of her driving piano playing and powerful, assertive lead vocals.
Watching both of these performances from Sting’s 60th birthday concert, and it’s immediately apparent that the guests he enlisted to help him play these covers are hugely talented and clearly capable of putting their own stamp on the songs they have been tasked with covering. What these performances really help to remind us of, however, is the musical talents of Sting himself, who has written so many legendary songs over the course of his career and is still out there playing them live to adoring audiences today.
If you’re a fan of ’80s music, you’ll likely be familiar with The Police’s 1983 single ‘Wrapped Around Your Finger’. Lifted from the band’s monumentally popular fifth studio album Synchronicity, the atmospheric track reached the top 10 in numerous countries worldwide, and has since been the subject of many cover versions by a variety of artists. One such cover came courtesy of pianist and singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, with a little help from the song’s composer and original singer Sting.
The cover was played at a concert organised in honour of Sting’s 60th birthday, with a wide range of artists including Bruce Springsteen turning up to duet with the Newcastle-born singer and bassist on songs from his long and varied career. Sting’s duet with Rufus Wainwright had to be one of the highlights of the night, however, with the pair transforming ‘Wrapped Around Your Finger’ into a beautiful, orchestra-led pop song that was met with a colossal cheer from the show’s live audience.
One particularly notable feature of the cover was Rufus’ passionately delivered vocals, which brought more overt feeling to the song than is present on the Police’s original. In fact, Rufus’ vocals were so well delivered that many fans said they thought this version – which featured Sting on bass and backing vocals – was even better than the original; “this remediation of Wrapped Around Your Finger blew everyone away” commented one viewer, who had actually attended the concert themselves.
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