Spirits In The Material World (song)

From PoliceWiki
"Spirits In The Material World"
a flyer for the single's UK release
Recorded by The Police
Released: 1981-12-04 (UK)

1982-02-21 (Japan)

Recorded: 1981-06-20 - 1981-07-26
Length: 2:58
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

"Spirits In The Material World" is a song written by Sting and recorded by The Police in 1981.

About the song

There are a lot of different versions out there:

  1. ) Sting's demo
  2. ) The Police's LP / 7" version
  3. ) a videoclip version with Stewart's count-in at the start, without Sting's "oh" after the first few bars
  4. ) 1981-12-10 TV version (Kenny Everett Show / Top Of The Pops) - with added saxophone parts, different lead vocals and drums

There are also various versions of the song's re-recording by Sting and Pato Banton. There's also a version by Curved Air (!).

Personnel

This section needs more information.

Release History

Albums

Spirits In The Material World appears on the following album releases:

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

Singles

CD Singles

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

7" Singles

Cover art Catalog no. A-side song/B-side song Release date Release country
40px AMS 8194 "Spirits In The Material World"/"Low Life" 1981-12-04 UK
Stub.gif AM 23.292 "Spirits In The Material World"/"Omegaman" 1981-MM-DD Argentina
Stub.gif K-8647 "Spirits In The Material World"/"Low Life" 1981-MM-DD Australia
Stub.gif AM 30397 "Spirits In The Material World"/"Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" 1981-MM-DD Bolivia
Stub.gif AM 47.040 "Spirits In The Material World"/"Low Life" 1981-MM-DD Brazil
Stub.gif AM 560 "Spirits In The Material World"/"Hungry For You" 1981-MM-DD Canada
Stub.gif AM 7065028 "Spirits In The Material World"/"Too Much Information" 1981-MM-DD Costa Rica
Stub.gif AMS 9186 "Spirits In The Material World"/"Low Life" 1981-MM-DD Germany
Stub.gif AMS 8194 "Spirits In The Material World"/"Low Life" 1981-MM-DD Greece
Stub.gif AMS 9186 "Spirits In The Material World"/"Low Life" 1981-MM-DD The Netherlands
Stub.gif AMS 8194 "Spirits In The Material World"/"Low Life" 1981-MM-DD Ireland
Stub.gif AMS 9186 "Spirits In The Material World"/"Low Life" 1981-MM-DD Italy
Stub.gif AM 42038 "Spirits In The Material World"/"Flexible Strategies" 1981-MM-DD Mexico
Stub.gif K 8647 "Spirits In The Material World"/"Low Life" 1981-MM-DD New Zealand
Stub.gif CSR 1192 "Spirits In The Material World"/"Too Much Information" 1981-MM-DD Peru
Stub.gif AMRS 1376 "Spirits In The Material World"/"Low Life" 1981-MM-DD South Africa
Stub.gif AMS 9186 "Spirits In The Material World"/"Low Life" 1981-MM-DD Spain
Stub.gif AMP 2390 "Spirits In The Material World"/"Flexible Strategies" 1982-MM-DD USA
Stub.gif AMP 740 "Spirits In The Material World"/"Flexible Strategies" 1982-02-21 Japan

12" Singles

Cover art Catalog no. A-side song(s)/B-side song(s) Release date Release country
Stub.gif Catalog no. "A-side song"/"B-side song" (add more songs as necessary) YYYY-MM-DD Country

Video

"SONG TITLE" appears on the following video and dvd releases:

Cover art Video title Release date Release country
Stub.gif Video or dvd title YYYY-MM-DD 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.

There is no political solution
To our troubled evolution
Have no faith in constitution
There is no bloody revolution

We are spirits in the material world

Our so-called leaders speak
With words they try to jail you
They subjugate the meek
But it's the rhetoric of failure

We are spirits in the material world

Where does the answer lie?
Living from day to day
If it's something we can't buy
There must be another way

We are spirits in the material world

Quotations and trivia

  • In 1982-09 Guitar Player talks about the guitar sound: "Actually , that is just a guitar played up very high and plucked dry - you know, the palm on the string. I blended this with the setting on the Prophet-5 keyboard synthesizer to get that kind of sound."
  • This song was featured in Season 8, Episode 6 of the television series American Horror Story.[1]

Alternative and cover versions

Alternative versions of Spirits In The Material World appear on the following album release:

Cover art Artist Album title Release date Release country
Reggatta Mondatta.jpg Pato Banton feat. Sting Reggatta Mondatta 1997-MM-DD The Netherlands
North Star Curved Air.jpg Curved Air North Star 2014-17-03 United Kingdom

See also

This section needs more information.

External links

References

  • Police, The. Ghost In The Machine. (1981) [Audio recording], A&M Records.