Every Breath You Take

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For the album, see Every Breath You Take: The Singles.
"Every Breath You Take"
Song
B-side"Murder by Numbers"

"Every Breath You Take" is a song by The Police on the band's 1983 album Synchronicity, written by Sting and Andy Summers (but officially credited to Sting only). The single was one of the biggest hits of 1983, topping the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for eight weeks and the UK Singles Chart for four weeks. It also topped the Billboard Top Tracks chart for nine weeks. Sting won "Song of the Year" and The Police won "Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal" at the Grammy Awards of 1984 for "Every Breath You Take". The song ranked No. 84 on the Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and No. 25 on Billboard's Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs.[2] This song is considered to be The Police's signature song, and in 2010 was estimated to generate between a quarter and a third of Sting's music publishing income.[3]

Origins and songwriting

The lyrics are the words of a sinister, controlling character, who is watching "every breath you take; every move you make".

I woke up in the middle of the night with that line in my head, sat down at the piano and had written it in half an hour. The tune itself is generic, an aggregate of hundreds of others, but the words are interesting. It sounds like a comforting love song. I didn't realize at the time how sinister it is. I think I was thinking of Big Brother, surveillance and control.

— Sting[4]

Sting later said he was disconcerted by how many people think the song is more positive than it is. He insists it's about the obsession with a lost lover, the jealousy and surveillance that follows. "One couple told me 'Oh we love that song; it was the main song played at our wedding!' I thought, 'Well, good luck.'"[5] When asked why he appears angry in the music video Sting told BBC Radio 2, "I think the song is very, very sinister and ugly and people have actually misinterpreted it as being a gentle, little love song."[6]

According to the Back to Mono box-set book, "Every Breath You Take" is influenced by a Gene Pitney song titled "Every Breath I Take". The song's structure is a variation on the Classical rondo form with its AABACABA structure, a form rarely found in modern popular music.

"Every Breath You Take" is played by Sting on electric bass, lead vocals, synthesizer, and backing vocals; Andy Summers on electric guitar and piano; and Stewart Copeland on drums.

The demo of the song was recorded in an eight track suite in North London's Utopia studios and featured Sting singing over a Hammond organ.[7] While recording, Summers came up with a guitar part inspired by Béla Bartók that would later become a trademark lick, and played it straight through in one take. He was asked to put guitar onto a simple backing track of bass, drums, and a single vocal, with Sting offering no directive beyond "make it your own."[8]

The recording process was fraught with difficulties as personal tensions between the band members, particularly Sting and Stewart Copeland, came to the fore.[7] Producer Hugh Padgham claimed that by the time of the recording sessions, Sting and Copeland "hated each other", with verbal and physical fights in the studio common.[7] The tensions almost led to the recording sessions being cancelled until a meeting involving the band and the group's manager, Miles Copeland, resulted in an agreement to continue.[7] The drum track was largely created through separate overdubs of each percussive instrument, with the main backbeat created by simultaneously playing a snare and a gong drum.[7] Keyboard parts were added from Roland guitar synthesisers, a Prophet-5 and an Oberheim synthesiser.[7] The single-note piano in the middle eight was recommended by Padgham, inspired by similar work that he had done with the group XTC.[7]

Music video

The song had a music video (directed by duo Godley & Creme) that was praised for its black-and-white cinematography. Both MTV (1999) and VH1 (2002) named it as one of the best music videos ever, placing it 16th and 33rd in their respective top 100 lists. Daniel Pearl won the first MTV cinematography award for his work on the video.[9]

Legacy

In 1999, "Every Breath You Take" was listed as one of the Top 100 Songs of the Century by BMI.[10][11] In 2003, VH1 ranked the song the #2 greatest Break-up song of all time. And also as of 2003, Sting was still taking in an average of $2000 per day in royalties for the then 20-year-old song "Every Breath You Take."[12]

In October 2007, Sting was awarded a Million-Air certificate for 9 million airplays of "Every Breath You Take" at the prestigious BMI Awards show in London, England, with only Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" a close second at 8 million air plays.[13]

Covers versions

Six months after the release of "Every Breath You Take", singer Ray Parker, Jr. released the single "I Still Can't Get Over Loving You", the lyrics of which bore a striking similarity to "Every Breath You Take", even including the lines "Every breath you take, I'll be watching you."[14] "I Still Can't Get Over Loving You" reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1984, and was one of Billboard's Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1984.[15]

The song has been covered by artists including Dilana, UB40, Tina Arena, Juliana Hatfield, Millencolin, and Copeland.

