The Police have released Sting's demo of "King of Pain" ahead of next month's release of their Synchronicity 40th anniversary box set.
Backed by what sounds like a drum machine, he sings about his separation from his first wife, actress Frances Tomelty.
He says, "I conjured up symbols of pain and related them to my soul. A black spot on the sun struck me as being a very painful image, and I felt that was my soul up there on the sun. It's just projecting your state into the world of symbolism, which is what poetry's all about, really."
"King of Pain" peaked at number-three on the Billboard Hot 100, and Synchronicity was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2009. In 2023 it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry.
The 40th anniversary edition of Synchronicity will be released on July 26th with the deluxe edition containing 55 unreleased songs.
And before that, Police guitarist Andy Summers will release a new album, Vertiginous Canyons, on June 21st. The first single, "Into the Blue," is out now.