Ever since its release in 1983, The Police‘s “Every Breath You Take” has been a staple of popular music. Its hypnotic guitar parts, pulsing drums and bass, and seductive vocals have kept the world’s attention for over forty years. While its insistent rhythm has an organic pull to it, the recording process for the hit was anything but natural.
It all began with Sting, who woke up in the middle of the night during a stay at GoldenEye, a luxury resort in Jamaica. Sitting at the piano, he had the words to the chorus and experimented with some colorful chords to accompany them.
“The music was based on the ninth chords that I’d already used successfully in ‘Message In A Bottle’ and ‘Da Do Do Do,’ which had become a sort of signature for me,” he said. “As most rock music is based on fourths, fifths and sevenths, the ninth chord opened up a different world of possibilities and gave this rather simple and strange song a tonal sophistication that it wouldn’t have possessed otherwise, effectively complimenting its lyrical ambiguity. It still manages to be both sinister and oddly comforting, which might explain its continuing prevalence as one of the most played songs on the radio.”
Sting took that demo to the band, who recorded it at Air Studios on Montserrat. The trio, including drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers, were on bad terms at the time, often getting into fights during the sessions. Summer took the demo and made his iconic arpeggiated guitar part, nailing the recording in one take. Most of the vitriol was between Sting and Copeland, who argued over the drums on the track.
“The drum part was composed rather than played. That was done with a click and we had a big battle about it,” he told MusicRadar. “By that time, Sting had bonded with the Oberheim hi-hat sound, which did have a hypnotic quality. I insisted on playing the hi-hat myself.”
In the end, the drums were all split up and overdubbed separately. Overdubbing is nearly universal in recording these days, but Copeland called the track an ‘outlier’ for their recording style. In fact, many of the instruments were split up over multiple tracks to create cleanliness and attack. The bass has a running eighth note pattern that’s doubled with a synth up an octave. Another bass track accents a dotted quarter and eighth note pattern to give the low end more shape.
The bridge features piano that was recorded with the chords and bass notes separate. All the layers build up to give one beautiful creation.
Get the full rundown with composer and producer Jon Mattox, who dove into the tracks inner workings as part of his “Breakdown” series:
Now dig into the score and make your own breathtaking music:
