Secret Journey

"Secret Journey"
the cover of the US 7"
Recorded by The Police
Released:	1982
Recorded:	1981-06-20 - 1981-07-26
Length:	3:32
Album(s):	Ghost In The Machine
Label(s):	A&M
Writer(s):	Sting
Producer(s):	Hugh Padgham & The Police
Studio(s):	AIR Studios, Montserrat
Released as single?	YES

"Secret Journey" is a song written by Sting and recorded by The Police in 1981.

About the song

There are four known versions of this song. The two Sting demos both feature a third verse that's not on the LP version. One of the demos starts with the main instrumental riff and then the first verse - featuring a long outro. The second demo starts with the vocals only chorus and has a shorter outro.

Besides the known LP version there's also an early mix from AIR Studios which is only 2:55 minutes long.

The basic structure is the same as on the LP version. But the song is counted it by Stewart, so the song doesn't start with the long synth guitar intro. Stewart's drums are those from the LP version, but right before the first verse he plays a small break that was muted for the LP mix.

You can see Sting playing the bass for this (and hear Stewart couting in and doing that drum break) in his movie Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out.

The vocals seem to be the LP versions's vocals, too, although not properly mixed.

The guitar parts are the most noticeable difference - besides the missing intro the guitars in the middle section (played by Andy on a Roland GR-300) are different, too. The LP's additional guitar part over the main riff during the end is completely absent.

Close to the end the LP version fades out the instruments. Listen closely (and crank up the volume) and right at the end you can hear Stewart change to playing more toms / snare. That goes on longer on this "work in progress" version where Sting also sings his lines one more time - so the fade-out comes much later here, while the guitar synth in the back sounds similar to the LP version.

Personnel

This section needs more information.

Release History

Albums

Secret Journey appears on the following album releases:

Cover art	Album title	Release date	Release country
	Ghost In The Machine	1981-10-02	UK
	Message In A Box: The Complete Recordings	1993-MM-DD	UK
	Every Move You Make: The Studio Recordings	2018-11-16	UK
	Ghost In The Machine (picture disc)	2022-11-04	worldwide

Singles

7" Singles

Cover art	Catalog no.	A-side song/B-side song	Release date	Release country
	AM 2408	"Secret Journey"/"Darkness"	1982-MM-DD	USA
	K 8753	"Secret Journey"/"Darkness"	1982-MM-DD	Australia
	AM 2408	"Secret Journey"/"Darkness"	1982-MM-DD	Canada

Awards, nominations, and certifications

Awards

This section needs more information.

Year	Winner	Award	Category
YYYY	WINNER (album, song, producer, etc.)	AWARD (Grammy, People's Choice, etc.)	CATEGORY

Nominations

This section needs more information.

Year	Nominee	Award	Category
YYYY	NOMINEE (album, song, producer, etc.)	AWARD (Grammy, People's Choice, etc.)	CATEGORY

Certifications

This section needs more information.

Country	Certifier	Classification	Certification
COUNTRY	CERTIFIER (RIAA, IFPI...)	CLASSIFICATION (Album, singles, foreign artist...)	CERTIFICATION (Gold, Platinum, Diamond...)

Lyrics

LP lyrics

Lyrics are property and copyright of their owners, and provided here for educational purposes only.

Upon a secret journey
I met a holy man
His blindness was his wisdom
I'm such a lonely man

And as the world was turning
It rolled itself in pain
This does not seem to touch you
He pointed to the rain

You will see light in the darkness
You will make some sense of this
And when you've made your secret journey
You will find this love you miss

And on the days that followed
I listened to his words
I strained to understand him
I chased his thoughts like birds

You will see light in the darkness
You will make some sense of this
And when you've made your secret journey
You will find this love you miss

You will see light in the darkness
You will make some sense of this
You will see joy in this sadness
You will find this love you miss

And when you've made your secret journey
You will be a holy man...

demo lyrics

There are two known Sting demos for this song - one starts with the instruments and is about 3:55 minutes long because of the longer outro. The other one starts with a vocals only chorus and is about 3:42 minutes long. Both feature a third verse that's not on the LP version.

