Sting

Sting: The meaning of a childhood memory

Some time ago, Sting talked about something which had happened to him as a child: the Queen Mother, on a visit to his hometown waved at him as her car drove by.  He confessed that at that moment, he desired a bigger life than what his town offered: he wanted to be in that car, to be the one the crowd looked at and not just one more person in the crowd.

We could then think that maybe there could be someone else hidden in that memory: it would be strange for the Queen Mother to be driving herself, and being Sting a child when that happened, it is possible to think that Sting maybe unconsciously imagined an adult figure, probably his father, there in that car with him and driving. This memory then would also show little Sting at that time longing for someone who could guide him through life. So that memory would then express a possible internal conflict: Sting wanting to go his own way and lead his own life beyond a destiny in his hometown, and at the same time his need of guidance, which could be expected from any child of his age at that time.