Songs from the Labyrinth is a 2006 album of recordings of the music of John Dowland

John Dowland

John Dowland was an English Renaissance composer, singer, and lutenist. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep" , "Come again", "Flow my tears", "I saw my Lady weepe" and "In darkness let me dwell", but his instrumental music has undergone a major revival, and has...

 by Sting and Bosnian

Bosnians

Bosnians are people who reside in, or come from, Bosnia and Herzegovina. By the modern state definition a Bosnian can be anyone who holds citizenship of the state. This includes, but is not limited to, members of the constituent ethnic groups of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosniaks, Bosnian Serbs and...

 lute

Lute

Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....

nist Edin Karamazov

Edin Karamazov

Edin Karamazov is a renowned Bosnian musician-lutenist . He studied lute with Hopkinson Smith at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis....

. It entered the UK Official Albums Chart at #24 and reached #25 on the Billboard 200

Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

, strong charting peaks for a classical record on the pop album charts. The release was a slow seller for a Sting album, his first since 1986's Bring on the Night

Bring On the Night

Bring on the Night is a 1986 live album by Sting recorded over the course of several live shows in 1985 and released in 1986. The title is taken from a song by The Police from their 1979 album Reggatta de Blanc. The songs performed include Sting's early solo material from the studio album The Dream...

to fail to break the UK top 10.

The album was released and re-released in several versions: LP vinyl and CD editions with 23 tracks, a CD/DVD edition with 8 tracks on the CD and a DVD documentary (released in both "CD size" and "DVD size" packaging), and a CD re-release with 26 tracks (including live versions of Sting's own "Fields of Gold" and "Message in a Bottle

Message in a Bottle (song)

"Message in a Bottle" is a 1979 song by The Police, from their second album, Reggatta de Blanc.The song is ostensibly about a story of a castaway on an island, who sends out a message in a bottle to seek love. A year later, he has not received any sort of response, and despairs, thinking he is...

", originally recorded with The Police

The Police

The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For the vast majority of their history, the band consisted of Sting , Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland...

). To date, no edition exists containing the complete 26-track extended CD program and the DVD documentary.

Track listing

For the original CD program, the music was composed by John Dowland except for "Have You Seen the Bright Lily Grow", a song by Dowland's contemporary Robert Johnson. The 2008 re-release adds two songs penned by Sting, performed on the lute, plus an alternate version of "Have You Seen the Bright Lily Grow". The track-list includes readings from a letter by Dowland.
The lyrics to many of Dowland's songs are anonymous.

1. "Walsingham" – 0:38 [instrumental]
2. "Can She Excuse My Wrongs" – 2:35
3. "Ryght Honorable..." – 0:40 [letter to Sir Robert Cecil
   Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
   Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, KG, PC was an English administrator and politician.-Life:He was the son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and Mildred Cooke...
   
   ]
4. "Flow My Tears
   Flow my tears
   Flow my Tears is a lute song by the accomplished lutenist and composer John Dowland.Originally composed as an instrumental under the name Lachrimae pavane in 1596, it is Dowland's most famous ayre, and became his signature song, literally as well as metaphorically: he would occasionally sign his...
   
    (Lachrimae)" – 4:42
5. "Have You Seen the Bright Lily Grow" – 2:35 [lyrics: Ben Jonson
   Ben Jonson
   Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
   
   , music: Robert Johnson]
6. "...Then in Time Passing On..." – 0:32 [continuation of letter]
7. "The Battle Galliard" – 3:01
8. "The Lowest Trees Have Tops" [lyrics by Sir Edward Dyer] – 2:16
9. "... And Accordinge as I Desired Ther Cam a Letter..." – 0:55
10. "Fine Knacks for Ladies" – 1:50
11. "...From Thence I Went to Landgrave of Hessen..." – 0:24
12. "Fantasy" – 2:42
13. "Come, Heavy Sleep" – 3:46
14. "Forlorn Hope Fancy" – 3:08
15. "...And from Thence I Had Great Desire to See Italy..." – 0:28
16. "Come Again
    Come Again (Dowland)
    Come Again, sweet love doth now invite is a song by John Dowland. The lyrics are anonymous. Dowland's music can be performed by soloist and lute or by a small vocal group ....
    
    " – 2:56
17. "Wilt Thou Unkind Thus Reave Me" – 2:40
18. "...After My Departures I Caled to Mynde..." – 0:30
19. "Weep You No More, Sad Fountains" – 2:38
20. "My Lord Willoughby's Welcome Home" – 1:34
21. "Clear or Cloudy" – 2:47
22. "...Men Say That the Kinge of Spain..." – 1:01
23. "In Darkness Let Me Dwell
    In darkness let me dwell
    In darkness let me dwell is a song by the lutenist and composer John Dowland. Like many of Dowland's songs, its subject matter is melancholy and its lyrics anonymous...
    
    " – 4:12
24. "Fields of Gold" – 3:34 [Sting] [bonus track on re-release]
25. "Message in a Bottle" – 5:40 [Sting] [bonus track on re-release]
26. "Have You Seen the Bright Lily Grow" – 2:42 [alternate version] [bonus track on re-release]

Related live album and documentary

Disc 1: CD

1. "Flow My Tears (Lachrimae)"
2. "The Lowest Trees Have Tops"
3. "Fantasy"
4. "Come Again"
5. "Have You Seen the Bright Lily Grow"
6. "In Darkness Let Me Dwell"
7. "Hell Hound on My Trail" [a Robert Johnson
   Robert Johnson
   Robert Leroy Johnson was an American blues singer and musician. His landmark recordings from 1936–37 display a combination of singing, guitar skills, and songwriting talent that have influenced later generations of musicians. Johnson's shadowy, poorly documented life and death at age 27 have given...
   
    cover]
8. "Message in a Bottle" [written by Sting; originally recorded by the Police]

Disc 2: DVD Documentary with rehearsal and concert footage. The "tracks" listed below are the DVD chapter stops.

1. "Come Again"
2. Project Origin
3. "Can She Excuse My Wrongs"
4. The Lute and the Labyrinth
5. "The Lowest Trees Have Tops"
6. "Flow My Tears"
7. Dowland's Exile
8. "Clear or Cloudy"
9. Political Intrigue
10. "Have You Seen The Bright Lily Grow"
11. "Weep You No More Sad Fountains"
12. "Le Rossignol"
13. Religion
14. Sting and the Lute
15. "Come, Heavy Sleep"
16. "In Darkness Let Me Dwell"

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
2006	U.S. Billboard 200	25
2006	UK Album Charts	24
2006	Top Classical Albums	1
2006	Billboard Comprehensive Albums	25
2006	European Top 100 Albums	12
2006	Top Internet Albums	6
2006	Top Digital Albums	9
2006	Tastemakers	11