May 20 – An Anthem For Stalkers And Lovebirds Alike

Yesterday we looked at the musical fallout of two great musicians and friends, Eric Clapton and George Harrison who fell in love with the same girl . Today the musical fallout of a great musician falling in love with two best friends…at different times. A messy situation, but one which turned into a goldmine…for Sting, and The Police. Their signature tune, “Every Breath You Take”, was released on this day in 1983, about a month ahead of their massive Synchronicity album from which it was taken.

Sting had written the song the year before. At the time he was splitting up from his wife, Frances, but already was in a relationship with her best friend, Trudie… who happened to live next door! Things were undoubtedly a bit tense. Sting says “I woke up in the middle of the night with (the title line) in my head, sat down at the piano and had it written in half an hour.” Melody and lyrics, which he concedes “sounds like a comforting little love song. I didn’t realize at the time how sinister it was.” He recorded a demo in England, and a few months later presented it to the band while recording the album in Montserrat.

Guitarist Andy Summers remembers hearing the demo, which Sting had mainly done playing a Hammond organ. “Sting wrote a very good song, but there was no guitar in it… it sounds like Billy Preston.” He added “we spent about six weeks just recording the snare drum and the bass (then) Sting said ‘go make it your own.’ I went and stuck in that lick, and immeidately we knew it – we had something special!”

He was certainly right about that. The song quickly rose to the top of the charts, and dominated pop/rock radio that summer. At home in the UK, (as well as Ireland) it became the band’s fifth #1 song; in Canada their second. In the all-important U.S. market it was their one and only chart-topper… but it made up for a lot of lost ground, staying at #1 for eight weeks there and being not only the biggest single of the year, but the fifth biggest of the entire decade. It helped push Synchronicity to 8X platinum status in the States, and won them Grammys for Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a group or duo.

Of course, those who listen to the lyrics might well take it as a rather ominous, “stalker” type song rather than a simple little love song. Its writer agrees. “I think the song is very, very sinister,” he told the BBC years later, “and ugly. People have actually misinterpreted it as a little love song when it’s actually quite the opposite.” Sinister and ugly or not, it’s been lucrative! It’s estimated it earns one-third of Sting’s total music publishing royalties and in 2019 was declared the Most Played Song Of All-time on radio by BMI.

Sting did perhaps try to make amends a little down the road. His first solo hit was the opposing position, if you will, written as an answer to himself : “If You Love Somebody (Set Them Free)”.