Latest revision as of 00:27, 15 August 2024

"Synchronicity II"
UK cover
Recorded by The Police
Released:	1983 1984-01-25 (Japan 12")
Recorded:	December 1982 / January 1983
Length:	5:02
Album(s):	Synchronicity
Label(s):	A&M
Writer(s):	Sting
Producer(s):	Hugh Padgham & The Police
Studio(s):	AIR Studios
Released as single?	YES

"Synchronicity II" is a song written by Sting and recorded by The Police in 1983.

About the song

Writing

Sting wrote the song at Ian Fleming's "Goldeneye" residence on Jamaica around May / June 1982.

Utopia demo

On 1982-11-24 he recorded a demo at Utopia Studios in London, England, UK. The demo was quite the same as the finished LP version.

The demo was recorded with the song name Synchronicity (as there was no Synchronicity I song title yet). It kept that working title way into 1983, when Synchronicity I finally got its name.

Outtake

On 1982-12-23 The Police recorded a 4:33 minute version of this song that is different to the LP version.

Extended version

In January 1983 Hugh Padgham mixed an extended version of this song (5:48 minutes) that featured the Loch music in the song's middle section. Otherwise it's the song as we know it from the LP.

Alternate Mix

Another alternate mix from AIR Studios done on 1983-01-10 is a bit different to the LP version and lasts 4:54 minutes.

The guitar intro is the same, but Sting then counts the other instruments in. The instrumental middle part of this early mix is still "empty" with no guitar feedback yet, while the main guitar riff is played throughout. This alternate take is a bit shorter than the LP version - missing one "Many Miles Away" in the fade out.

Instrumental version

It seems that adding Andy Summers' guitar feedback to fill the middle part of the song was a very late idea. It can only be heard on the LP version and an instrumental version that was mixed at Le Studio in February 1983 and lasts 4:56 minutes.

Near the end of the second chorus you can already hear bits from the feedback guitar that can not be heard on the LP version. The percussional oomph at the transition from that chorus to the middle section is missing here... Guitars in the feedback section are mixed differently.

The instrumental fades out one "Many Miles Away" earlier than the LP version.

LP version

The LP version we all knew before lasts 5:01 minutes.

In One Two Testing magazine (December 1983) Andy Summers explained how the guitars were recorded. He used the Stratocaster, double tracked twice, with maybe a Les Paul in one place. He recorded the basic track, overdubbed one section and then took out the original in that part. The middle part was recorded with the Stratocaster and two Marshalls full up. Andy put the headphones on waiting for the control room to run the track for him. He started messing with the feedback - six minutes of screeching - not knowing that the tape was already rolling. On the LP version they used parts of this six minutes of feedback - with the main guitar riff being faded in halfway through the instrumental middle section.

Personnel

Release History

Albums

Synchronicity II appears on the following album releases:

Cover art	Album title	Release date	Release country
	Synchronicity	1983-06-01	USA
	Message In A Box: The Complete Recordings	1993-MM-DD	UK

Singles

CD Singles

Cover art	Catalog no.	Songs	Release date	Release country
	Catalog no.	"Song"(s)	YYYY-MM-DD	Country

7" Singles

Catalog no.	A-side song/B-side song	Release date	Release country
AM 153	"Synchronicity II"/"Once Upon A Daydream"	1983-10-28	UK
AM 2571	"Synchronicity II"/"Once Upon A Daydream"	YYYY-MM-DD	USA
AMS 9747	"Synchronicity II"/"Truth Hits Everybody (remix)"	YYYY-MM-DD	The Netherlands

12" Singles

Cover art	Catalog no.	A-side song(s)/B-side song(s)	Release date	Release country
	AMX 153	"Synchronicity II"/"Once Upon A Daydream"	1983-10-28	UK
	AMP-12001	"Synchronicity II"/"Once Upon A Daydream"	1984-01-25	Japan

Video

"Synchronicity II" appears on the following video and dvd releases:

Cover art	Video title	Release date	Release country
	Every Breath You Take: The Videos	1986-MM-DD	Country
	Every Breath You Take: The DVD	2003-04-07	Country

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

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

Ooooooooh...
Ooooooooh...
Ooooooooh...
Ooooooooh...

