Sting “They Dance Alone” released on Nothing Like the Sun

They Dance Alone (Cueca Solo) Sting

Writer(s): Gordon Sumner (see lyrics here) Released: September 9, 1988 Peak: 16 CO, 94 UK, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 2.7 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: On Sting’s second album, he made perhaps his greatest political statement yet. Sting was inspired to write the song after seeing a new story about women in Chile who danced in the streets alone in honor of their disappeared love ones. They would either hold, or pin to their clothes, photographs of their husbands, sons, fathers, and brothers who were gone. The dance, known as the Cueca, is the national dance of Chile. Sting called the song a protest against Augusto Pinochet, the dictator of the country. From 1973 to 1990, his regime killed thousands of people. Not surprisingly, the song was banned in Chile. However, after a new government took over, Sting received a medal and citation. SF U2’s “Mothers of the Disappared” – released the same year on The Joshua Tree – covered the same territory. Sting said, “I never tackle political issues head-on. With something like ‘They Dance Alone,’ and the Pinochet regime, the metaphor was of the poor women dancing alone in front of government buildings; you could understand that metaphor whether or not you knew the political issues. I’ve never set out to write a song that is about, for example, the environment. Songwriting is much more veiled that that. The meaning reveals itself as you go into it.” SF Singer Jackson Browne told Rolling Stone in 2008 that “’They Dance Alone’ is one of my favorite examples of how to speak to people. He magnified an appropriated image and passed it on to the world.” SF The song included some heavyweights such as Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler on guitar and Branford Marsalis on saxophone. Sting also recorded a version in Spanish. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Sting SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 7/11/2022; last updated 10/30/2022.