Every Breath You Take (song)

From PoliceWiki
"Every Breath You Take"
Every Breath You Take single cover
Every Breath You Take UK promotional poster
Recorded by The Police
Released: 1983-05-20 (UK)

1983-06-25 (Japan)

Recorded: 1982/1983
Length: 4:13
Album(s): Synchronicity
Label(s): A&M
Writer(s): Sting
Producer(s): Hugh Padgham & The Police
Studio(s): AIR Studios, Montserrat
Released as single? YES

"Every Breath You Take" is a song written by Sting and recorded by The Police in 1983/1984..

About the song

Writing

Sting wrote the song at Ian Fleming's "Goldeneye" residence on Jamaica around May / June 1982.

Utopia demo

On 1982-10-08 he recorded a demo at Utopia Studios in London, England, UK, lasting 4:01 minutes.

Instead of the guitar arpeggio that Andy Summers later thought of there was a catchy hammond-like keyboard pattern played on an Oberheim OB X, performed to a rather primitive drum machine track from the Oberheim.

The vocals were already in place. The bridge had two beats with Sting playing a D7 instead of the later Cadd9 / Dadd9 chords.

Montserrat recording

For the recording of Synchronicity Hugh Padgham used the same methods as on Ghost In The Machine. Stewart Copeland's drums were placed in the dining area of AIR Studios, while Andy Summers played his guitar in the main studio recording room and Sting's bass was plugged into the recording console in the control room.

Recording Every Breath You Take took about a week because of the simplicity of the song. On Montserrat it was agreed that the demo version's keyboards would go; they tried the song as a reggae, as a more "rock" track and whatnot, before Andy Summers came up with THAT guitar part.

Hugh Padgham used a SM57 for the snare, Sennheiser 421s for the toms, Coles 4038 ribbon mics for the overheads and Neumann 87s as room mics (placed about 10-15 feet away).

Originally the band intended to record the backing track the normal way with a band performance first - and Stewart's drums in one take. Hugh Padgham recalls that Stewart messed up lots of takes and didn't play as simple as Sting intended the drum part to be.

So all of the percussive elements were recorded separately. The bass drum is an Oberheim DMX bass drum. Stewart had a snare (tightened as much as it could be) at his left hand and a huge TAMA tom-tom at his right hand - playing those while standing. He overdubbed snare beats so that every hit felt right. He later added the hi-hat with a 300-millisecond delay, gong and cymbal played with mallets, overdubbed toms also played with mallets.

Sting alternated between a DI'd 1962 Fender Jazz Bass and a Steinberger L2 bass, also using "Brian" - the Dutch upright electric double bass - doubling the root notes.

Andy Summers used several guitars with different setups. For his 1961 Fender Telecaster, Stratocaster and Gibson ES-335 lefthand he used a Roland JCI20 Jazz Chorus amp - with the chorus always switched on. The amp's 12-inch speakers were miked with a Sennheiser 421 each. Andy also used the Roland guitar synths to produce keyboard-like sounds. The guitar signal would be split between the yellow and blue synths. Each one would go through 100 Watt Marshall amps with 4x12 cabinets.

Sting played the grand piano parts in the middle and second verse. The band also used some Prophet and Oberheim synthesizer sounds to record the song.

Sting sang his vocals in the control room with an AKG 414 compressed through a UREI 1176.

Recording was done with the Neve 8078 console on 24 analogue tracks.

The song was mixed at Le Studio in mid-January 1983 on an SSL console. Stewart and Sting still fought over additions / deletions of single tracks. An alternate 4:03 minute mix of the well known song was done by Hugh Padgham on 1983-01-10 - this featured variations like a count-in by Sting and louder piano at the end. The unedited (and unreleased) length of the official studio LP take would last 5:42 minutes - same structure, but the coda goes on and on !

Outtake

On 1982-12-06 The Police recorded a rough early version of 5:17 minutes that can be found on the Synchronicity box set (released on 2024-07-26).

Alternate Mix

In 1983-01-10 Hugh Padgham mixed an alternate version of this song minutes that lasts 4:03 minutes and can also be found on the Synchronicity box set (released on 2024-07-26).

It features a short count-in by Sting. There are more synths in the first verse. Sting's "baby, baby, pleeeease" lyrics can be heard much longer. Piano parts are mixed differently - this version features an unheard piano part over the coda. The coda fades out earlier than the one from the LP version.

LP version

The LP version we all know lasts 4:13 minutes. Its unedited version (with an almost never-ending coda) would run 5:42 minutes.

Instrumental version

Every Breath You Take (backing track) was already released as a Japanese b-side in 1983 with 4:05 minutes running time. A shorter version was released on a Record Store Day 7" on 2023-04-22. It can now also be found on CD in the Synchronicity box set that was released on 2024-07-26.

