End Of The Game

Album: Symphonicities (1999)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song is about two foxes, a tod and a vixen, who are hunted. The hunters, with their horses and hounds, pursue them through brambles and fields. The foxes run with all their spirit, but eventually they're caught and killed.

    It's really a love story, with the foxes thinking about their lives together as they face their deaths. When they near the end, they take comfort in knowing they'll make their transition together.
  • "End Of The Game" was first released on the "Brand New Day" single in 1999. On the Brand New Day album, 20 seconds of it are included as a track called "Prelude To The End Of The Game." The full song was later released on Sting's compilations Symphonicities and The Best of 25 Years.
  • Sting started performing this song live on his Broken Music tour in 2005, and it has often showed up in his setlist since.
  • According to Sting, his wife Trudie Styler loves this song. When he asked her why, she replied: "Well, if it was just me and you against the world, that would be enough." (Quote from Sting's interview with People in 2023.)
  • The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra backed Sting on this song, conducted by Steven Mercurio.

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