♫ Every Breath You Take ♫

Posted on by under music
Sting

Sting … aren’t you s’posed to wear a shirt with that tie?

I did not know The Police were British.  I know, I know … what rock did I grow up under, right?  Anyway, I was cruising about, looking for a song to play tonight, and I came across this one … one of those I had not thought of nor heard in years.  Now, to add to your mirth at my ignorance, I did not know this song was written by Sting, and … wait for it … I did not know that Sting was a person, Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, but rather thought it was a band.  Okay … go ahead and laugh at my ignorance … I’ll wait …

tapping-foot

Now, can I proceed?

This was the biggest U.S. and UK hit of 1983, and was nominated for three Grammy awards at the 26th Annual Grammy Awards in 1984, winning two of the three categories.  The song is considered to be both the Police’s and Sting’s signature song, and in 2010 was estimated to generate between a quarter and a third of Sting’s music publishing income.

At the risk of further showing my ignorance, I rather thought the song was about a guy who loved his girl so much that he couldn’t stand to let her out of his sight.  Turns out, I was wrong again.  According to the song’s writer …

“I think it’s a nasty little song, really rather evil. It’s about jealousy and surveillance and ownership. I think the ambiguity is intrinsic in the song however you treat it because the words are so sadistic. On one level, it’s a nice long song with the classic relative minor chords, and underneath there’s this distasteful character talking about watching every move. I enjoy that ambiguity. I watched Andy Gibb singing it with some girl on TV a couple of weeks ago, very loving, and totally misinterpreting it. I could still hear the words, which aren’t about love at all. I pissed myself laughing.”

I’m thinking I don’t like Mr. Sting very much, but I still like this song.

Every Breath You Take
The Police

Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I’ll be watching you

Every single day
Every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
I’ll be watching you

Oh can’t you see
You belong to me
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
I’ll be watching you

Since you’ve gone I been lost without a trace
I dream at night I can only see your face
I look around but it’s you I can’t replace
I feel so cold and I long for your embrace
I keep crying baby, baby, please

Oh can’t you see
You belong to me
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
I’ll be watching you
Every move you make
Every step you take
I’ll be watching you

I’ll be watching you
(Every breath you take, every move you make, every bond you break, every step you take)
I’ll be watching you
(Every single day, every word you say, every game you play, every night you stay)
I’ll be watching you
(Every move you make, every vow you break, every smile you fake, every claim you stake)
I’ll be watching you
(Every single day, every word you say, every game you play, every night you stay)
I’ll be watching you
(Every breath you take, every move you make, every bond you break, every step you take)
I’ll be watching you
(Every single day, every word you say, every game you play, every night you stay)
I’ll be watching you

Songwriters: Gordon Sumner
Every Breath You Take lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

 

44 thoughts on “♫ Every Breath You Take ♫”

  1. Oh I never suffered any delusions about a song with words like this but I love the way it plays. It was used in one of the soaps, I believe Young and the Restless or General Hospital for a stalker series. Sting is sexy. Or was. Ahhh the 80’s.

    Liked by 2 people

  3. Back in 1983, I was having an affair with a married man (I was married too… newly married but very unhappily) … & “Every Breath You Take” was OUR SONG. I know it was a “nasty little song” about ownership & stalking & yadda yadda yadda but we were in love & …. at the time, I was a dancer in a strip club & he would come & watch me & so … it was quite apropos. To this day, when I hear that bass line, I fall back into the emotion of those days … & I might even start to cry. I really loved him. I still do.

    Liked by 2 people

  5. Like the Eurhythmics Great Dreams Are Made of This, this is oneof the two worst songs of the feminist era. I would throw in Joe Cocker’s Leave Your Hat On, but that might really get the girls riled up at me. How people could not see it for what is was, I’ll never know. It was blatantly obvious. I turned off the radio every time it came on.

    Liked by 2 people

    • I know of “Great Dreams Are Made of This”, but don’t believe I’ve heard the one by Joe Cocker … perhaps if I listen to it I’ll recognize it. “Every Breath You Take” isn’t a huge favourite of mine, but I rather like the tempo of it. Needless to say, I had no idea it was about a stalker. I blame it on my poor hearing! 😉

      Like

      • I would say almost no one listened to the words, or blinded themselves to their content. I heard the intent because I am hung up on words. Otherwise I might have missed the meaning just like most people.

        Liked by 1 person

            • It seems that too many things go with old age, not the least of which is memory. A couple of weeks ago, we started off on a Sunday afternoon to have a late lunch at TGI Fridays, which is about 3 miles from where we live, and right across from the Target store we go to at least twice a month, so it wasn’t a place that was unfamiliar to me. But, when I pulled onto our street, suddenly I could not remember how to get there … the harder I thought, the more I came up blank. It was frightening. It hasn’t happened since, so hopefully it was just a one-off, but that day I was convinced I must have Alzheimer’s!

              Like

              • At least you remembered where you wanted to go. Wait until you start the car and have no idea where you are heading. If you are alone, turn off the car, go back inside the house, and get into bed. Anything else could spell disaster.

                Liked by 1 person

                • Hmmm … I think if that were ever to happen I’d just drive on until I found a cliff to drive off of … but only if I were alone, of course. I’ve long said that I will deal with the loss of physical things, but once I find I am losing the ability to think, to read a book and understand it, to carry on a sensible conversation, then I’m outta here.

                  Like

  6. Jill, there is a humorous radio host named Shari Lynch that defined this song for me. There was a news report that said this song was being used as a wedding song. She cut in and shouted, “But, it’s a stalker song!” She then supported her argument with certain lines from the song. I was blissfully unaware, as were the wedding couples, but remember her setting her audience straight, including me. Keith

    Liked by 2 people

    • This was news to me, too, and I did not know, until Jerry commented, that it was played at weddings! But then, the last wedding I attended was in 1996, and that was the first one since sometime in the 1970s. I don’t do weddings 😉

      Like

  8. Sadly, I must ask myself “What Kind of Fool” am I to believe “Promises” when instead you “Send in the Clowns” and I have “No More Tears” left to shed!?! While Police has some very rich clowns, their problems getting along as their fame rose caused 1983’s “Synchronicity” which features this song to be their final studio album. It may be their peak and their ending, as by 1986 they went onto separate careers. Their 30th Anniversary Reunion Tour in 2007-2008 ended in August at Madison Square Garden in New York City…attended by my Son, a fan! He loves this song and had once told me that it has been equated with police surveillance methods (like ankle bracelets) and that Sting had not meant it as a love song. All in all, this misunderstood song is not what I had hoped to hear today! Thank-you, anyway!

    Liked by 2 people

    • Stay tuned, Ellen … I will be expecting you to provide some trivia on tomorrow’s (Saturday’s) music post! And did you see poor Joyroses’ comment on this song? I feel bad … I shattered her image of the song.

      Like

  10. Oh gosh! You may have just ruined the song for me, LOL! I am going to pretend I didn’t read what Sting said about the song! 🙂 To me its a beautiful love song and I will just hide in my hole and believe that, and take my stuffie with me 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

Comments are closed.