When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around
"When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around" is a song written by Sting that was first released by English rock band the Police on their 1980 album Zenyatta Mondatta. Along with another song from Zenyatta Mondatta, "Voices Inside My Head", the song reached 3 on the Billboard Dance Music/Club Play Singles chart in 1981. In 2000, a remix version credited to Different Gear versus the Police reached No. 28 on the UK Singles Chart, No. 7 on the Billboard Dance chart, and No. 94 in the Netherlands. On radio stations, the song is often played directly after "Driven to Tears". Lyrics and music "When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around" was one of Sting's earliest attempts at a song whose lyrics deal with concerns of the outside world rather than just his own issues. Ellie O'Day of Vancouver Free Press describes the lyrics as being mostly a "repetitive chant". Ultimate Classic Rock critic Mike Duquette describes the theme as "a man going insane in a post-apocalyptic world." Sting regards the song as having a post-apocalyptic vision, something it shares with an earlier Police song, "Bring on