Friday, November 24, 2006

Every Breath You Take - The Police

"Every Breath You Take", a song written by Sting and originally performed by The Police, was first released on Synchronicity, a blockbuster 1983 album (see 1983 in music). The single was one of the biggest of 1983, topping the Billboard Music Charts (North America) for eight 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".

While the song sounds like a sedate and seemingly harmonious love ballad, it was actually written during the collapse of Sting's marriage to Frances Tomelty; the lyrics describe not well-meaning love but the motivations of a stalker, who is watching "every breath you take/every move you make". However, this fact has often gone unnoticed, or is ignored, and hence the song is often incorrectly classed as a love song. The song is an example of compound AABA form. Steve Huey of allmusic.com says: "Guitarist Andy Summers picks a nearly identical arpeggio pattern on each chord he plays, and Sting's bass line keeps a steady eighth-note pulse without much rhythmic variation."

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