1980s-1990s
2000s-2010s

Appearances in other media

A version of the song was used for a sequence at the end of the first series of the satirical puppet show Spitting Image in mid 1984. The title was altered to "Every Bomb You Make", and alternate lyrics were written by Quentin Reynolds and James Glen.[16] The video featured puppets of several world leaders projected over a setting sun. On the line "I'll be watching you", the puppet of Death appears. Sting himself performed the re-recording.[16]

In 1994, another parody song was recorded for Tiny Toon Adventures episode , The Tiny Toon Adventures - Spring Break Special called "I'll Be Chasing You" and it was sung by Elmyra Duff

  • Australia's Seven Network also used a cover version of the song for their bumpers and promotions in 1999.
  • This song was also featured by the 2008 Nintendo music simulation game, Wii Music.

In 2011, the song was featured in a scene from "You're Getting Old"; an episode from the fifteenth season of the animated television series South Park.[17]

In 2011 the song was used as the back drop to the presentation of Francesc "Cesc" Fàbregas as a new FC Barcelona football club player. 'Suggesting' Barcelona have been stalking Fabregas for years.

Track listing

7": A&M / AM 117
  1. "Every Breath You Take" – 4:13
  2. "Murder By Numbers" – 4:31
2x7": A&M / AM 117
  1. "Every Breath You Take" – 4:13
  2. "Murder By Numbers" – 4:31
  1. "Man In A Suitcase" (live) – 2:18
  2. "Truth Hits Everybody '83" -3:34
  • rare 2x7" single

Personnel

Chart positions

See also

References

  1. ^ RIAA Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - The Police Singles, Retrieved 2009-07-20
  2. ^ "The Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs". Billboard. 2008-09-20. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  3. ^ According to Sting's former publisher Tom Bradley. "Writing a Super Hit" by David Hepworth, The Word No. 86, April 2010, p.74
  4. ^ "Interview Date: May 1993".
  5. ^ American Top 40 broadcast with Casey Kasem.
  6. ^ "Song Library: Every Breath You Take". BBC Radio 2. Retrieved 2009-07-08. (Spoken in the second Sting audio clip.)
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Richard Buskin. "Classic Tracks: The Police's 'Every Breath You Take', Sound on Sound, March 2004". Soundonsound.com. Retrieved 2011-08-25.
  8. ^ Summers, Andy (2006). One Train Later: A Memoir, Thomas Dunne Books, pp. 323-324.
  9. ^ Fisher, Bob. "A Conversation with Daniel Pearl". International Cinematographers Guild. Retrieved 2006-10-25.
  10. ^ "Top 100 Songs of the Century". Bmi.com. 1999-12-13. Retrieved 2011-08-25.
  11. ^ "Complete list of Top 100 Songs". Archer2000.tripod.com. Retrieved 2011-08-25.
  12. ^ "CBS - 60 Minutes II 'Sting: All This Time'". CBS News. 2003-12-19.
  13. ^ "2007 BMI London Awards". Bmi.com. 2007-10-16. Retrieved 2011-08-25.
  14. ^ "Ray Parker, Jr. - I Still Can't Get Over Loving You". BackToThe80s.com. Retrieved September 12, 2010.
  15. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (8th Edition). Billboard Books. p. 480. ISBN 0-8230-7499-4.
  16. ^ a b Chester, Lewis (1986). Tooth & Claw: The Inside Story of Spitting Image. Faber and Faber. pp. 90–91. ISBN 0-571-14557-4.
  17. ^ "That's So UNFAIR! (Season 15, Episode 7) - Video Clips". South Park Studios. Retrieved 2011-08-25.
  18. ^ a b c d e f "THE POLICE - EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE (SONG)". australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
  19. ^ "Every Breath You Take THE POLICE". radio2.be. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
  20. ^ "Top Singles - Volume 38, No. 19, July 09 1983". collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
  21. ^ "Police, The: Every Breath You Take". musicline.de. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
  22. ^ "Search the Charts". irishcharts.ie. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
  23. ^ "PoliceIndice per Interprete: P". musicline.de. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
  24. ^ "SA Charts 1969 - 1989". rock.co.za. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
  25. ^ "Every Breath You Take". chartstats.com. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
  26. ^ a b c d "Billbard Singles". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
  27. ^ "CASH BOX TOP SINGLES – 1983". cashboxmagazine.com. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
  28. ^ "Certified Awards Search". bpi.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-03-07.Note: user must seek the song.
  29. ^ "GOLD & PLATINUM". riaa.com. Retrieved 2010-03-07.Note: user must seek the song.

External links

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