Personnel

Release History

Albums

Every Breath You Take appears on the following album releases:

Cover art Album title Release date Release country
Police-album-synchronicity.jpg Synchronicity 1983-06-01 USA
Police-album-messageinaboxthecompleterecordings.jpg Message In A Box: The Complete Recordings 1993-MM-DD UK

Singles

CD Singles

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

7" Singles

Cover art Catalog no. A-side song/B-side song Release date Release country
Breath.jpg AM 117 "Every Breath You Take"/"Murder By Numbers" 1983-05-20 UK
Breath pic.jpg AMX 117 "Every Breath You Take"/"Murder By Numbers" 1983-05-27 UK
Breath double.jpg AM 117 + AM*01 "Every Breath You Take"/"Murder By Numbers"/"Man In A Suitcase (live)"/"Truth Hits Everybody (remix)" 1983-06-03 UK
2023 RSD Every Breath You Take.jpg 487 142-2 Every Breath You Take / Murder By Numbers / Every Bomb You Make / Every Breath You Take (instrumental) 2023-04-22 worldwide

12" Singles

Cover art Catalog no. A-side song(s)/B-side song(s) Release date Release country
Stub.gif Catalog no. "A-side song"/"B-side song" (add more songs as necessary) YYYY-MM-DD Country

Video

"Every Breath You Take" appears on the following video and dvd releases:

Cover art Video title Release date Release country
Police-everybreathyoutakethevideo.jpg Every Breath You Take: The Videos 1986-MM-DD Country
Police-everybreathyoutakethedvd.jpg Every Breath You Take: The DVD 2003-04-07 Country

Awards, nominations, and certifications

Awards

This section needs more information.

Year Winner Award Category
YYYY WINNER (album, song, producer, etc.) AWARD (Grammy, People's Choice, etc.) CATEGORY

Nominations

This section needs more information.

Year Nominee Award Category
YYYY NOMINEE (album, song, producer, etc.) AWARD (Grammy, People's Choice, etc.) CATEGORY

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.

Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
Ill be watching you

Every single day
Every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
Ill be watching you

Oh, cant you see
You belong to me
How my poor heart aches
With every step you take

Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
Ill be watching you

Since youve gone I been lost without a trace
I dream at night I can only see your face
I look around but its you I cant replace
I feel so cold and I long for your embrace
I keep crying baby, baby, please...

Oh, cant you see
You belong to me
How my poor heart aches
With every breath you take

Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake
Every claim you stake
Ill be watching you

Every move you make
Every step you take
Ill be watching you

Ill be watching you
Ill be watching you
Ill be watching you
Ill be watching you...


Quotations and trivia

According to a source close to Paul Simon his song Slip Slidin' Away was an influence for Sting, when he wrote Every Breath You Take (as Sting once mentioned it to Paul)....

A snare beat sample from this track would later be used by producer Bryan Loren for We'll Be Together.

Ads

UK ads:

1983 05 21 Record Mirror Breath ad.jpg 1983 05 21 NME Breath ad.jpg 1983 05 21 Sounds Breath ad.jpg 1983 05 26 Smash Hits Breath ad.jpg

Alternative and cover versions

Alternative versions

Cover art Catalog no. A-side song/B-side song Release date Release country
Japanese Backing Track single.jpg AMP-782 "Every Breath You Take (backing track)"/"Roxanne (backing track)" 1983-MM-DD Japan
  • Sting's original demo was recorded at Utopia Studios in London - his vocals were accompanied by a Hammond organ.
  • In an early mix from AIR Studios Sting counts the song in. The structure and instrumentation sound like the LP version, however during the shorter fade-out there's an additional piano part and the additional guitars that kick in at the LP version's 3:25 mark are not there yet
  • Sting has been known to sing 'every cake you bake' and various other goofy lines in the last chorus.

Cover versions

Cover versions of Every Breath You Take appear on the following album releases:

Cover art Artist Album title Release date Release country
40px Tammy Wynette & Sting Without Walls 1994-10-18 UK
Reggatta Mondatta.jpg Betty Wright Reggatta Mondatta 1997-MM-DD The Netherlands
Policia cover.jpg Copeland Policia! A Tribute To The Police 2005-MM-DD USA
40px Dolly Parton & Sting Rockstar 2023-11-27 USA
  • This song was performed live on American Idol season 7 (original air date March 31, 2008) by contestant Brooke White. She sang with only her playing along on piano.
  • This song was also sampled by Puff Daddy "Sean Combs" for his song, I'll be missing you, a tribute song to his rapper friend The Notorious B.I.G. who was murdered back in the 90s.
  • The song was also covered in 2004 by UB40 for the movie "50 First Dates" Soundtrack.

See also

This section needs more information.

External links

References

  • Police, The. Synchronicity. (1983) [Audio recording], A&M Records.
  • 1988-02 Keyboard
  • Sound on Sound - March 2004 (demo and recording info)
  • Jeff Seitz
  • Jay Matsueda (Paul Simon trivia)
  • Fabio Trentini (demo info after listening to Pete Smith's tapes)