The Police - Truth Hits Everybody

One of my favorite headlines from The Onion was “You Know, I Used to Be Kind of Cool Once” as written by “Sting.” In it, a modern day, some might say, milquetoast Sting hears an old Police song while shopping at the cornerstore and marvels at its complexity and energy. As Homer Simpson once said, “it’s funny because it’s true.” A latter-day, adult-contemporary Sting would hardly recognize his younger self. Long before he took up the mandolin, long before the fields of barley, Sting, and Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers, were cool. And their coolest song is “Truth Hits Everybody.”

Borne out of their early British punk days, “Truth Hits Everybody” is a sharp, short burst of energy. It’s not punk a la that one episode of Quincy, filled with mohawks, safety pin piercings and juvenile delinquency. It’s energetic without aggression and every member actually knows how to play their instruments. It’s also very much an early Police song. There’s little polish, no plowing down rows of lit candles, and it won’t be played at weddings (unless it’s the coolest wedding of all time). “Truth Hits Everybody” is very much a beginning for the band, an announcement. 

It’s also worth pointing out, the truth does hit everybody, at some point. The obviousness of the sentiment doesn’t detract from its poignancy. I find there to be even more, well, truth in that sentiment as I muddle through middle age. My knees, my back, my paths not taken. But I’ve come to accept the truth about myself. I was never cool, even kind of (just ask my son).