Message In A Bottle (song)

"Message In A Bottle"
US single cover
Recorded by The Police
Released:	1979-09-07
Recorded:	1979
Length:	4:51
Album(s):	Reggatta de Blanc
Label(s):	A&M
Writer(s):	Sting
Producer(s):	Stewart Copeland, Sting, Andy Summers, Nigel Gray
Studio(s):	A&M
Released as single?	YES

"Message In A Bottle" is a song written by Sting and recorded by The Police in 1979.

About the song

Sting mentioned several times that he wrote the riff in the back of a van en route from Düsseldorf to Nuremberg / somewhere else on his black Stratocaster.

Sting probably refers to 1978-05-27 when they drove from Düsseldorf to Munich after an afternoon concert in Düsseldorf. (although my personal assumption was that the black Stratocaster was bought later that year in New York)

The description doesn't quite match the 1979-01-12 Düsseldorf concert. The band drove to Hamburg afterwards in a huge bus. There would have been very little time to develop the song until its live debut on 1979-02-21 at Hatfield Polytechnic.

Personnel

• Sting – bass guitar, vocals
• Andy Summers – guitar
• Stewart Copeland – drums, vocals

Ads

This ad was printed in Record Mirror / NME / Melody Maker (September 15, 1979):

Release History

Albums

"Message In A Bottle" appears on the following album releases:

Cover art	Album title	Release date	Release country
	Reggatta de Blanc	1979-10-02	United Kingdom
	Every Breath You Take: The Singles	1986	United Kingdom
	Greatest Hits	1992-10-02	United Kingdom
	Message In A Box: The Complete Recordings	1993-09-30	United Kingdom
	The Police Live!	1995-06-13	United Kingdom
	Every Breath You Take: The Classics	1995-09-12	United States
	The Police	2007-06-11	United States

Singles

CD Singles

Cover art	Catalog no.	Songs	Release date	Release country
	Catalog no.	"Song"(s)	YYYY-MM-DD	Country

7" Singles

Cover art	Catalog no.	A-side song/B-side song	Release date	Release country
	A&M 2190	"Message In A Bottle"/"Landlord (live)"	1979	United States
	AMS 7474	"Message In A Bottle"/"Landlord"/"Message In A Bottle" (new classic rock mix)/"Message In A Bottle" (instrumental)	2019-04-13	worldwide

12" Singles

Cover art	Catalog no.	A-side song(s)/B-side song(s)	Release date	Release country
	SAMP 5	"The Bed's Too Big Without You"/"So Lonely"/"Can't Stand Losing You"/"Roxanne"/"Message In A Bottle"/"Walking On The Moon"	1980-MM-DD	UK

Video

"Message In A Bottle" appears on the following video and dvd releases:

Cover art	Video title	Release date	Release country
	Around the World	1983-02-01	United Kingdom
	Outlandos to Synchronicities: A History of The Police Live!	1995-05-01	United Kingdom
	Live Ghost In The Machine	2001-10-01	Japan

Certifications

This section needs more information.

Country	Certifier	Classification	Certification
COUNTRY	CERTIFIER (RIAA, IFPI...)	CLASSIFICATION (Album, singles, foreign artist...)	CERTIFICATION (Gold, Platinum, Diamond...)

Lyrics

Lyrics are property and copyright of their owners, and provided here for educational purposes only.

Just a castaway
An island lost at sea
Another lonely day
With no one here but me
More loneliness
Than any man could bear
Rescue me before I fall into despair

I'll send an SOS to the world
I'll send an SOS to the world
I hope that someone gets my
I hope that someone gets my
I hope that someone gets my
Message in a bottle

A year has passed since I wrote my note
But I should have known this right from the start
Only hope can keep me together
Love can mend your life
But love can break your heart

I'll send an SOS to the world
I'll send an SOS to the world
I hope that someone gets my
I hope that someone gets my
I hope that someone gets my
Message in a bottle

Walked out this morning
Don't believe what I saw
A hundred billion bottles
Washed up on the shore
Seems I'm not alone at being alone
A hundred billion castaways
Looking for a home

I'll send an SOS to the world
I'll send an SOS to the world
I hope that someone gets my
I hope that someone gets my
I hope that someone gets my
Message in a bottle

Quotations and trivia

The original band photo on the UK's 7" single cover was shot by James Wedge. Rod Shone took the other two photos - the front cover one with broken glass on top of a print of James Wedge's photo - and the back cover photo. Both were done in a great hurry at the offices of A&M Records. The water on the reverse was in a white photographic tray and the waves were made by using an air brush to make a quick flow of air which disturbed the water . Rod Shone used a Vivitar flash held off camera and a Hasselblad camera.The writing on the paper is the handwriting of A&M art director Mike Ross. The green colour was achieved by putting a green gel (a clear coloured plastic material) over the light source.

Alternative and cover versions

Alternative versions

• the single version is only 3:50 minutes long

• Message In A Bottle (new classic rock mix) - this new mix was used on 1995 best of CDs in the USA (an in-house CD-R acetate from A&M in the UK uses the original name 'Phil Nicolo '95 Remix' for the same mix) and appeared again on the 2019-04-13 Record Store Day 2 x 7" single release

• Message In A Bottle (live - as released on the star shaped picture disc, Wrapped Around Your Finger 12" records and on Message In A Box: The Complete Recordings) - this track from the 1979-10-26 concert was heavily overdubbed with a second guitar part and completely new vocals

• Message In A Bottle (instrumental) appeared on the 2019-04-13 2 x 7" single release

Cover versions

Cover versions of Message In A Bottle appear on the following album releases:

Cover art	Artist	Album title	Release date	Release country
	Maxi Priest	Reggatta Mondatta	1997-MM-DD	The Netherlands
	Machine Head	The Burning Red	1999	USA
	Watashi Wa	Policia! A Tribute To The Police	2005-MM-DD	USA

See also

• Reggatta de Blanc

External links

This section needs more information.

References

• Police, The. Reggatta de Blanc. (1979) [Audio recording], A&M Records.
• ThePolice.com. UltraStar Entertainment LLC. 20 Jun 2008. <http://www.thepolice.com/discog/?v=so&a=2&id=188>
• Rod Shone (photo info)