"So Lonely" is a song by English rock band

The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Polic ...

, released as the third and final single in November 1978 from their debut studio album '' Outlandos d'Amour'' (1978), and again in February 1980 as a re-release. The song uses a reggae style, and featured

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-earth ...

on lead vocals. "So Lonely" has since been covered by a variety of artists, such as

Limbeck Limbeck is an American rock band that formed in Laguna Niguel, California in 1999. The group featured Robb MacLean on lead vocals and guitar, Patrick Carrie guitar and backing vocals, Justin Entsminger on bass, and Jon Phillip, who replaced Matth ...

and The Militia Group.

Background

admitted that he used

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements ...

's "

No Woman, No Cry "No Woman, No Cry" is a reggae song by Bob Marley and the Wailers. The song was recorded in 1974 and released on the studio album ''Natty Dread''. The live recording of this song from the 1975 album '' Live!'' was released as a single and is ...

" as the basis for this song: Sting recycled the lyrics in the song's verses from his earlier Last Exit song "Fool in Love". The lyrics themselves, about someone who is lonely after getting his heart broken, were thought to be "ironic" to large audiences. Sting denied this claim, however, saying, "No, there's no irony whatsoever. From the outside it might look a bit strange, being surrounded by all this attention and yet experiencing the worst lonely feeling...but I do. And then suddenly the attention is withdrawn a half an hour later. You're so isolated..." "So Lonely" was released as the third and final single from ''Outlandos d'Amour'' in November 1978, following " Roxanne" and " Can't Stand Losing You." The single did not chart on the first occasion but reached No. 6 with its second release. The other singles from '' Outlandos d'Amour'' followed a similar pattern of not charting very high in 1978, but doing very well on a re-release. The video for the song depicts the band walking around the streets of Hong Kong and on the subway trains of Tokyo in 1980. The band lip-syncs into walkie-talkies, while

Stewart Copeland Stewart Armstrong Copeland (born July 16, 1952) is a Scottish-American musician and composer. He is best known for his work as the drummer of the English rock band the Police from 1977 to 1986, and again from 2007 to 2008. Before playing with th ...

performs drum fills on random objects, such as buses and objects being sold. The B-Side "No Time This Time" was originally a non-album track, but the same recording later appeared on their album ''

Reggatta de Blanc ''Reggatta de Blanc'' is the second studio album by British rock band the Police, released on 2 October 1979 by A&M Records. It was the band's first release to top the UK Albums Chart and features their first two UK number-one singles: " Messa ...

'' to pad out the short running time. The song is known for a famous

mondegreen A mondegreen () is a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase in a way that gives it a new meaning. Mondegreens are most often created by a person listening to a poem or a song; the listener, being unable to hear a lyric clearly, substitutes w ...

where the title is often misheard as "

Sue Lawley Susan Lawley (born 14 July 1946) is a retired English television and radio broadcaster. Her main broadcasting background involved television news and current affairs. From 1988–2006, Lawley was the presenter of '' Desert Island Discs'' on BBC ...

", a broadcaster famous as a

BBC television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

newsreader at the time the song was released, and later for presenting

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a "castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usua ...

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

from 1988 to 2006. The misunderstanding was ranked as the most frequently misheard lyric in a 2020 survey of UK adults.

Other appearances

*The song has been covered many times, including a version by

on the album '' ¡Policia!: A Tribute to the Police'' (2005) put out by The Militia Group. *The song is also available for play in music video game '' Guitar Hero 5'' and as

downloadable content Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enabli ...

for '' Rock Band 3''. The ''Guitar Hero'' gameplay appeared in the film '' Somewhere''.

Personnel

– bass, lead and backing vocals, harmonica *

Andy Summers Andrew James Summers (born 31 December 1942), is an English guitarist who was a member of the rock band The Police. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a band member in 2003. Summers has recorded solo albums, collaborated wi ...

– guitars *

– drums

Track listing

7": A&M / AMS 7402 (UK) # "So Lonely" – 3:10 # "No Time This Time" – 3:30

Charts

References

1978 singles Songs about loneliness Songs written by Sting (musician) The Police songs 1978 songs A&M Records singles {{1970s-rock-song-stub