Songs That Changed Music: The Police - Every Breath You Take
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Published 2021-03-23
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The Police were old hands at the chart-topping game by the time they released their fifth album. They named the new one after a philosophical concept by the psychiatrist Carl Jung. Synchronicity, released on 17 June 1983, became their fourth UK No. 1 LP in a row when it went straight to the top of the chart dated eight days later. Little did their millions of fans know it would be their final studio album.
Included on the album is the bands iconic song, Every Breath You Take.
Although often thought of as a love song, the lyrics are the words of a possessive lover who is watching “every breath you take; every move you make”.
Sting later said he was disconcerted by how many people think it is a positive song. He insists it is about the obsession with a lost lover, and the jealousy that follows.
The demo was recorded in an eight-track suite in London’s Utopia studios and featured Sting singing over a Hammond organ.
A few months later, he presented it to his bandmates in Montserrat. While recording, Andy Summers came up with a guitar part inspired by Béla Bartók, that would later become the famous riff, and played it in one take. He was asked to put guitar onto a simple backing track, with Sting offering no directive beyond “make it your own.”
The song is considered to be both The Police’s and Sting’s signature song, and in 2010 was estimated to bring in between a quarter and a third of Sting’s music publishing income.
In the US, it was the best-selling single of 1983 and fifth-best-selling single of the decade.
The song ranked number 84 on the Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
In 2015, the song was voted by the British public as the nation’s favourite 1980s number one in a poll for ITV. It topped both the UK and US charts, and was number one for nine weeks in the latter.
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All Comments (21)
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What other songs do you think changed music?
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What a classic guitar riff!! Andy Summers is the man and he made this song a hit!
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It was HUGE. I remember my aunt pointing out the fingers sliding on strings during the changes. Brilliant record.
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The first time I heard this song as a child that summer of 1983, that guitar riff streamed out of every open window in every house. The metronomic guitar riff sounded so natural and familiar, almost inevitable, as if it just descended out of the ether one balmy July afternoon and had always been playing, just waiting for the world to hear it.
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Rick Beato will implode when he sees this.
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The #1 song for 1983 and probably the greatest swan song ending for a band in Rock and Roll history.
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How much great music, with such great production The Police managed to put out in such a short period of time. Their small catalogue, its complete brilliance can take you years to fully realize.
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Incredible that they could create a masterpiece with all that tension, maybe all that tension is why it's a masterpiece?
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Every stretch make, every ligament you break . My guitar player hated this song .
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This is one of those songs that will always bring me to a specific time and place. Small town New Hampshire, summer of '83, high school coming to an end and no idea what to do with my life. So many years later this brooding, beautiful song stirs up those same emotions of anxiety and fear juxtaposed with the beautiful New England summer. It's amazing how music can trigger deep memories and emotions all across our lives.
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They mixed so many different styles effortlessly. They are worthy of the praise they received
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Woooo this song was in HEAVY rotation for the summer of 1983, good memories.
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This fantastic song always sent a shiver down my spine, and I always cringed at those happy cover versions that just don't get it.
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I can't listen to this without seeing the Spitting Image video.
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These "songs that changed music" videos are just great. It's really interesting stuff.
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i can't stand the sight of the self-absorbed Sting, but what a musical genius he was (yes, was)
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This is one of the first videos I remember seeing on MTV as a kid. I remember being hypnotized by it. I think it's in my DNA now.
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The King of Rock'n'Roll, Prefab Sprout
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Can't thank you enough for profiling another song from my all-time favorite band.
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I believe Andy recorded his parts on the first take. Legend.
