Sting & Shaggy

Don’t Make Me Wait

In 1988 Sting sang about being an Englishman in New York. Five years later Shinhead adapted the song as I‘m a Jamaican in New York.

And now, quarter of a century later, music history has gone full circle in an odd way, because now Sting is an Englishman in Jamaica. He has recently been working with reggae artist Shaggy and the following song they recorded in Jamaica, where Shaggy is “like the pope himself” according to Sting.

In the video we see the two of them travel this magical reggae island, there are great street scenes captured here, a real zest for life captured on camera, full of childlike wonder and, as night approaches, a healthy dose of libido – this is a video that could be used for a good Inspired by Jamaica campaign, I’d probably have bought the ticket already if I wasn’t too broke.

The magic of the song is in how well that odd couple connects, both musically and personally. There’s a friendly vibe here and they’re not such an unlikely couple when you think about it, there’s a lot of reggae influences in the songs of Police and Sting if you listen closely.

And listen, if you happen to be broke in Budapest right now – the unlikely duo is having a free concert on Hero’s square tomorrow Saturday at 6 PM, where they’ll hopefully show Viktor Orbán and his cronies how stupid their ugly racism is.

Text: Ásgeir H Ingólfsson