'Every Breath You Take': The story of The Police's controversial classic

25 April 2025, 10:20

How The Police's 'Every Breath You Take' exploded as a pop phenomenon before it became a pariah.

The Police released just five studio albums, but each was packed with classic singles that have more than stood the test of time.

Mostly written by frontman Sting, the band scored several massive hits, including the brooding 'Every Breath You Take'.

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But do you know what the song is really about? Or which '90s hip-hop classic sample heavily sampled it?

Do you know what the song has been "cancelled" in recent years?

Read on for everything you need to know about 'Every Breath You Take'.

Who wrote 'Every Breath You Take'?

As we've already said, Sting was the main songwriter of The Police's back catalogue, and he's the sole credited songwriter on 'Every Breath You Take'.

It's not quite as simple as that though. While no-one is arguing that Sting didn't write the lyrics and melody line, guitarist Andy Summers has claimed that he should share credit thanks to his guitar work.

"It's a very contentious [topic] that is very much alive at the moment," Summers said on a podcast last year.

"That song was going in the trash until I played on it, and that's all there is to it. And I think that's composition, absolutely.

"Stewart and Sting couldn't agree on where the drums and bass were gonna sit with the song. And it wasn't going to make it onto the album."

Andy Summers from The Police talks "Every Breath You Take", Punk, The Exorcist and Telecasters

"We needed the material, and the famous story is Sting just turned to me and said, 'Well, go on. Go in there and make it your own'.

"And of course, I had all this sort of stuff under my fingers. I was the Police stock-artist guitarist, if you like. And I went in and I got that lick almost, it was like one take. Everyone stood up and cheered."

The song features Sting singing and playing bass (of course), as well as adding piano, synths and electric double bass.

Andy Summers is present and correct on guitars and guitar synths, while Stewart Copeland provided traditional drums and percussion, as well as the more electronic sounds of the Oberheim DMX.

The song was co-produced by The Police with the super-producer du jour, Hugh Padgham.

Sting - Every Breath You Take (My Songs Version/Audio)

With The Police at the very top of their fame, Sting needed a little peace and quiet to get his new material going.

He went to the Caribbean and hung out at the Goldeneye estate in Oracabessa, Jamaica, where he sat at Ian Fleming's actual writing desk, which isn't a bad workspace to have available, really.

"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," Sting told The Independent.

"The tune itself is generic, an aggregate of hundreds of others, but the words are interesting."

As for what songs might have subliminally influenced Sting, it's worth noting that Led Zeppelin's 'Dyer Mak'er' from Houses of the Holy has the lyric "Every breath I take, oh-oh-oh oh / Oh, every move I make", while Gene Pitney also released a song called 'Every Breath I Take'.

Is 'Every Breath You Take' actually about a stalker?

The Police - Every Breath You Take (Visualiser)

It's become something close to an urban legend these days. "Did you know 'Every Breath You Take' is about a stalker?!"

That's not quite the case, though it probably is still a less-than-appropriate choice for wedding first dances and Valentine's playlists all the same.

"I think it's a nasty little song, really rather evil," Sting told the NME way back in 1983. "It's about jealousy and surveillance and ownership."

Years later added: "It sounds like a comforting love song. I didn't realise at the time how sinister it is.

Sting, Bruce Springsteen - Every Breath You Take (Live)

"I think I was thinking of Big Brother, surveillance and control."

Sting also told the BBC: "I think the song is very, very sinister and ugly and people have actually misinterpreted it as being a gentle little love song, when it's quite the opposite."

But you're allowed your own interpretation.

"A lot of people think it’s about a stalker," Sting has said. "Some people get married to that song.

“I always love when people have a different interpretation to the meaning that I put into it myself, because it widens the song. I never contradict people who have a totally different opinion."

When was 'Every Breath You Take' released and where did it get in the charts?

The Police released 'Every Breath You Take' on May 20, 1983, with 'Murder by Numbers' on the B-side. It was the lead single of the band's final Synchronicity album.

It topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. It was the band's fifth and final UK number one and first and only US chat-topper.

'Every Breath You Take' went Gold in the US and triple platinum in the UK.

Who has covered 'Every Breath You Take' and what songs have sampled it?

Every Breath You Take

A song as catchy as 'Every Breath You Take' was always going to attract cover versions.

It got two almost instantly, with versions by Rich Landers and Mason Dixon scraping into the Top 70 in the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart as early as 1983.

Before the 1980s were out, we had takes by artists as diverse as 'Weird' Al Yankovic, The Nolans, Frank Sidebottom, James Last and Gloria Gaynor.

Every Breathe You Take

In the decades that follows we've had studio covers or live versions by Gloria Gaynor, Rita Lee, Ian McShane, Melanie, Shirley Bassey, UB40, The Twang, Joan Osborne, Tony Christie, Engelbert Humperdinck, Andy Williams, Tina Arena, the cast of Glee, Martine McCutcheon, and many, many more.

Sting has performed covers of the song with the likes of Dolly Parton, Phil Collins, Tammy Wynette, Bruce Springsteen and Bryan Adams.

A mashup of the song with Henry Mancini's 'Peyter Gunn' featured in an episode of The Sopranos.

Puff Daddy [feat. Faith Evans & 112] - I'll Be Missing You (Official Music Video)

The most famous use of 'Every Breath You Take' beyond The Police wasn't a straight cover, but came when the song was heavily sampled by Puff Daddy for his Notorious BIG tribute 'I'll Be Missing You', which featured Faith Evans and 112.

That song was a massive, massive hit. Like 'Every Breath You Take' itself it topped the UK and US charts, and it actually outsold The Police, going triple platinum in the US and quadruple platinum in the UK.

Why has 'Every Breath You Take' been "cancelled" and does Sting still play it live?

The Police - Every Breath You Take (Official Music Video)

Puff Daddy sampling The Police has become more of a curse than a blessing, given the allegations surrounding the rapper/producer and the serious criminal charges he faces.

The centrality of that riff in the Puffy song has meant that the original has been tainted by association for some.

Sting's not having any of it, though.

"I don’t know what went on," Sting told The Los Angeles Times in November 2024. "But it doesn't taint the song at all for me. It's still my song."

He added that people "absolutely" still love to hear that song, and while he's retired 'Don't Stand So Close To Me' in this post #MeToo era, he still performs 'Every Breath You Take' in concert.

Yes, the song is a regular number in his setlists... he's played it over 1,750 times as a solo star.

But it's not just its appropriation that has made 'Every Breath You Take' controversial.

While an unambiguous song about controlling behaviour and/or stalking probably would have been accepted as a dark character piece, the fact that it's wrapped up in its melodic packaging has perhaps caused a disconnect that, when people finally engage with the lyrics, makes them uncomfortable.

It's almost as though people feel tricked into "enjoying" a song about bad behaviour.

Choir! sings The Police - Every Breath You Take

The song is still one of the most played in radio history and its music video still gets plenty of time, too, but some have nixed it from their playlists... and not just wedding planners who finally had a glance at the lyric sheet.

In January 2025, the song was cancelled by the UK Rock Choir.

"I have never removed a song before now but due to the impact the narrative is having on some Rockies and the potential – when it is taught – of more negative and challenging feelings from the wider membership, I feel it would be wise to replace the song," said the choir's found.

"Although the song is popular with many of you and the narrative of this song wasn't originally written to describe a coercive or abusive relationship, it can be interpreted that way."