HOW DOES MUSIC FEEL TODAY?

#5 The Police "Miss Gradenko"

As much as I don’t miss the 80s, I do miss how a massive hit record could give us really excellent, weird little songs like “Miss Gradenko” by The Police. There’s no point in telling you how huge Synchronicity was when it came out, it was omnipresent. “Every Breath You Take” was downright oppressive, and it was a good song! I can’t imagine anyone over the age of 45 choosing to listen to that song to this day as it was played to the point of abuse. No offense, The Police. 

In my opinion, The Police are at their best when they let themselves be odd and break the pop hit form. Luckily, most of their great records are filled with odd and exciting choices. They are world class musicians after all, each having their own musical outlets separate from The Police, and they seem OK with letting the freak flag wave a bit. I love that Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland are such good musicians that even having Sting in the band does not throw their balance off. Sting was/is “Michael Jackson famous”, yet Summers and Copeland are undeniable and unique in their presence. I love the guitar solo in “Miss Gradenko”. It comes out of the heater grate like intoxicating spy movie vapor. It gives me some King Crimson feelings, and that’s a fine thing.

Parts prog, reggae, punk rock, football chant, pop, with diamond-faceted little details of a human connection, it’s one of those rare songs that celebrates a woman without reducing her. It’s one of those songs where I think If this song was written about me I could die. It’s a rare thing. “Rocky Top Tennessee” and a couple other songs make me feel this way. 

“Gradenko” is only a hair off from my family name,“Shevchenko”, which made me wonder Was she the kind of person we were? I knew nothing of my Ukrainian-ness, my family wouldn’t talk about it, which made the song that much more mysterious. Whatever her origins were, it’s clear Miss Grandenko inhabited herself with joy, self assurance, and humor, and how better to celebrate “her” than in this nimble little song. And it doesn’t stop there! There is some mischievous, subversive Cold War recognition going on. It is done with a tantalizingly spare amount of information, which makes my imagination fire on all cylinders. A few details (a dangerous note, hello!) and the electric line Are you safe, Miss Gradenko? It means a thousand and one things. 

As I read the liner notes to Synchronicity for the first time in nearly 30 years (ouch!), I realized with a tiny amount of shame that I never knew Copeland wrote”Miss Gradenko”, but it makes total sense when I think of his solo work. His stuff is dreamy and smart and fluid… which makes me want to remind us, you and I, that behind every great band are a million other projects to look into, and that’s where a lot of the gold is. Go get em’ tiger! XO