"Englishman in New York" is a song by English artist Sting, from his second studio album...Nothing Like the Sun, released in October 1987. Branford Marsalis played soprano saxophoneon the track, while the drums were played by Manu Katché and the percussion by Mino Cinelu. The single was released in February 1988 as the third single from the album, but only reached #51 on the UK Singles Chart. In the US, "Englishman in New York" peaked at #84 on the BillboardHot 100 chart in April 1988 and reached #32 on the BillboardMainstream Rock chart that same month. However, the single was more successful in continental Europe, becoming a hit in several countries, reaching the Top 40 in France, Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, etc. "Englishman in New York" was also a Top 20 hit in Ireland. In South Africa, it peaked at no. 9. In 1990, just prior to the release of his third studio album The Soul Cages, Sting's record label licensed Dutch DJ and producer Ben Liebrand to remix "Englishman in New York" and subsequently released it as a single. The remix played around with the introduction and some of the instrumentation, but the essence of the song remained the same. The new version was commercially successful, reaching number 15 in the UK charts in mid-1990. In 2010, Sting re-recorded the song in an orchestral version for his album Symphonicities.
Content
The "Englishman" in question is the famous eccentric and gay iconQuentin Crisp. Sting wrote the song not long after Crisp moved from London to an apartment in the Bowery in Manhattan. Crisp had remarked jokingly to the musician "that he looked forward to receiving his naturalisation papers so that he could commit a crime and not be deported."
Music video
The video was shot in black-and-white and was directed by David Fincher, and featured scenes of Sting and his band in New York, as well as the elusive Quentin Crisp. At the end of the video, after the song fades, an elderly male voice says: "If I have an ambition other than a desire to be a chronic invalid, it would be to meet everybody in the world before I die... and I'm not doing badly." In 2011, the official video was replaced with a version without the male voice.
Track listing
12" Single
"Englishman in New York" – 4:25
"Ghost in the Strand" – 2:33
"Bring on the Night"/"When the World Is Running Down" – 11:42
In 1993, the song was partially remade by Shinehead, re-titled as "Jamaican In New York". It reached #30 in the UK Singles Chart in April 1993.
In 1998, venezuelan band King Chango covered the song as “Venezuelan in New York” for the various artists tribute release “Outlandos d’Americas - Tributo a Police ”. The instrumental sections in the song were re-worked using latin rhythms such as cumbia and dancehall.
In 2015, Cris Cab covered it in a release featuring Tefa & Moox, Willy William. This version charted on SNEP, the official French Singles Chart reaching number 16. The song also charted on Ultratip in the Belgian Wallonia Singles Chart.
In 2015, Japanese singer Majiko released a cover as a bonus track on her single Mirror
