Every Breath You Take

Requested by milesaway1015...pls. enjoy!!!

11:24, 12 November 2009 (UTC)11:24, 12 November 2009 (UTC)11:24, 12 November 2009 (UTC)11:24, 12 November 2009 (UTC)11:24, 12 November 2009 (UTC)11:24, 12 November 2009 (UTC)11:24, 12 November 2009 (UTC)
"Every Breath You Take" is a song by The Police on the band's 1983 album Synchronicity, written by Sting. The single was one of the biggest of 1983, topping the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for eight weeks and the UK Singles Chart for four weeks. It also topped the Billboard Top Tracks chart for nine weeks. Sting won Song of the Year and The Police won Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the Grammy Awards of 1984 for "Every Breath You Take". The song ranked #84 on the Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and #25 on Billboard's Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs.

The track was written during the collapse of Sting's marriage to Frances Tomelty; the lyrics are the words of a sinister, controlling character, who is watching "every breath you take; every move you make".

I woke up in the middle of the night with that line in my head, sat down at the piano and had written it in half an hour. The tune itself is generic, an aggregate of hundreds of others, but the words are interesting. It sounds like a comforting love song. I didn't realise at the time how sinister it is. I think I was thinking of Big Brother, surveillance and control.
—Sting
Sting later said he was disconcerted by how many people think the song is more positive than it is. He insists it's about unrequited love (the song was written at the time he and his then wife divorced), about the obsession with the lost lover, the jealousy and surveillance that followed. "One couple told me 'Oh we love that song; it was the main song played at our wedding!' I thought, Well, good luck."[cite this quote] When asked why he appears angry in the music video Sting told BBC Radio 2, "I think the song is very, very sinister and ugly and people have misinterpreted it as being a gentle, little love song."

According to the Back to Mono box-set book, "Every Breath You Take" is said to be influenced by a Gene Pitney song titled "Every Breath I Take". The song is composed in Classical rondo form with its ABACABA structure. The lyrics are very similar to the opening lines of a short story by science fiction author Judith Merrill titled "Whoever You Are". The chorus appears to borrow heavily from the Leo Sayer track, "More Than I Can Say", recorded a couple of years before. As Sting admits to borrowing ideas (see 'So Lonely - 'No woman no cry' link), this is feasible. (Steve Gad) The lyrics "Every breath I take" and "Every move I make", with the replacement of I with you, appear in the song "D'yer Mak'er" by Led Zeppelin.

"Every Breath You Take" is played by Sting on double bass and lead vocals, Andy Summers on electric guitar, piano and backing vocals, Stewart Copeland on drums and backing vocals, and a group of four violinists.

The demo of the song originally featured a synthesizer. While recording, Summers came up with a guitar part inspired by Béla Bartók that would later become a trademark lick, and played it straight through in one take. He was asked to put guitar onto what was to him an already finished song and just played what came to mind. As he finished his take, everyone in the control room burst into applause.
The song has been covered by artists including UB40, Tina Arena, Juliana Hatfield, Millencolin, and Copeland. "Weird Al" Yankovic included a polka interpretation in his medley "Polkas on 45". Mexican singer Yuridia remade the song as "Siempre Te Amaré" for her covers album, Habla el Corazón. Also, a cover version of the song is used extensively in the 1985 film "Cat's Eye." The song was also covered in 2004 by UB40 for the "50 First Dates" Soundtrack. A cover by Mason Dixon reached #69 on the Hot Country Songs charts in 1983.

Sting also riffs on the lyrics in his song Love Is the Seventh Wave, singing "Every breath you take/every move you make/every cake you bake/every leg you break..."

In 1999, "Every Breath You Take" was listed as one of the Top 100 Songs of the Century by BMI.[7][8] In 2003, VH1 ranked the song the #2 greatest Break-up song of all time. And also as of 2003, Sting was still taking in an average of $2000 per day in royalties for the then 20-year-old song "Every Breath You Take."

In October 2007, Sting was awarded a Million-Air certificate for 9 million airplays of "Every Breath You Take" at the prestigious BMI Awards show in London, England with only Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" a close second at 8 million air plays.

This song was also featured by in October 2008 Nintendo music simulation game, Wii Music.

The song's opening riff formed the basis for the Puff Daddy hit, I'll Be Missing You, a tribute to slain rapper [[The Notorious B.I.G.). When the song was played at that year's MTV Video Awards, Sting joined in alongside Puff Daddy and Faith Evans.