Sting: I don’t think it’s a sad song. I think it’s a nasty little song, really rather evil. It’s about jealousy and surveillance and ownership.

The song was the first of their five UK number one singles. [6] Rolling Stone ranked it number 65 on its list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time". The song has been covered by several artists, including the band Fools Garden in 1995, whose version became a hit in Europe. International Briefs - Madrid". Billboard. 27 September 1980. p.56 . Retrieved 9 March 2022– via Google Books. You know, I wrote this song and it had kind of like a shuffle, and it reminded me of Stevie Wonder, and I said ‘God, it would be great if Stevie would play on this.’ So I made a phone call, full of trepidation because he’s one of my idols, and he was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll come to New York and do it.’ He turned up and played his ass off. That really authenticated the song for me. And when he walks into a room, it’s like a higher being. He’s a powerful, spiritual entity. For him to play on my record and James too, because he’s one of the reasons I do what I do is so much fun and a great honour as well."Classifiche". Musica e dischi (in Italian) . Retrieved 4 June 2022. Select "Singoli" in the "Tipo" field, type "Police" in the "Artista" field and press "cerca".

Music Week Fact Sheets. Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 8 September 1979. p.22 . Retrieved 12 October 2022. Sting had a discussion with NME about how it pleases him to see people misinterpret “Every Breath You Take” as a love song: Some seem to feel that they are a kind of god and reveal in their songs the way to fix the world. I made a parody of this and in the end it turns that what I’m selling is a detergent. It’s just a joke, nothing polemical, I believe".NME: How does that quality survive in its transmission through a massively exposed record and these concerts? In an interview with Rolling Stone, Sting said that he chose to cover "Lemon Tree" because it had the right tempo and a great melody.