If You Love Somebody Set Them Free
| "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" | ||||
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| Single by Sting | ||||
| from the album The Dream of the Blue Turtles | ||||
| B-side | Another Day | |||
| Released | July 9, 1985 | |||
| Format | 7", 12" | |||
| Genre | Pop rock | |||
| Length | 4:14 | |||
| Label | A&M | |||
| Producer | Sting and Peter Smith | |||
| Sting singles chronology | ||||
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"If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" is the first single released from Sting's solo debut album The Dream of the Blue Turtles. It is also the opening track of the album, and is featured on Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984-1994 as well as The Very Best of Sting & The Police. The song's title refers to an aphorism by Richard Bach.[citation needed]
[edit] Song information
Like much of the album, the song has heavy jazz influences, and was a major hit, peaking at number one on the US Album Rock Tracks chart for three weeks. On the US pop chart it peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100, number 17 on the US R&B chart,[1], and number 26 on the UK Singles Chart.[2]
Live performances of the song are featured on the DVD edition of Bring On the Night and on the CD and DVD editions of ...All This Time.
A portion of the song was later used for Sting's 1987 hit "We'll Be Together" from ...Nothing Like the Sun.
The song was also performed at The Brits in February 1995 with M People. He duetted on the song with the band's lead singer, Heather Small and this track was given the dance treatment by the band who were also backed by a 100-strong Gospel Choir at the Earls Court Arena during the annual music awards show.
Sting said that he wrote the song as an "antidote" to the Police's 1983 song "Every Breath You Take."[3] The song was also lampooned by the Dead Milkmen in the song "If You Love Somebody, Set Them on Fire," from their 1990 album Metaphysical Graffiti.
[edit] Single release
The single contains two remixes of the song: the "Jellybean Mix" by John 'Jellybean' Benitez, and the "Torch Mix" by William Orbit of Torch Song. It also contains one other song called "Another Day," which appeared on Sting's live album Bring On the Night. The version of "Another Day" that appears on the live album is not the version which appears as the B-Side of "If Love Somebody Set Them Free". The B-Side version is a studio recording.
The video was shot in Paris.
[edit] References
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 552.
- ^ Sting in the UK Charts, The Official Charts.
- ^ sting.com official site
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