>Sting

THE KING OF PAIN ABDICATES

Lovesick laments like "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying" dominate Sting's new album, Mercury Falling (A&M), but the British rocker is one lucky star. He's happily married to film producer Trudie Styler, and three months ago the couple had their fourth child, Giacomo Luke. (Sting also has two children from a previous marriage to actress Frances Tomelty.) "I used to subscribe to the idea that some kind of drama had to be going on in my life in order for me to be creative," says Sting, 44. "But Bach was a happy family man, and yet he made this wonderful music. So it's not impossible."

Where does the new album's somber tone come from?

I'm very happy and fulfilled in my personal life, but I certainly have distinct memories of pain and loss. "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying" is about divorce and separation, but it's also about acceptance of situations which can't be changed. Not to say that I've become complacent, but some things I simply can't change, like getting old, dying. Acceptance of those large issues is a new acquisition for me. I think it's a function of wisdom that you get as you get older. In your happiest moments you know it's going to end one day. That's one of the paradoxes of existence. You learn to accept.

You also performed songs recently on the Leaving Las Vegas and Sabrina soundtracks. When do you rest?

I like to work. As soon as I come off tour, I think about writing a new album. Maybe after this [18-month worldwide] tour, I'll take a sabbatical. [1991's] The Soul Cages took a long time because I was suffering from writer's block. I think it was some sort of emotional block, and the album ended up being about the death of my father. There's always a reason why you make a song and why you don't. In a way music is my therapy. I'm my own psychiatrist. I find that the deepest form of meditation I do is songwriting. When I finish a song I always look at it and say, "What is this about? Why did I write this? Is there a common theme with this song and another song?" I write unconsciously. Then I can see what's going on in my mind.