The Police: Every Breath You Take Meaning

Song Released: 1983

Covered By: Glee Cast

Every Breath You Take Lyrics

Every breath you take
Every move you make
Every bond you break
Every step you take
Ill be watching you

Every single day
Every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
Ill be watching you

Oh, cant you see
You belong to...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Oct 25th 2017 !⃝

   When someone writes a song for another person, it is natural to think that it is a sweet, innocent act to do in the first place. Although it is seen as a romantic or thoughtful gesture, there is a fine line between expressing love and borderline stalking. Many songs have obscure and ambiguous meanings to them that can be misleading to its audience. “Every Breath You Take” by The Police is just one example of how a song is misinterpreted as a sweet love song and masks the true message it is really trying to convey.
   “Every Breath You Take” by The Police was a smash hit single in the year of 1983. Whether it was being played on the radio or at weddings, everyone enjoyed the song everywhere. What people don’t know is that it has a completely different meaning than what it actually says. The soft, slow melody and tempo of the song “lures people in” and tricks people’s minds into thinking that it is a pleasant song. The frontman of the British band, Sting, sets the audience up by singing with a gentle tone and makes people fail to see that the lyrics are actually really creepy.
   The introduction of the song starts with: “Every breath you take / every move you make / every bond you break / every step you take / I’ll be watching you.” Some people cannot see the basic meaning of the song. The part when Sting sings “I’ll be watching you,” people make the assumption that he is saying it in an endearing way. However, that sounds like the beginning of a stalker song and not a love one. The last part of the introduction sounds especially alarming and disconcerting. It would make anyone feel uneasy knowing that someone will be watching your every move at all times.
   Towards the middle of the song, Sting, sings the line, “I keep crying, baby, baby, please” once. This is the only part of the entire song in which the singer loses full control of himself. Since he indicates that he is crying, it means that he is in torment due to the fact that his lover does not share the same feelings as he does. Furthermore, it shows that Sting has a sort of unrequited relationship.
   The use of repetition is a major factor that contributes to the overall creepiness of the text. The lyrics, “Oh, can’t you see that you belong to me,” are repeated several times throughout the entire song. It holds a possessive meaning and gives the rest of the song a dark mood. At the end, “I’ll be watching you,” is restated an uncomfortable amount of times that makes the listener cringe at the thought. He expresses his desire to dominate and watch over her.
   The song is speaking from a first-person point of view and from the singer’s perspective, expressing his own emotions. Sting, himself, has even stated that he was going through a dark time as was the whole world with the Cold War when he wrote the single. At the time that the song was written, Sting was in the process of finalizing a divorce with his former wife, Frances Tomelty (Songfacts). The song represents jealousy and obsession and the need to have control over everything that his ex-spouse does. In an interview with VH1, Sting reveals that the song was supposed to be a romantic one and admits that it does have an obsessive tone despite the original intent. Sting also mentions that many married couples come up to him and tell him that they played his song at their weddings. The idea of this completely throws Sting off because he finds it weird how people cannot sense that the song has a nefarious tone.
   The seductiveness of the song compels the listener to ignore the true meaning of the lyrics. At 03:01, Sting keeps singing “Ooh” which makes the song sound a bit more “mushy” and also contributes to why people consider it a romantic song. From beginning to end, the only part of the drums that are being played is the snare and bass drum in unison and the chords for the bass guitar stay the same. The melodic sounds of the instruments combined makes the song go by quickly and before listeners know it, it is already over.
   “Every Breath You Take” by The Police is an example of how a “stalkerish” song is misconstrued and disguised as a love song. After the song came out, Sting confirmed that he was going through a “rough patch” when coming up with the lyrics. Listeners have mistakenly confused the song for a gentle, love song when it is quite literally the exact opposite.

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Aug 18th 2008 !⃝

   Yeah it is about a stalker.

3. 3TOP RATED

   #3 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Jul 13th 2008 !⃝

   My friends and I call this "the stalker song". Hahaha!
4. TruthIsEvident13

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   Oct 6th 2021 !⃝

   The song has an obvious stalker tone. I don't know much about Sting, or the Police. Anyhow, on the music video you'll see above the band as they perform, a man in a suit.
   
   The name of the band, "The Police", and the songs main line, "I'll be watching you", is your first hint.
   The use of key phrases, like "every bond you break", is another. Also, "claim you stake", furthermore hints towords the fact that a hidden meaning just may exist within it's creation. That meaning is that the man is indeed watching everything that he can. And it's getting worse.
   
   But that is just folly. The main, more obvious meaning is the stslkerish one. Just like one project done by someone may be intended to accomplish several purposes, a professional songwriter will write a song with a dual meaning, and the instruments music creates a creepy, cool overtone in this song, adding to the meanings.
   
