The Police ~ Every Breath You Take 1983 Purrfection Version

The original release topped the charts from the week ending July 9, 1983 to the week ending August 27, 1983. “Every Breath You Take“ was written by Sting in 1982 after his marriage ended when he began an affair with his wife’s best friend, Trudie Styler, who lived next door. The divorce proceedings were acrimonious and Sting incurred the wrath of public opinion for his indiscretion. To escape the pressure, he took a flight to the Caribbean to relax and consider his situation. Using Gene Pitney’s “Every Breath I Take“ as an inspiration, his ennui creatively manifested itself in the lyrics he wrote from the view of an “obsessed jealous lover“. Upon returning to London, Sting recorded a demo version using a Hammond organ and presented it to the band. Andy Summers came up with a guitar riff inspired by Béla Bartòk and he played it all through in one amazing take. The sessions for “Every Breath You Take“ were labouriously detailed, taking six weeks just to get the bass and drum tracks down. Every Police LP had been an improvement over the last and the pressure to one up themselves on “Synchonicity“ led the band, specifically Copeland and Sting, to bicker instead of collaborate. They could not agree on how to complete the song and tensions flared resulting in verbal and physical altercations that were cooled by band manager Miles Copeland. Stewart Copeland believes that this is the best song Sting has ever written, but disliked the arrangement, stating “there’s an utter lack of groove“ and that “it’s a totally wasted opportunity“. To me the gentle guitars, pulsing bass and complex drum track create a warm, comforting instrumental backing that belie the sinister lyrics. I think that the song accurately depicts the anguish one feels when first falling in love, the lack of confidence and the obsession that sometimes follows. The song became the best selling single of 1983 and became the Police’s signature tune. The cracks that appeared during the Synchronicity sessions became a chasm leading to the dissolution of the band when Copeland injured himself breaking his collarbone, rendering him unable to play the drums. Sting had already began his solo career in earnest at this time, with Andy Summers noting that Copeland’s injury prevented the band from jamming together and dashed any hopes of recording together. There is a happy ending here as they reunited in 2007 for the 49th Annual Grammy Awards and rocked the house with “Roxanne“. In 2015, the Cuepoint website confirmed with Summers that Sting, Copeland and he are good friends. “Despite the general press thing about ’God, they hate each other,’ it’s actually not true, we’re very supportive of one another.“ says Summers. “We had something together that we’ll never have with anyone else. And you have to cherish that.“ Well stated! Read that article here