Freteleven Listening Notes
Forget About the Future - Sting
Artist: Sting
Album: Sacred Love
Year: 2003
Listen: [Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music]
I’ve been listening to Sting since the early days of the Police. When he went solo, he always brought together the best musicians in the world to record and tour with him. I will eventually have notes on songs from my favorite album, Ten Summoner’s Tales, but this one came up while I was letting Apple Music choose my playlist today.
It’s not a song I ever remember listening to before but as most Sting songs are worth many listens, this one is no exception.
Here are my thoughts on Forget About the Future.
Tempo: 83 BPM with a triplet feel (some feel it at double-time, 166 BPM)
Key: E♭ minor
Time Signature: 4/4
Feel: Deep shuffle. The hi-hat plays eighth notes while implying the shuffle, but the kick and drum loop create the shuffle feel.
Right in the intro, there’s this guitar playing 16th note triplets very quietly. The consistency is amazing, every strum is played with the same control. He is also playing really light. It’s the kind of thing that sounds simple until you try it.
As I listened to the first section, I was struck by how sparse the playing was. Right before the turnaround back into the second verse, almost everybody drops out. They suddenly build into the end break where everybody stops. Very cool arrangement.
The repeating guitar part is challenging because this song is pretty laid-back. Those offbeat sixteenth notes typically would be on an upstroke for a guitarist. The more laid-back it is, the more challenging it is to play, especially at this tempo. The more laid back a feel is the closer the upstrum moves towards the down strum. Dominic Miller is definitely a master at this feel.
Notice how the keyboard pad underneath and the guitar is in completely different ranges. It sounds great. The guitar lick / melody has different reverb on it primarily, but the whole idea is to give it a different ‘voice’ in the arrangement, sounding different than the rhythm guitar.
The keyboard pads have an interesting motion are utilizing great voicings. When I’m listening to anything by Sting I will often be struck by how the guitar and keys so perfectly complement each other, in note choice and the rhythms they play.
At about 4:05, there’s this section taking the place of a bridge, something different for the listener. It’s my favorite part of the song because of how the many different complementary rhythms make the song groove harder.
It’s an offset repeated rhythm that adds tension over the 4-bar phrase. The accented notes are offset to start on the & of 2, and then it resolves after 4 measures. Listen for the 4-note pickup that changes the accented notes of the rhythm and melody.
At the end, over this rhythm, a guitar plays 8th note triplets, creating even more tension. It’s such a great way to end the song.
Two of my favorite drummers play are on this track. Manu Katche and Vinnie Colaiuta. If you want to internalize great feels like this you have to spend some time listening to their discographies. (Use the links above)
This is the type of feel that every musician should sit in and let it sink into our bones. I’ve played with a lot of musicians that have a lot of trouble getting this groove sitting right and feeling natural.
As always with Listening Notes, I’m only scratching the surface and I’d love to hear what are you hearing in this song.
Join the Freteleven community on Substack and tell me what you’re hearing in this track. What stood out to you? What did you notice that I didn’t mention?
Players on “Forget About the Future”
Sting — vocals, bass guitar, guitar, keyboards, clarinet
Kipper — keyboards
Donal Hodgson — programming
Dominic Miller — guitar
Jason Rebello — piano
Manu Katché — drums
Vincent Colaiuta — drums
Chris Botti — trumpet
Clark Gayton — trombone
Christian McBride — double bass
Joy Rose — vocals
Lance Ellington — backing vocals
Donna Gardier — backing vocals
Ada Dyer — backing vocals
Jacqueline Thomas — cello
Valérie Denys — castanets
Bahija Rhapi — additional vocals
Chœur de Radio France — vocals