It has been 40 years since the release of Every Breath You Take and it remains one of pop music's most puzzling anthems.
Released in 1983 as the lead single of The Police's final album Synchronicity, the track was an immediate success, topping international charts and becoming the year's highest-selling single in the US.
In addition to winning the prestigious Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1984, the track served as an ideal launching pad for singer and songwriter Sting to launch his own successful solo career.
Yet, despite its status as a favourite soundtrack for weddings and funerals, the song's enduring quality could be the darkness imbued within its lyrics.
As Sting prepares to ring in the new year with a Dubai concert at Atlantis, The Palm, let’s look at how the song came to be and what it means.
1. It was written during a dark period for Sting and The Police
The song's blending of ethereal melodies with probing lyricism stems back to the tumultuous period in which it was written.
The success of The Police made Sting a paparazzi magnet and heightened existing creative tensions within the band.
On the home front, his first marriage was in the process of falling apart amid personal scandal.
In the studio, his relationship with drummer Stewart Copeland was collapsing, with the latter expressing frustration at Sting’s control over the songwriting process.
To process all of this, Sting retreated to the Caribbean for a holiday, where he composed the first sketches of what would become Every Breath You Take.
“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,” he told The Independent.
Copeland wasn’t exactly enamoured by the track when Sting presented it to The Police.
The resentment resulted in the both of them barely recording the song together, with both adding most of their respective parts in separate studio sessions.
While the end result was a career-defining hit, Copeland had mixed feelings about the song.
"In my humble opinion, this is Sting's best song with the worst arrangement. I think Sting could have had any other group do this song and it would have been better than our version – except for Andy's [Andy Summers] brilliant guitar part," he told Revolver magazine.
"Basically, there's an utter lack of groove. It's a totally wasted opportunity for our band. Even though we made gazillions off of it, and it's the biggest hit we ever had."
2. The lyrics are ambiguous
A tender love song or stalker’s manifesto?
The meaning behind Every Breath You Take has been debated for decades. More than the ambiguous nature of the lyrics, Sting has often expressed various interpretations of the song over the years.
“The tune itself is generic, an aggregate of hundreds of others, but the words are interesting,” he told The Independent.
“It sounds like a comforting love song. I didn't realise at the time how sinister it is.”
In his 2007 book Lyrics, Sting doubled down on his interpretation and described the piece as a product of its time.
"The song has the standard structure of a pop ballad, but there is no harmonic development after the middle eight, no release of emotions or change in the point of view of the protagonist,” he said.
“He is trapped in his circular obsessions. Of course, I wasn't aware of any of this. I thought I was just writing a hit song, and indeed it became one of the songs that defined the '80s, and by accident the perfect soundtrack for Reagan's Star Wars fantasy of control and seduction.”
Sting's views have mellowed more recently, as he has come to appreciate just how popular the track became.
"It is my most successful song and probably better known than any others," he said in the 2020 BBC music series Secrets of the Pop Song.
"All the time I get people writing letters saying, 'oh it's our favourite song and it was played at our wedding'.
“I never contradict people about what the meaning of the song is. I think it's whatever it means to you."
3. The music video is a classic
Sound and vision were in sync for Every Breath You Take.
Directed by English filmmakers Godley and Creme, the music video is hailed as a classic of the format.
Shot in black and white and with band members rendered in an almost creamy tint, the brooding piece has The Police and accompanying string section performing the track in a sparse ballroom.
As well as earning Daniel Pearl the inaugural MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography in 1984, the music video was streamed more than one billion times on YouTube last year.
4. It has been covered many times
For such a popular track, Every Breath You Take was ripe for various interpretations by fellow artists, the most successful of which was undoubtedly 1997’s I’ll Be Missing You by Puff Daddy, now better known as Diddy.
Released in tribute to slain rapper The Notorious BIG, the hip-hop version became a global hit having topped the US and UK charts.
That version got rid of all of the potential menace, instead turning it into a straight-forward lament for a fallen friend.
Dolly Parton recently covered the song alongside Sting on her new album Rockstar, while New York collective Postmodern Jukebox released a gospel version in 2017 with guest singer Vonzell Solomon.
5. It made Sting a rich man
While estimations regarding the song's royalty income is unclear, it's fair to say it has proven quite lucrative.
In a 2003 interview with Rolling Stone, Sting alluded to the song's financial success by stating it put "a couple of my kids through college with the proceeds".
In 2022, Sting sold his songwriting catalogue, including Every Breath You Take, to Universal Music Group in a deal reportedly estimated to be worth about $300 million.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae
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