"Fortress Around Your Heart" is a song from Sting's 1985 album The Dream of the Blue Turtles

The Dream of the Blue Turtles

The Dream of the Blue Turtles is the first solo album by British pop singer-songwriter Sting, released in the United States on 1 June 1985, a year after The Police had unofficially disbanded...

. The song was also released as a single, and reached #8 and #49 on the U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and U.K.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 singles charts, respectively. It also reached #1 for two weeks on the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Top Rock Tracks chart, becoming his second consecutive #1 hit on this chart.

Sting wrote the song in the studio in Barbados

Barbados

Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...

 in 1985. The song features a Branford Marsalis

Branford Marsalis

Branford Marsalis is an American saxophonist, composer and bandleader. While primarily known for his work in jazz as the leader of the Branford Marsalis Quartet, he also performs frequently as a soloist with classical ensembles and has led the group Buckshot LeFonque.-Biography:Marsalis was born...

 sax

Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

 solo. The inspiration for this song was the pain he felt from the failure of his first marriage. In a Musician

Musician (magazine)

Musician was a monthly magazine that covered news and information about American popular music. Initially called "Music America", it was founded in 1976 by Sam Holdsworth and Gordon Baird. The two friends borrowed $20,000 from relatives and started the publication in a barn in Colorado...

magazine interview later that year, he said:

"Fortress is about appeasement, about trying to bridge the gaps between individuals. The central image is a minefield that you've laid around this other person to try and protect them. Then you realise that you have to walk back through it. I think it's one of the best choruses I've ever written."

During one of Sting's first performances of the song in concert in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, his crew lowered a tiny fortress onto the stage in a parody of the similar Stonehenge

Stonehenge

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...

 scene from the film This Is Spinal Tap

This Is Spinal Tap

This Is Spinal Tap is an American 1984 rock musical mockumentary directed by Rob Reiner about the fictional heavy metal band Spinal Tap...

.

The song was included on the U.S. release of the Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984-1994

Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984-1994

Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984–1994 is the first compilation issued by Sting. It features hit singles from his studio albums The Dream of the Blue Turtles, ...Nothing Like the Sun, The Soul Cages, and Ten Summoner's Tales. The album features two new songs, "When We Dance" and "This Cowboy...

compilation album.