5. anonymous

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   Oct 23rd 2018 !⃝

   It would be humiliating to openly express your stalker like tendencies to the public, but it appears Sting did. I think this song has a double, and maybe a triple meaning. It could apply to the divorce in one sense. It also could apply to an authorities sense of ownership and power over you. The authority being a diety, an established government, and so on.
6. anonymous

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   Jan 26th 2018 !⃝

   August 1982 Montreal Delta Hotel
   Groupie stalker husband arranged encounter with Sting
7. anonymous

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   Jul 22nd 2017 !⃝

   Sting was going thru a divorce. It's about his soon to be ex wife. he still loved her but it was over.
8. anonymous

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   Mar 13th 2017 !⃝

   Complete infatuation
9. anonymous

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   Feb 18th 2017 !⃝

   The ULTIMATE stalker song! I think it's about a woman who breaks up with a man for acting childish. He then decides to stalk her, not realizing that there are other girls in the world!
10. anonymous

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    Jul 2nd 2016 !⃝

    The lyrics are from the viewpoint of his mother and her statements in the lyrics that now that he is gone, she will be watching him. This was exposed during an interview with the writer to ABC News.
11. anonymous

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    May 17th 2016 !⃝

    This song can certainly be about a regular innocent stalker, a little creepy maybe, but not very dangerous, you know like a Peeping Tom that watches what you do. But this song is more in the mindset of not only a creep, but a dangerous stalker that was inviting or attracting evil that he made in his mind to believe was coming his way. Someone like let's say a security guard like a George Zimmerman thinking like he was The Police wanting to take the whole law into his own hands to make a name for himself. Looking and stalking to finally become a Evil Stalker that watched and followed to believe was a easy prey for him influenced by his evil to finally make a kill and take a sixteen year old TRAYVON MARTIN last breath.
12. anonymous

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    May 17th 2016 !⃝

    This song can certainly be about a regular innocent stalker, a little creepy maybe, but not very dangerous, you know like a Peeping Tom that watches what you do. But this song is more in the mindset of not only a creep, but a dangerous stalker that was inviting or attracting evil that he made in his mind to believe was coming his way. Someone like let's say a security guard like a George Zimmerman thinking like he was The Police wanting to take the whole law into his own hands to make a name for himself. Looking and stalking to finally become a Evil Stalker that watched and followed to believe was a easy prey for him influenced by his evil to finally make a kill and take a sixteen year old TRAYVON MARTIN last breath.
13. tlgeer

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    May 11th 2013 !⃝

    This is a song about a stalker.
    
    I remember watching an interview with Sting and him saying that when he found out that people were playing this song at their weddings he was amazed. This is not a love song whatsoever.
14. anonymous

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    Nov 26th 2012 !⃝

    Sting didn't actually stalk his ex-wife. He simply watched her in the projection TV installed in his brain. Remember, Sting is an alien. It shouldn've occurred to you when he was an Englishman in New York.
15. anonymous

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    Mar 26th 2012 !⃝

    its written againts the Govt. before laughing out. read the lyrics once keeping my pt in mind
16. anonymous

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    Nov 28th 2011 !⃝

    So, clearly this song is about stalking someone and tracing their every move, declaring that that person is technically owned when in reality they aren't.
17. anonymous

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    May 29th 2011 !⃝

    This interpretation may be influenced by the remake by P.Diddy, but I have always listened to this song as if it is a loved one that has been lost and is in Heaven looking down on you.
    "Since youve gone I been lost without a trace
    I dream at night I can only see your face
    I look around but its you I cant replace
    I feel so cold and I long for your embrace
    I keep crying" This part is the person that is still alive telling their dead loved one how much they miss them.
    The loved one is in Heaven watching over them and they know when they are faking a smile, they brake a vow, and just whenever they take a breath or make a move. It is supposed to comfort the person left behind on Earth to know that they are always with them and they still know them very well like they did when they were together. This may be a dead lover, a dead parent, a dead child, a dead sibling, or a dead friend; it could be anyone that you have lost that was very close to you.
    It may sound bizzare, but the next time you listen to this song, listen look for this.
18. anonymous

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    Mar 2nd 2011 !⃝

    Actually, Sting at this time got deeply into Buddhism and the practice of Mindfulness meditation, which includes breathing meditation, where you focus on the breath going in and out of your body.
    
    Thus the song is not about a lover but about his relationship to his mind and Self, and the attempt to escape the dominance of the Ego/Mind and return to the serenity of the eternal Self and God.
    
    Whoa.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway

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