The Police's 'Every Breath You Take' is cancelled by UK's largest choir for potentially triggering singers
29 January 2025, 12:24
After 'Don't Stand So Close To Me', has another Sting song been cancelled?
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A major British choir has confirmed that it will stop performing The Police's 'Every Breath You Take'.
Released in 1983 and taken from the band's Synchronicity album, the song was an absolutely massive hit, topping the charts in both the UK and US.
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It continued to be a radio favourite in the decades that followed, and was heavily sampled for another big selling single when Puff Daddy and Faith Evans used it as the basis of their 1997 Notorious BIG tribute 'I'll Be Missing You'.
The song has also often been performed by the Rock Choir, a collective that has over 30,000 members across the country.
However, in a letter from founder Caroline Redman Lusher to members quoted in the Daily Mail, the song has now been cancelled from the choir's songlist.
The Police - Every Breath You Take (Official Music Video)
"After much thought and discussion with some of the team, I have made the difficult decision to remove 'Every Breath You Take' from the repertoire," said Lusher
"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.
"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."
While he has rejected the common suggestion that 'Every Breath You Take' is about a stalker, the song's singer and writer Sting has always been open about the complexity of the lyrics.
He had written the song after his split from wife Frances Tomelty, when he embarked on a relationship with her best friend Trudie Styler.
"It sounds like a comforting love song," Sting told The Independent. "I didn't realise at the time how sinister it is. I think I was thinking of Big Brother, surveillance and control."
