"Fragile" | ||||
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Single by Sting | ||||
from the album ...Nothing Like the Sun | ||||
Released | 1 April 1988 (UK) [1] | |||
Recorded | 1987 | |||
Genre | Acoustic rock, jazz | |||
Length | 3:54 | |||
Label | A&M | |||
Songwriter(s) | Sting | |||
Producer(s) | Sting | |||
Sting singles chronology | ||||
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"Fragile" is a song written and performed by English musician Sting from his second studio album, ...Nothing Like the Sun (1987). Released as a single the following year by A&M, it placed to number 70 on the UK Singles Chart. Sung additionally in both Spanish and Portuguese under the titles "Fragilidad" and "Frágil", it appeared twice more on his 1988 EP variant of the album, Nada como el sol . The Spanish version features as a b-side to "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying".
The song is a tribute to Ben Linder, an American civil engineer who was killed by the Contras in 1987 while working on a hydroelectric project in Nicaragua. [2]
"Fragile" was the opening song in Sting's ...All This Time concert, recorded on the evening of the September 11 attacks in 2001. Sting performed the song with cellist Yo Yo Ma during the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. The song appears in the 1995 Oscar-nominated documentary The Living Sea . [3] [ citation needed ]
Sting also dedicated the song to both Ukraine and the women of Iran during his show in Oslo, Norway at 19 October 2022.
A version of the song with Julio Iglesias was included in Sting's Duets compilation album (2021).
Neil Taylor from NME wrote, "Well, 'Fragile' falls into the 'El Conda Pasa' group of songs with lots of strings and semi-acoustic guitar, so I suppose that someone somewhere considered it suitably romantic to render the song in three tongues. I hope this wasn't Sting's decision. As it is he is underrated but he does come over as a somewhat precious hombre. Fragile—quite a good word to sum up Sting." [4]
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