Sting shares new recording of 'rarely sung' 'Russians' from 1985: 'I never thought it would be relevant again'
Sting, whose career spans decades, is bringing back a song from 1985.
"I've only rarely sung this song in the many years since it was written, because I never thought it would be relevant again. 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," said Sting, never using the name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. "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."
He then performed a track from his debut solo alum, The Dream of the Blue Turtles, about the Cold War. Celloist Ramiro Belgardt, who's worked on films including West Side Story and several installments of Star Wars, accompanied him. The song includes the lyrics, "We share the same biology, regardless of ideology/Believe me when I say to you/I hope the Russians love their children too." He omitted only a couple of lines, which referred to then-President Ronald Reagan, in the updated version he posted.
The former Police frontman also offered a way for people to help Ukrainians in need via helpukraine.center.
Sting, whose real name is Gordon Sumner, is only the latest celebrity to use his platform to call for support of the Ukrainians.
Actress Mila Kunis, who was born in Ukraine and spent her early years there, and her actor husband, Ashton Kutcher, began a GoFundMe fundraiser on March 3. Over the weekend, they thanked donors for having contributed $15 million in the first two days of the project. And, by Monday, more than 47.5 thousand donations totaled upwards of $17.2 million raised for Flexport.org and Airbnb.org, organizations providing housing and supplies to the millions of refugees fleeing the violence. As promised when they announced the fundraiser, Kunis and Kutcher contributed $3 million of their own.
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds asked for donations to USA for UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, and committed to matching up to $1 million.
