Fields of Gold

A Reason To Smile

As we reflect on another week of pain and sadness, bombs and bloodshed, we struggle to find reflections of hope and happiness. Music, love, and the beauty of Earth can all offer refuges for us to remember that life can be wonderful. For our A Reason To Smile feature this week, we have chosen a modern classic that blends all these themes with a simple but haunting melody that evokes the ballads of ages past. 

It is Sting’s ethereal “Fields of Gold,” which pairs a song of love over time with the striking imagery of sunlight highlighting nature’s bounty. It speaks to us about how our fragile lives are enriched by the marvels of our planet. We can sustain each other if we cherish one another. 

Sting said that the song was inspired by the countryside near his English estate: “Our house is surrounded by barley fields, and in the summer it’s fascinating to watch the wind moving over the shimmering surface, like waves on an ocean of gold. There’s something inherently sexy about the sight, something primal.”

The song is of the primacy and endurance of love, tracing a couple’s bond from courtship, to children, to a final parting. It ends with a beautiful tribute to an indelible love and the memories that make it last: 

You’ll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky
When we walked in fields of gold

The song wasn’t a big hit when it was released, but it has come to be heralded as a classic. No less than Sir Paul McCartney, in a 2018 interview, cited “Fields of Gold” as the one song he most wished he had written. The Beatle joked, “How dare he? I told him: ‘You stole my song.’ I thought that was a nice one, y’know?” Sting responded, “Paul McCartney says he wishes he would have written ‘Fields of Gold.’ There are more than a few of Paul’s that I wish I would have written.”

We are sharing three versions of the song. Each shows how a deceptively simple composition can be shaped with different interpretations. We begin with Sting himself. He recorded “Fields of Gold,” along with the other songs on his album “Ten Summoner’s Tales,” at the estate that inspired it. 

Here is a beautiful performance by the all-female Irish musical ensemble Celtic Woman.

And finally, there is this poignant and heartbreaking version by the late Eva Cassidy, who died from cancer at the age of 33. Her rendition has been posthumously embraced by millions of fans, a tribute to a remarkable musician gone far too soon and a special song she immortalized with her own artistry. 

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