For my analysis essay, I chose the song Desert Rose written and performed by Sting while Cheb Mami wrote and performed the Arabic part of the song. Released in 1999, the genre of the song is pop. I chose this song because Sting and Cheb Mami speak of longing and desire that is what every human being feels at some point in their lives. In life people always want something they cannot have, which makes the person or object of one's desire more intriguing because of the struggle to obtain it. I for one can relate to this song and know people who can feel what the lyrics are expressing through love, lust, and desire whether it is for love or desire for success, etc. This song is a way to relate to some people that it is human nature to want something they cannot have. The lyrics of this song combined Cheb Mami's voice in the background, and his mystical tone can make the listener feel what is being conveyed in the song. Desert Rose has a lot of imagery in its lyrics. I think of what Sting is expressing, to which I imagine is a man's dream of love similar to a man desperate for water in the desert. When Sting sings, "I dream of rain I dream of gardens in the desert sand." I picture the impossibilities of love and compare to how it is impossible to have rain or gardens in a desert. It transports listeners to thinking of their dream soul mate or a lost love. .
Desert Rose has many references to ancient religious beliefs and old Arab stories. An old Arab dance called the Dance of the Seven Veils, the original forbidden dance of seduction, in which the dancer strips off seven veils to reveal her face. The metaphor of the veils is connected to the petals of the rose that is usually compared to a woman's beauty. In love and or an act of seduction it usually takes steps to get to a woman's heart as compared to the veils. Sting is singing of finding the woman of his dreams and getting inside her heart.
