Invisible Sun gaat over de IRA-gevangenen in de beruchte Maze-gevangenis van Belfast. In 1981 ging een aantal gevangenen in hongerstaking, wat uiteindelijk acht van hen – waaronder Bobby Sands – het leven zou kosten. Sting woonde destijds in Ierland. Hij schreef de tekst om de Ieren – en de hongerstakers – een hart onder de riem te steken: “I actually wrote the song in Ireland, where I was living at the time. It was during the hunger strikes in Belfast. I wanted to write about that but I wanted to show some light at the end of the tunnel. I do think there has to be an ‘invisible sun’. You can’t always see it, but there has to be something radiating light into our lives.”.
I don’t want to spend the rest of my life
Looking at the barrel of an Armalite
I don’t want to spend the rest of my days
Keeping out of trouble like the soldiers say
I don’t want to spend my time in hell
Looking at the walls of a prison cell
I don’t ever want to play the part
Of a statistic on a government chart
[Chorus]
There has to be an invisible sun
It gives its heat to everyone
There has to be an invisible sun
That gives us hope when the whole day’s done
[Verse 2]
It’s dark all day and it glows all night
Factory smoke and acetylene light
I face the day with my head caved in
Looking like something that the cat brought in
[Chorus]
There has to be an invisible sun
It gives its heat to everyone
There has to be an invisible sun
That gives us hope when the whole day’s done
[Verse 3]
And they’re only going to change this place
By killing everybody in the human race
They would kill me for a cigarette
But I don’t even want to die just yet
[Chorus]
There has to be an invisible sun
It gives its heat to everyone
There has to be an invisible sun
That gives us hope when the whole day’s done
Uitgelichte afbeelding: het graf van Bobby Sands – By Rafboy15 – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4726290
