My favorite rock group of all time is the police, however the song "King of Pain" what was it about?

Question

I listen to the words over and over and it seems to me like he's talking about he's in hell by some of the sad and bizzare things that he sees. There's a skeleton choking on a crust of bread, There's a salmon stuck up in a waterfall, and he keeps asking "Is my soul up there?" You guys remember "King of Pain" by the Police, I have the greatest hits but I remember when this song came out I'm 29 years old. This song though when I was young was creepy, plus as a child I had a high imagination..."Swamp Thing, Poltergeist, Alien, Dune, Clockwork Orange, a lot of bizzare and scary sh*t from the 80's man for real. Anyway, back to this song, what is Sting and the Police talking about with this whole song?

Answer 1

When Sting was writing the songs for the Police's last album "Synchronicity", his first wife dumped him, and he wasn't getting along well with the other two band members. Plus he probably had other issues.
My interpretation of "King of Pain" is that Sting at some point went into a psychotic break caused by the above, primarily the divorce.
Two other songs on the album are directed at his former wife: in "Every Breath You Take" he's getting back at her for dumping him, showing his dark side or "shadow", a Jungian psychology term, thus the name of the album, the Jungian term "synchronicity".
Also, in "Wrapped Around Your Fingers" he's obviously singing about how he felt that his wife had him wrapped around her fingers emotionally, but by the last verse he has HER wrapped around HIS fingers. Another revenge song.
And in "Murder by Numbers" he might actually be fantasizing about the ultimate revenge for dumping him, murdering her.
Fun stuff, huh?

Answer 2

It was basically one of the most popular songs about martyrdom of the 80's..."emo" would be a good definition too.

Answer 3

I think you are going too deep, we always took it as a "breakup" song with weird lyrics!