"Tea in the Sahara" is a song by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

new wave 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 ...

. Written by

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 ...

, the song appeared on the band's final album, ''

Synchronicity Synchronicity (german: Synchronizität) is a concept first introduced by analytical psychologist Carl G. Jung "to describe circumstances that appear meaningfully related yet lack a causal connection." In contemporary research, synchronicity e ...

''. It was written about the

Paul Bowles Paul Frederic Bowles (; December 30, 1910November 18, 1999) was an American expatriate composer, author, and translator. He became associated with the Moroccan city of Tangier, where he settled in 1947 and lived for 52 years to the end of his ...

novel ''

The Sheltering Sky ''The Sheltering Sky'' is a 1949 novel of alienation and existential despair by American writer and composer Paul Bowles. Plot The story centers on Port Moresby and his wife Kit, a married couple originally from New York who travel to the Nor ...

''. A live version of "Tea in the Sahara" appeared as the B-side to " King of Pain" in Britain and "

Wrapped Around Your Finger "Wrapped Around Your Finger" is the second UK single (and fourth US single) from the Police's 1983 album ''Synchronicity''. Written by Sting, it was released worldwide by A&M Records and featured the non-album track "Someone to Talk To" as a B- ...

" in America.

Background

The lyrics of "Tea in the Sahara" were inspired by the Paul Bowles book ''The Sheltering Sky.'' The first section of that book is called "Tea in the Sahara." In it, the character Port is told a story, in which three sisters wait for a prince to join them for tea in the

Sahara Desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

, but the prince never returns. Sting was a fan of the novel, and based the lyrics of the song on the story. Guitarist

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 ...

, who claimed to have been the one who gave Sting ''The Sheltering Sky'', used a special technique in recording his guitar part for the song, involving turning the guitar up to near-feedback levels and "wobbling" it. ''Ultimate Classic Rock'' critic Mike Duquette described the song as "a fable about broken promises." Despite Sting's affection for the song, he has since said that the track was too fast. He said in 1993, "I've always loved the song. There's so much space in it. But I think we played it too fast on the album and live." The song was used as background music in "The Maze", a first-season episode of ''

Miami Vice ''Miami Vice'' is an American crime drama television series created by Anthony Yerkovich and produced by Michael Mann (director), Michael Mann for NBC. The series stars Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo ...

''.

Live version

In addition to its studio release on ''Synchronicity'', a live version of "Tea in the Sahara" from the

Synchronicity Tour The Synchronicity Tour was a 1983–1984 concert tour by The Police to promote their fifth album, ''Synchronicity''. It kicked off on July 23, 1983 in Chicago and was concluded on March 4, 1984 in Melbourne. It touched three continents for a to ...

, was released as the B-side to " King of Pain" in Britain and "

" in America. This version also appeared on '' Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings''. This version of "Tea in the Sahara" was not the only live release of the track. A version from Sting's first solo tour can be found on his live album, ''

Bring on the Night ''Bring On the Night'' is the first live album by Sting recorded over the course of several live shows in 1985 and released in 1986. The title is taken from a song by the Police from their 1979 album ''Reggatta de Blanc''. The songs performed i ...

'', while a version from a Sting ''

MTV Unplugged ''MTV Unplugged'' is an American television series on MTV showcasing musical artists usually playing acoustic instruments. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999 and less frequently from 2000 to 2009, when it was usually billed as ''MTV Un ...

'' session appeared on the 1993 " If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" CD single.

Personnel

– lead vocals, bass guitar, oboe *

– guitar *

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 ...

– drums

Charts

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tea in the Sahara The Police songs Songs written by Sting (musician) 1983 songs 1984 singles Live singles Song recordings produced by Hugh Padgham Music based on novels