Released: June 1, 1985
Songwriter: Sting
Producer: Pete Smith Sting
[Verse 1]
Under the ruins of a walled city
Crumbling towers and beams of yellow light
No flags of truce, no cries of pity
The siege guns had been pounding all through the night
It took a day to build the city
We walked through its streets in the afternoon
As I returned across the fields I'd known
I recognized the walls where I'd once laid
I had to stop in my tracks for fear
Of walking on the mines I'd laid
[Chorus]
And if I built this fortress around your heart
Encircled you in trenches and barbed wire
Then let me build a bridge
For I cannot fill the chasm
And let me set the battlements on fire
[Verse 2]
Then I went off to fight some battle
That I'd invented inside my head
Away so long for years and years
You probably thought or even wished that I was dead
While the armies are all sleeping
Beneath the tattered flag we'd made
I had to stop in my track for fear
Of walking on the mines I'd laid
[Chorus]
[Verse 3]
This prison has now become your home
A sentence you seem prepared to pay
It took a day to build the city
We walked through its streets in the afternoon
As I returned across the lands I'd known
I recognized the fields where I'd once played
I had to stop in my tracks for fear
Of walking on the mines I'd laid
[Chorus]
Under the ruins of a walled city
Crumbling towers and beams of yellow light
No flags of truce, no cries of pity
The siege guns had been pounding all through the night
It took a day to build the city
We walked through its streets in the afternoon
As I returned across the fields I'd known
I recognized the walls where I'd once laid
I had to stop in my tracks for fear
Of walking on the mines I'd laid
[Chorus]
And if I built this fortress around your heart
Encircled you in trenches and barbed wire
Then let me build a bridge
For I cannot fill the chasm
And let me set the battlements on fire
[Verse 2]
Then I went off to fight some battle
That I'd invented inside my head
Away so long for years and years
You probably thought or even wished that I was dead
While the armies are all sleeping
Beneath the tattered flag we'd made
I had to stop in my track for fear
Of walking on the mines I'd laid
[Chorus]
[Verse 3]
This prison has now become your home
A sentence you seem prepared to pay
It took a day to build the city
We walked through its streets in the afternoon
As I returned across the lands I'd known
I recognized the fields where I'd once played
I had to stop in my tracks for fear
Of walking on the mines I'd laid
[Chorus]
more tracks from the album
From the albums
- The Dream of the Blue Turtles (1985)
- Five Live! (1994)
- Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984–1994 (1994)
Sting popular songs
- Shape of My Heart
- Englishman in New York
- Desert Rose
- Fields of Gold
- Fragile
- Russians
- It’s Probably Me
- If I Ever Lose My Faith in You
- Brand New Day
- Seven Days
- Mad About You
- A Thousand Years
- Soul Cake
- I Can’t Stop Thinking About You
- If You Love Somebody Set Them Free
- All This Time
- When We Dance
- If It’s Love
- The Last Ship
- Fortress Around Your Heart
- Children’s Crusade
- Moon Over Bourbon Street
- Synchronicity I
- Giacomo’s Blues