Another suburban family morning
Grandmother screaming at the wall
We have to shout above the din of our Rice Krispies
We can't hear anything at all
Mother chants her litany of boredom and frustration
But we know all her suicides are fake
Daddy only stares into the distance
There's only so much more that he can take

Many miles away
Something crawls from the slime
At the bottom of a dark
Scottish lake

Another industrial ugly morning
The factory belches filth into the sky
He walks unhindered through the picket lines today
He doesn't think to wonder why
The secretaries pout and preen like cheap tarts in a red light street
But all he ever thinks to do is watch
And every single meeting with his so-called superior
Is a humiliating kick in the crotch

Many miles away
Something crawls to the surface
Of a dark Scottish loch

Another working day has ended
Only the rush hour hell to face
Packed like lemmings into shiny metal boxes
Contestants in a suicidal race
Daddy grips the wheel and stares alone into the distance
He knows that something somewhere has to break
He sees the family home now looming in the headlights
The pain upstairs that makes his eyeballs ache

Many miles away
There's a shadow on the door
Of a cottage on the shore
Of a dark
Scottish lake
Many miles away
Many miles away
Many miles away
Many miles away
Many miles away
Many miles away...

Quotations and trivia

UK ads:

Alternative and cover versions

An early mix from AIR Studios features a few differences to the LP version.

A cover version of Synchronicity II appears on the following album release:

Cover art	Artist	Album title	Release date	Release country
	No Motiv	Policia! A Tribute To The Police	2005-MM-DD	USA

External links

This section needs more information.

References

Police, The. Synchronicity. (1983) [Audio recording], A&M Records.
Police, The. Synchronicity II.
Wikipedia. Synchronicity II.
UK magazines (Synchronicity II release date)
Craig Betts (demo date)
Fabio Trentini (demo info after listening to Pete Smith's tapes)
Synchronicity box set (released on 2024-07-26) liner notes