(You will see light in the darkness
You will make some sense of this
And when you've made your secret journey
You will find the love you miss)

Upon a secret journey
I met a holy man
His blindness was his wisdom
I'm such a lonely man

And as the world was turning
It rolled itself in pain
This does not seem to touch you
He pointed to the rain

You will see light in the darkness
You will make some sense of this
And when you've made your secret journey
You will find the love you miss

And on the days that followed
I listened to his words
I strained to understand him
I chased his thoughts like birds

You will see light in the darkness
You will make some sense of this
And when you've made your secret journey
You will find the love you miss

You will see light in the darkness
You will make some sense of this
And when you've made your secret journey
You will find the love you miss

Oh I can see no logic
There has to be a plan
You answer me with questions
You are a holy man

You will see light in the darkness
You will make some sense of this
You will see joy in this sadness
You will find the love you miss

And when you make your secret journey you will be a holy man...
etc...

Quotations and trivia

• In Music U.K. from October 1981 Andy Summers talks about Omegaman (the first paragraphs) and the intro to Secret Journey:

"The first thing I had done was to go in and play a very nice Larry Carlton type solo with the 335 - it ws very nice, but for The Police it was a little bit too.... derivative sounding, a little bit too straight. So I started again with the Multivox effects plugged up and I had the Roland guitar synth going through them. The Duet on the synth was switched to a minor second apart, which is pretty excruciating (laughs), through a fuzz and something, and it just sounded incredible! I could see their hair standing on end in the control room, they couldn't believe this fucking sound that was coming over! And I was having great fun, in hysterics, it was like ten cats being strangled. So I thought it was really exciting, and I did it, and they're going, "Yeah, yeah..." like a couple of roadies were in the studio. And Hugh was saying, "Yeah, pretty heavy.".

Course, finally Stewart and Sting came in, and there was dead silence, and they didn't like it. It was a bit too heavy for them. I was a bit disgruntled, but.... so I went back. I started again and found a figure that really worked. So I sort of used the same sound, but I returned the guitar synth to fifths, I think, played the figure on the end, and it worked really nicely with a normal electric guitar playing the figure and the guitar synth. That went down a little better, I s'pose it fitted the track a bit better. Not quite as hairy as the other one.

That's the first time I actually used guitar synth for a solo. Personally, for me, I don't really use it as a solo instrument playing lead solos, I like it as a chordal thing, like great sheets of sound. I really enjoy using it that way. Like there's an introduction to a song called Secret Journey, there's about a minute and a half of just guitar synth on it, I'm playing long chords, strange chords, it was fun to do that. There's a whole section in the middle of that with the guitar synth, too.

Into the intro to Secret Journey I'm playing these strange chords, with the synth tuned in fifths, and you get this sound, with echo and chorus on it. And also, against that I played some very weird stuff on a Strat, so you get this great sort of cloud effect untill the riff actually starts coming in, the riff sort of fades up through it and then the song starts. Then it shuts off (claps hands) like that in the middle and then you get wahhhhhhhhhhh.. the sound of the Himalayas comes in. It's good."

• In 1982-09 Guitar Player Andy tells this version:

"I'm playing really peculiar chords on the Strat, feeding it back at the same time, and wanging on the Tremolo arm. Then I've also got a background of guitar synthesizers playing in the middle part. There's like an opening minute-and-a-half of guitar synthesizer with all these chords going on, and then there's a break in the middle which is the two guitars together. I like the way it stops: You suddenly drop into this hole and a sort of Himalayan sheet of sound comes towards you."

In a 'Ghost In The Machine' Press Release, October 1981, Sting said the following about the song:

"It's a quasi-mystical song. You have to do something, go somewhere, to get outside yourself. I read the book "Meetings with Remarkable Men" which says you have to make a journey. It doesn't have to be a real journey, it can be a mental journey."

Alternative and cover versions

There are two different Sting demos - both with an additional third verse. A "work in progress" mix from AIR Studios lacks the guitar intro and other guitar parts and also fades out later.

See also

This section needs more information.

External links

This section needs more information.

References

• Police, The. Ghost In The Machine. (1981) [Audio recording], A&M Records.
• Rolling Stone - February 18, 1982 (Roland GR300)