@@ Line 38: / Line 38: @@
 =About the song=
-There's an early mix from [[AIR Studios]] which is a bit different to the LP version.
+==Writing==
+[[Sting]] wrote the song at Ian Fleming's "Goldeneye" residence on Jamaica around May / June [[1982]].
-The instrumental middle part is still "empty", with no guitar feedback bits...
+==Utopia demo==
+On [[1982-11-24]] he recorded a demo at [[Utopia Studios]] in London, England, UK.
+The demo was quite the same as the finished LP version.
+The demo was recorded with the song name [[Synchronicity]] (as there was no [[Synchronicity I]] song title yet). It kept that working title way into [[1983]], when [[Synchronicity I]] finally got its name.
+==Outtake==
+On [[1982-12-23]] [[The Police]] recorded a 4:33 minute version of this song that is different to the LP version.
+==Extended version==
+In January [[1983]] [[Hugh Padgham]] mixed an extended version of this song (5:48 minutes) that featured the [[Loch]] music in the song's middle section. Otherwise it's the song as we know it from the LP.
+==Alternate Mix==
+Another alternate mix from [[AIR Studios]] done on [[1983-01-10]] is a bit different to the LP version and lasts 4:54 minutes.
+The guitar intro is the same, but [[Sting]] then counts the other instruments in.
+The instrumental middle part of this early mix is still "empty" with no guitar feedback yet, while the main guitar riff is played throughout.
+This alternate take is a bit shorter than the LP version - missing one "Many Miles Away" in the fade out.
+==Instrumental version==
+It seems that adding [[Andy Summers]]' guitar feedback to fill the middle part of the song was a very late idea. It can only be heard on the LP version and an instrumental version that was mixed at [[Le Studio]] in February [[1983]] and lasts 4:56 minutes.
+Near the end of the second chorus you can already hear bits from the feedback guitar that can not be heard on the LP version. The percussional oomph at the transition from that chorus to the middle section is missing here... Guitars in the feedback section are mixed differently.
+The instrumental fades out one "Many Miles Away" earlier than the LP version.
+==LP version==
+The LP version we all knew before lasts 5:01 minutes.
+In One Two Testing magazine (December [[1983]]) [[Andy Summers]] explained how the guitars were recorded. He used the Stratocaster, double tracked twice, with maybe a Les Paul in one place. He recorded the basic track, overdubbed one section and then took out the original in that part.
+The middle part was recorded with the Stratocaster and two Marshalls full up. Andy put the headphones on waiting for the control room to run the track for him. He started messing with the feedback - six minutes of screeching - not knowing that the tape was already rolling. On the LP version they used parts of this six minutes of feedback - with the main guitar riff being faded in halfway through the instrumental middle section.
 =Personnel=
@@ Line 60: / Line 92: @@
 | [[1983-06-01]]
 | USA
+|- style="background-color: #FFFFFF;"
+| [[Image:Police-album-messageinaboxthecompleterecordings.jpg|40px]]
+| [[Message In A Box: The Complete Recordings]]
+| [[1993-MM-DD]]
+| UK
 |}
@@ Line 119: / Line 156: @@
 | [[1983-10-28]]
 | UK
+|- style="background-color: #FFFFFF;"
+| [[Image:synchronicity_uk.jpg|40px]]
+| AMP-12001
+| "[[Synchronicity II]]"/"[[Once Upon A Daydream]]"
+| [[1984-01-25]]
+| Japan
 |}
@@ Line 243: / Line 286: @@
 =Quotations and trivia=
-In One Two Testing magazine (December [[1983]]) [[Andy Summers]] explains how the guitars were recorded. He used the Stratocaster, double tracked twice, with maybe a Les Paul in one place. He recorded the basic track, overdubbed one section and then took out the original in that part.
-The middle part (The Loch) was recorded with the Stratocaster and two Marshalls full up. Andy put the headphones on waiting for the control room to run the track for him. He started messing with the feedback - six minutes of screeching - not knowing that the tape was already rolling.
-So a part of this six minutes of feedback was used for the middle of [[Synchronicity II]].
-Another guitar part was not used:
-[[The Police]] intended to record a link between [[Synchronicity I]] and [[Synchronicity II]] - Andy detuned his guitar synth to C sharp and produced a great wash of sound. There was an acoustic on top, a few cymbals and an oboe. It didn't work too well and [[Miles Copeland]] said it was too psychedelic...
 UK ads:
@@ Line 258: / Line 291: @@
 =Alternative and cover versions=
+An early mix from [[AIR Studios]] features a few differences to the LP version.
 A cover version of [[Synchronicity II]] appears on the following album release:
 {| cellspacing="0" cellpadding="10" border="1" style="background-color: #F0F0F0;  border-spacing: 2; padding:5px;"
@@ Line 284: / Line 319: @@
 * Wikipedia. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity_II Synchronicity II].
 * UK magazines ([[Synchronicity II]] release date)
+* Craig Betts (demo date)
+* Fabio Trentini (demo info after listening to [[Pete Smith]]'s tapes)
+* [[Synchronicity]] box set (released on 2024-07-26) liner notes
 [[Category:Songs (The Police)]][[Category:Songs (Sting)]]

Difference between revisions of "Synchronicity II (song)"

Latest revision as of 00:27, 15 August 2024

Contents

About the song

Writing

Utopia demo

Outtake

Extended version

Alternate Mix

Instrumental version

LP version

Personnel

Release History

Albums

Singles

CD Singles

7" Singles

12" Singles

Video

Awards, nominations, and certifications

Awards

Nominations

Certifications

Lyrics

Quotations and trivia

Alternative and cover versions

See also

External links

References

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